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Colonialism and Empire

We’re moving

The content of this blog is moving to Glasgow Life’s website and its name is changing to ‘Legacies of Slavery and Empire’. All of our published content can now be found here: https://www.glasgowlife.org.uk/museums/glasgow-life-museums-blogs/legacies-of-slavery-and-empire Moving forward, new articles will be posted on the new site only, while older articles will remain live on this site for a while yet. As part of the move, we’re widening … Continue reading We’re moving

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Colonialism and Empire, Exhibitions and displays, Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow architecture, Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Racism, Slavery

Glasgow: Addressing Legacies of Slavery and Empire Benefits Us All

First of all, I’m thrilled to be joining Glasgow Museums as Curator of Legacies of Slavery and Empire. I’m grateful to be following on from the excellent work of my predecessor Miles Greenwood and I am looking forward to building on this existing work. My interest in histories of slavery and empire initially came about through a desire to understand more about my family history. … Continue reading Glasgow: Addressing Legacies of Slavery and Empire Benefits Us All

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Plantations, Portraits and paintings, Slavery, Sugar

A Tainted Inheritance

The wealth generated by transatlantic slavery was not enjoyed solely by the individuals who owned plantations in the Caribbean and forced enslaved people from Africa to work on them. Their descendants benefitted too, through inheritance of money, vast estates and social status which gave opportunities to later generations in Scotland. These opportunities – based on wealth derived from enforced labour sometimes hundreds of years before … Continue reading A Tainted Inheritance

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Art collecting, Burrell Collection, Colonialism and Empire, Costumes and textiles, Merchants, Slavery, Transatlantic slave trade, Women's history

Where was an Esther? 

This needlework panel embroidered in silk and metal threads depicts the biblical story of Esther and Ahasuerus. Esther was the Jewish wife of Ahasuerus, king of Persia. In this scene she is formally requesting that Ahasuerus stop his viceroy, Haman, ordering the killing all Jews in his empire. Ahasuerus signals his approval by lowering his golden sceptre and stops Haman’s plans for genocide. For centuries … Continue reading Where was an Esther? 

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Glasgow architecture, Merchants, Plantations, Slavery, Transatlantic slave trade

Glasgow and the campaign to end slavery

In 1833 the UK Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act, which outlawed slavery throughout the British Empire, although it did not fully take effect until 1838. However, Britain’s involvement with slavery did not end there. The legislation excluded territory administered by the East India Company, rather than the Crown, so millions of Indians remained enslaved. British merchants remained free to trade with countries outside the … Continue reading Glasgow and the campaign to end slavery

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Maritime history, Merchants, Plantations, Portraits and paintings, Ships, Slavery

The Launch of a West Indies Trader

I have long admired this painting by the famed marine artist Robert Salmon. It shows the sailing ship Christian being launched from the Greenock shipyard of John Scott on 2 October 1818. At this time shipbuilding on the Clyde was relatively small in scale, with only a few yards producing small numbers of wooden sailing ships. Steamships were a new invention and the small steamboat … Continue reading The Launch of a West Indies Trader

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Costumes and textiles, Merchants, Slavery, Tobacco, Women's history

A Virginian Merchant’s Waistcoat

This cream silk satin waistcoat was said by the donor to have been embroidered by ‘Mrs Glassels’, the maternal grandmother of George John Douglas Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll (1823–1900). While the majority of surviving Georgian waistcoats were embroidered professionally, there is evidence that some were stitched by amateurs to give as presents to their husbands or fathers. If Mrs Glassels did make this one, … Continue reading A Virginian Merchant’s Waistcoat

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Colonialism and Empire, Contemporary Art, Sculpture, Women's history

The Rani of Jhansi, a symbol of resistance to British Rule in India

This dhokra brass alloy sculpture of the ‘Rani of Jhansi’ was made in 2013 by father and son artists Ramu and Shubho Karmakar from West Bengal. It depicts the armoured warrior queen Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi, astride her warhorse, carrying an upraised sword in her right hand, a shield on her left and with her adopted infant son Damodar Rao on her back. Lakshmibai … Continue reading The Rani of Jhansi, a symbol of resistance to British Rule in India

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Costumes and textiles, Merchants, Plantations, Slavery, Women's history

Mary McDowall – A Childhood and Dowry Funded by Enslaved Labour

Mary McDowall, sometimes known as Maria, lived a privileged life. She was born on 13 January 1751, the third child and eldest daughter of William McDowall and his wife Elizabeth Graham at Castle Semple, Renfrewshire. The Castle Semple estate had been purchased by her grandfather, Colonel William McDowall (1678–1738), in 1727 with the original buildings demolished and a new Palladian-style country house built in 1735. … Continue reading Mary McDowall – A Childhood and Dowry Funded by Enslaved Labour

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Industry and manufacturing, Merchants, Slavery

Glasgow’s railways … funded by slavery?

The 1830s saw an explosion of railway lines built up and down the length of Great Britain. The first to open for passengers and freight with a set time table was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830. Scotland’s first line opened a year later when the Glasgow and Garnkirk Railway started bringing coal from the Lanarkshire pits to the growing city.  Railways were private undertakings that … Continue reading Glasgow’s railways … funded by slavery?

