James Evan Baillie spent his final moments in his home in Mayfair, London, in 1863, at the ripe age of 83. Baillie, who had never married, left a significant fortune of over £500,000, an amount that would translate today to almost £100 million, to be savoured by his relatives. Baillie, a plantation owner in the West Indies, banker and politician, amassed his wealth from various sources, which included a thriving fleet of trading vessels navigating between the Caribbean and England.
A crucial component of his wealth, however, stemmed from nearly 500 slaves he owned, who toiled away on his Jamaican plantations. When the Slavery Abolition Act was enacted in 1833, Baillie also received a £100,000 “compensation” from the British government for the release of his enslaved people.
Baillie, like many other slave-owners of his time, invested these funds into purchasing vast areas of land in the Scottish Highlands. Such extensive buying of land initiated a significant phase in the “Clearances”, a period where Scots were moved off land to provide for profitable sheep grazing.
Post-slavery compensation, the amount of land purchased in the Highlands doubled. Slave-owners claimed ownership over more than half of all Highlands, a staggering 1.8 million acres, irrevocably altering the landscape.
Professor Corinne Fowler’s new publication, Our Island Stories, explores and scrutinises these narratives of imperial and slave-driven wealth and its lasting impact on the British countryside.
Fowler’s work has become a contentious topic of discussion in the ongoing British culture wars, with critics accusing her of being “woke” and deliberately tarnishing the United Kingdom’s international standing.
Working from her garden shed in Birmingham, the softly-spoken Fowler seems an unlikely figure of controversy. However, she remains steadfast and devoted to advancing and defending her theories.
Her views on the conversation around Britain’s imperial past are both hopeful and dispirited: “We’re both in a better and worse situation than when the culture wars commenced,” she observes. Fowler reports increased awareness and understanding of colonial history amongst the general public, although she also laments an ongoing “disinformation campaign” led by some influential figures.
Fowler, a figure of controversy to some, previously co-authored a report for the National Trust in the UK, revealing the relationship between some estates and historic houses managed by the Trust, and empire, colonisation, and possibly slavery.
She inquires about the East India Company, the Royal African Company, and the full functioning of the slavery system; aspects she believes we lack understanding of. Even though her recent work, which studies the impact of the empire, has received praise, that hasn’t prevented some critics from charging her with promoting guilt about Britain’s past.
She created her upcoming book around 10 treks throughout Britain, unearthing the empire’s influence, such as the East India Company’s activities, the trade in goods derived from slaves, like sugar, tobacco and cotton, and the profitable export of wool, cloth, copper among others.
At times, it may read as a blend of nature and empire, given her conscious stylistic choice to incorporate the natural world alongside historical analysis – taking a gentler approach to a topic she considers as crucial as its presentation.
She insists on the undeniable and often harsh lessons of history. She demonstrates how the prosperity from empire, colonialisation and slavery overseas helped establish dominance at home, albeit in a different context.
Furthermore, she outlines how the effects of slavery trickled down to the poorest areas in Britain such as Dolgellau, North Wales, where local businesses flourished, several artisans gained wealth and the poorest residents sustained themselves through selling cloth to slave plantations.
Fowler argues that thorough understanding and acknowledgment of this history are crucial. She aspires for her book to contribute to understanding rural Britain’s involvement in the empire – parts usually considered detached from colonialism. Despite criticism, Fowler, who serves as a professor of colonialism and heritage at University of Leicester, endeavours to engage with critics as much as possible. She did so most recently during the Sheffield Festival of Debate.
“She was accusing me of purposefully disrespecting and hurling slights at UK nationalists, she asked if I saw myself as ‘woke’ and so on,” he recounts. The crowd’s reaction was mixed with a blend of shock and anticipation, reflecting their personal views.
Yet, the situation did not escalate; they had a conversation that gradually softened, leaving the audience impressed. “That’s my objective. I want the conversation to simmer down.”
In contrast to others who share a comparable understanding of the British Empire, Fowler is insistent: she does not aim to point fingers, especially considering the fact that the British educational system hasn’t equipped its people with the necessary understanding of their own history.
[ Last Night of the Proms turned into a battlefield of cultural disagreements ]
“It’s unrealistic to assume that those who don’t specialise in colonial history will be familiar with it, or even possess a basic understanding. Our schooling mostly didn’t offer us even fundamental knowledge. How can I anticipate others to be aware?” she states.
Differing from many of her fellow academics who frequently show intolerance, Fowler remarks: “I have witnessed how some experts utilise their expertise to intimidate others and display disregard for those who feel intimidated by their knowledge.”
She holds the view that divisive cultural disputes are unnecessary, and that unity and mutual understanding are paramount. This belief shapes her writing style. Corinne Fowler writes in a way to foster connection and understanding, believing that a scholar’s role is to guide the public, offering research founded on evidence, rigor, and integrity.
Responding to negative comments, Fowler found a heightened level of awareness, remarking: “It was a learning opportunity. It helped me understand people’s limited knowledge and it made me realise that forming judgement is not helpful at all.”
“Cultural conflicts are not only divisive but entirely superfluous. It’s crucial that we rise above them and create connections with each other. The way I write is designed to stimulate respectful, constructive dialogue,” she states.
Yet, these cultural conflicts are not chance events in history but rather crafted by influential thought-leaders. They maliciously exploit colonial history to justify their aims. A prominent right-wing group in the UK, which is well-funded and has a considerable influence, has managed to incite a large number of people to feel anger over the possibility of viewing the nation’s history through an alternative perspective.
“There are individuals who believe this reading of history is fabricated, who are unsure of its truth or falsehood,” she articulates. These people have been led to perceive her and others like her as antagonistic ideologues who countered patriotism, she explains, “They believed there existed a critical, existential menace to our country’s status of civility.”
Her book has gathered negative attention because it includes people who narrate their experiences of how black and Caribbean individuals are, or have been, treated in modern day Britain. Moreover, these narrations highlight an unwelcoming environment in rural Britain. In recounting the story of an Asian co-worker’s visit to the Brontë sisters’ home in Yorkshire, she recounts an anecdote of racial abuse and threat, demonstrating a clear message of him being unwelcome.
The Bank of England issued an apology for its historical links to slavery.
While this incident might seem severe, Fowler maintains that being unwelcome is a commonplace occurrence. Detractors often dismiss such claims by implying they are fabricated or by asking, ‘Are the trees racist? Are the fields racist?'”
She affirms these experiences are real, citing walking groups like Black Girls Hike and Muslims Hike that choose to venture out, despite the discomfort. “I believe things are slowly starting to change, which is wonderfully encouraging,” she says.
Equally, a more comprehensive narrative featuring estates like Sezincote in the Cotswolds, erected through the earnings of the East India Company by John Cockerell, might initiate a reconnect with their history among present-day British inhabitants, regardless of their origin.
Fowler’s book, targeting the vast unexplored portions of British history for its local populace, remains tight-lipped about Ireland, except for a citation about coal dispatched from Whitehaven in Cumbria. Didn’t any path narrate Ireland’s tale?
From her humble garden shed, Fowler humbly acknowledges her failure to include Ireland when confronted, attributing it to her knowledge gap and the British education system’s flaw. “It’s truly disheartening. I cannot believe that I, like most others, went through British education without gaining much insight into Ireland,” she admitted, promising to rectify this in the future.