They are among 92 hereditary peers in the House of Lords that Prime Minister Keir Starmer wants to oust under his reforms to the upper house of parliament.
This is a backtrack on its previous pledge to abolish the entire 800-seat assembly, whose members are not elected and can claim a non-taxable daily attendance allowance of £361.
However, it has sparked a backlash from some hereditary peers. Conservative Lord Strathclyde , who chaired Raytheon UK while it was arming Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, called it "a high-handed and shoddy political act".
The reform was originally planned by Tony Blair's government in 1999.
The hereditary peers, who are all men, have long caused controversy and those with family ties to the slave trade have drawn particular criticism.
When Westminster finally outlawed slavery in 1833, the British government awarded citizens who had "owned" slaves compensation for their "loss." People who had been enslaved never received compensation.
The database of those compensated is maintained by University College London (UCL) and shows that several hereditary lords currently sitting in the House of Lords have ancestors who received such compensation.
Keith McClelland , a professor of history at UCL who created the database, said that in reality many more were likely to have family links to the slave trade.
This is because not everyone who benefited owned slaves at the time the compensation plan was agreed upon.
Earl of Rosslyn
The database shows that James St Clair-Erskine, the 2nd Earl of Rosslyn , owned 233 slaves in Antigua at the time of abolition.
The current holder of the title, his great-great-grandson Peter St Clair-Erskine , sits as an independent peer in the House of Lords.
In February, King Charles appointed him Lord Steward of the Royal Household, a senior position in the palace.
He is also a former commander of the Metropolitan Police and headed its Royal and Diplomatic Protection Department.
'The sixth great European power'
Francis Thomas Baring, the 6th Baron Northbrook , is a descendant of the family that ran Barings bank .
The finance house played an important role in the European colonization of much of the rest of the world during the 18th and 19th centuries.
At one point it was informally known as the “ sixth great European power,” before finally collapsing in 1995.
The first Baron Northbrook was the great-great-grandfather of the present holder of the title, and was also called Francis Baring .
It is believed that the company's first millions were made by trading in slaves, and the family appears numerous times in records of those who received compensation for the freeing of "their" slaves.
When Adam Ramsay *, the author of the Declassified article, raised the matter with Lord Northbrook , he said there were “factual inaccuracies” and did not respond to a request for further details.
'I'm not proud at all'
Lord Fairfax of Cameron is a Tory nobleman whose family was first ennobled by Charles I in about 1627. Thomas Fairfax, the sixth Lord , "owned" many slaves in the US.
In 2020, the current Lord endorsed Justin Fairfax , the great-great-grandson of one such enslaved person, in his campaign to be governor of Virginia.
At the time, he said, “Our family is not at all proud of the fact that our ancestors in Virginia were involved in the institution of slavery.”
But Lord Fairfax did not respond to a request for comment.
'Ridiculous'
The Earl of Dundee, Alexander Scrymgeour , has been a member of the House of Lords since his father's death in 1983.
He held various positions in Margaret Thatcher's government and represented Great Britain on the Council of Europe.
His ancestor Henry Scrymgeour owned a sugar plantation in Jamaica between 1795 and 1807.
Alexander Scrymgeour accepted that his ancestor had owned property, but told this author that “ there is no evidence that he owned slaves; or that he approved of the slave trade; and even less evidence that he benefited financially from the slave trade.”
In response to these comments, Professor McClelland said: "Who does he think worked on the estate if not slaves? It is ridiculous to claim there is no evidence that he owned slaves."
“If you owned a piece of land, you owned the people who lived on it. In theory, you could own the land and rent it to someone else who owned the people who lived on it, but I don’t know of any such case.”
Scrymgeour also noted that his ancestor had been a member of the Jamaican House of Assembly at the time.
McClelland said: “The Assembly was pro-slavery, opposed to the abolition of the slave trade and was racist. Blacks were banned from entering. This was an institution of control by white planters.”
He also, he said, “played an important role in lobbying against the abolition of the slave trade.”
Saint John of Blesto
Peter Simond was a major slave owner in Granada. When he died in 1785, his slaves were left in the hands of the families of his two daughters, who had married prominent English aristocrats.
One such family, the Trevelyans , who include BBC journalist Laura Trevelyan , have recently apologised for their ancestors' role in "owning" enslaved people.
They paid compensation to the people of Granada, including £100,000 from Laura Trevelyan's BBC pension fund.
The other beneficiaries of Simond 's will were the family of Baron San Juan de Blesto , a title dating back to 1582.
Anthony St John , the current Baron St John of Blesto , is an independent lord whose work in the House of Lords tends to focus on matters relating to Africa.
He sat on the Select Committee on Communications but did not respond to a request for comment.
'Committed'
Melanie Newton , a professor of Caribbean history at the University of Toronto , commented: “The role of slave owners and human traffickers in the founding of the modern parliament – still evident in the political privileges of certain peers – is part of a broader conversation about reparations as a key aspect of modern democratic practice.”
Newton continued: “Repairing the legacy of slavery is not simply about ‘giving things’ to Black people. It is about repairing institutions whose ability to function reliably in a democratic context is compromised by this legacy.”
She argued: “That means some people should give up power they don’t really deserve.”
Professor McClelland said “direct connections with slavery and the slave trade continue to resonate” in the House of Lords.
He added: “They speak of racial inequality, racism and the culture of British politics. The connecting threads are long and complex, but still clearly visible.”
Fountain:
Adam Ramsay * is a freelance journalist and writer currently working on his forthcoming book 'Abolish Westminster'. He was previously a special correspondent (and other roles) at openDemocracy.