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Art collecting, Burrell Collection, Colonialism and Empire, Maritime history, Portraits and paintings, Slavery, Transatlantic slave trade

Rethinking the ‘Dutch Golden Age’

The Dutch ‘Golden Age’- the 17th century – is generally spoken of and written about as a time of prosperity, grandeur, and pride. Its citizens enjoyed wealth beyond compare, illustrated in some of the finest portraits in history by esteemed artists such as Rembrandt, Hals and van der Helst. The reason for the wealth of the Dutch Republic is often described in hazy terms, with words like ‘naval strength’, ‘trade dominance’ and ‘mercantile control’ flying around as freely as the flags on … Continue reading Rethinking the ‘Dutch Golden Age’

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Art collecting, Plantations, Portraits and paintings, Sculpture, Slavery, Women's history

Cecilia Douglas – Art Collector and Owner of Enslaved People

In 1862 Mrs Cecilia Douglas (nee Douglas) bequeathed oil paintings and sculptures to the then Glasgow Corporation. The paintings initially were on display in the Corporation Art Galleries in Sauchiehall Street before being moved to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Most are now in store at Glasgow Museum Resource Centre.  She and her husband Gilbert married in 1794 and came from two different branches of the Douglas family. Hers apparently was descended … Continue reading Cecilia Douglas – Art Collector and Owner of Enslaved People

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Costumes and textiles, Cotton, Industry and manufacturing, Merchants, Plantations, Slavery, Women's history

Ann Stirling’s Dress

This charming dress represents not only a product of enslaved labour, but also the wealth of those involved in the slavery economy and their extended families. The gown is made from muslin, a finely woven cotton cloth, and has been delicately embroidered in white cotton thread with wheat ears motifs worked in satin stitch. The silhouette, with its wide collar, gigot sleeves and frill skirt … Continue reading Ann Stirling’s Dress

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Digital resources, Enslaved boys and girls, Glasgow architecture, Portraits and paintings, Runaways, Slavery

Ghosts: an impassioned call to remember

A unique, augmented reality experience will soon be available to experience in Glasgow. Audiences will be invited to download a bespoke app, to plug in their headphones, and immerse themselves in this poetic storytelling experience, where a young man in 18th Century Glasgow, leads us on an atmospheric journey of over 500 years of resistance through the streets of the Merchant City down to the … Continue reading Ghosts: an impassioned call to remember

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Colonialism and Empire, Cotton, Glasgow architecture, Industry and manufacturing

Coins of Empire

In 1944 Eric William’s book Capitalism and Slavery was published. He points to capitalism as being the main driving force behind the trade in enslaved African people being forced to work on colonial plantations in the Americas and there may be no clearer symbol of capitalism than money. Great Britain dominated the European slave trade. Glasgow Museums’ collection of coins and trade tokens minted in … Continue reading Coins of Empire

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Colonialism and Empire, Glasgow architecture, Industry and manufacturing, Merchants, Slavery

Patrick Colquhoun of Kelvingrove

Before Kelvingrove became a public park it was a desirable private country estate located among gently rolling hills, farm land and ancient woodland. From 1782-1790 the estate belonged to colonial merchant Patrick Colquhoun, who is thought to have built Kelvingrove House. By 1870 Colquhoun’s old mansion was refurbished into the city’s first municipal museum – the ancestor of today’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum. Colquhoun … Continue reading Patrick Colquhoun of Kelvingrove

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Colonialism and Empire, Maritime history, Plantations, Portraits and paintings, Ships, Slavery, Sugar

The Medora – a Glasgow sugar ship

Sugar was the sweetest product that came from the slave plantations of the Caribbean. It was the source of many of the fortunes made by Glasgow merchants and became a ubiquitous condiment on dining tables across Britain. It came from the sugar cane plant, which grew well in the hot and humid climates of the islands in the Caribbean. Growing and harvesting sugar was harsh … Continue reading The Medora – a Glasgow sugar ship

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Colonialism and Empire, Portraits and paintings, Slavery, Transatlantic slave trade

Robert Burns and Jamaica

Robert Burns (1759–1796), the celebrated ploughman poet, is lauded for the humour and earthy realism of his poems that raised the status of the Scots dialect and showed new respect for the rural poor in Scotland. He is a Scottish cultural icon and a national obsession. Many public monuments were erected in his honour in the nineteenth century, often through public subscription, with vast crowds … Continue reading Robert Burns and Jamaica

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Colonialism and Empire, Furniture, Women's history

A Looted Royal Stool

This stool was taken from the Asante Royal Palace of Kumasi by Brigadier General Sir Archibald Alison, on 4 February 1874, when he led part of the British Army’s invading force against the Asante people.  To the Asante, stools were sacred and symbolic, thought to contain the soul of its owner, and passed down through the generations. Asante stools are usually carved from asese wood … Continue reading A Looted Royal Stool

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Colonialism and Empire, Portraits and paintings, Racism, Slavery

Arrangement in Racism and Black Injustice: Whistler’s Colour Theory

In 1873–74 James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) painted the portrait of Scottish historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881). Like Carlyle, Whistler was a confrontational figure, known for his defiant and acerbic temperament, who took on the art establishment in his provocative declarations and radically pared-down compositional arrangements. Challenging the very nature of portraiture, he claimed that colour harmony and pictorial balance were more important that the identity … Continue reading Arrangement in Racism and Black Injustice: Whistler’s Colour Theory

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