Edinburgh can’t whitewash itself clean of racism and slavery – John McLellan

Edinburgh University’s decision to rename the David Hume Tower is not an acknowledgement of past wrongs, writes John McLellan
40 George Square was until recently called the David Hume Tower (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)40 George Square was until recently called the David Hume Tower (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)
40 George Square was until recently called the David Hume Tower (Picture: Lisa Ferguson)

Most Edinburgh people will be familiar with historic names David Hume and James Gillespie without knowing much about their background.

It will be the same for other famous figures from the city’s past; most people know James Watt perfected the steam engine and, possibly thanks to the pub name, those beyond the school’s alumni might know George “Jinglin’ Geordie” Heriot procured jewellery for James VI, but that will be about it. What did James Gillespie and George Watson actually do other than bankroll schools?

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Backgrounds will inevitably come under scrutiny for links to the slave trade under a council review ordered after the Black Lives Matter protest about the record of Viscount Melville, who surveys George Street from his perch on the St Andrew Square column.

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It will not be an easy process; despite a small committee agreeing words for a new plaque for the column, some historians still argue that contemporary records show Melville’s actions did not block the abolition of slavery but preserved the campaign in the face of stiff opposition.

Amongst them is Sir Tom Devine, who has now criticised Edinburgh University’s decision to strip 40 George Square of its previous name, the David Hume Tower, in response to a BLM-inspired petition signed by 2,000 people because the 18th-century philosopher expressed some unquestionably racist views.

Hume’s opinions were not unusual for his time, but he is commemorated for his leading role in the Age of Enlightenment which arguably helped put Britain on the path towards emancipation earlier than other Western powers. Joining Sir Tom is journalist Iain Macwhirter, a former rector of the university who can hardly be described as a right-wing reactionary, who says he is “appalled” by the decision.

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With just over 15,000 staff serving approximately 41,000 students, if all the signatories are directly connected to the university they still only represent 3.5 per cent of the total, and if they are Edinburgh residents they represent 0.3 per cent of the population. It’s fair to conclude David Hume does not cause widespread offence and the university was under no pressure to act.

What has offended many, however, is the David Hume Tower itself, part of the university’s Sixties spree of architectural vandalism which scars the Old Town to this day. If Principal Peter Mathieson really wanted to demonstrate his woke credentials in a way which would find favour with the other 99.7 per cent of the population, he would order the Hume Tower’s demolition, Grade A listing or not.

Like the city, the university is reviewing its links with slavery, which will pretty much include everything over 200 years old and just researching the background to the portraits adorning Old College and the Playfair Library is a job in itself.

It’s the same for every historic city institution. James Watt has been called out because of his father’s direct involvement in slave trading, and now it’s James Gillespie’s turn with a suggestion that the modern school be renamed after Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousafzai because his fortune was built from trading tobacco grown on slave plantations.

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George Watson is culpable too because as an 18th-century banker he would have actively facilitated transactions for those whose business relied on forced labour; cotton, sugar, coffee and tobacco, and indeed shipping, were all part of the slavery-based system and none of it worked without financial services.

And where do you start with the Merchant Company of Edinburgh on Hanover Street?

The university’s actions do not so much represent an acknowledgement of past wrongs, but an attempt to whitewash them, to bury parts of Edinburgh’s story which don’t fit with a modern view of what our forebears should have been.

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