A painting from Dyrham House, a grand mansion in southwest England, shows a panoramic view of Bridgetown Harbor, Barbados, with its hillsides dotted with sugar plantations.
Another room contains two statues depicting kneeling black men holding scallop shells above their heads. They were chained around their ankles and necks.
The works belong to William Blathwayt, who owned Dyrham in the late 17th and early 18th centuries and, as Comptroller of British Plantation Revenues, oversaw the profits pouring in from the colonies.
The National Trust, the nearly 130-year-old charity that manages many of Britain’s treasured historic homes, has found that explaining the history of a place like Dyrham can be controversial.
The group revised its display to highlight links between dozens of its properties and colonial-era exploitation and slavery, a move that drew the ire of some right-wing columnists and academics, who accused the trust of being “woke,” saying: It proposed an “anti-British” view of history and began a movement to overturn certain changes.
The ensuing battle – which echoes the raging debate over Confederate monuments in the US – has been playing out on social media and in Britain’s right-wing newspapers for three years.
The National Trust has so far resisted the campaign, insisting on its new display and its references to colonialism and slavery. But the controversy has roiled the trust, and at its annual meeting the Restore Trust, a group with opaque funding, sought to put its candidates on the charity’s council, a group with ties to the charity. An advisory group working with the Trust Fund Management Board.
“Popular, divisive ideology”
The National Trust was established in 1895 to protect natural and historic places. It spent 129 years acquiring mansions, some owned by families who couldn’t afford to maintain them after World War II, as well as miles of coastline and countryside open to the public.
The organization’s 5.37 million members pay £91 (about $115) a year for unlimited access to more than 500 websites. Even if you’ve never been to a National Trust property, you’ve probably seen it in period dramas. Parts of “Downton Abbey” were filmed in Lacock, Wiltshire, and Basildon Park near Reading was used for “Pride and Prejudice” in 2005 and the second and third seasons of “Bridgerton.” Season’s filming locations.
Hilary McGrady, the trust’s director general, said in an interview that while the trust is committed to preserving history, it is always adapting to change. “Just because it’s possible for us to change our minds, I understand why that might be unsettling,” she said. “The reality is, trust changes all the time.”
She points out that the houses did not always tell the story of the servants who worked “under the stairs,” and when they began emphasizing these stories in the 1950s, they were met with resistance. “But we now think it’s completely normal,” she said.
Ms Maddie said she could not understand claims that the Trust was engaged in “a mad campaign to destroy history”.
The Restore Trust was established in 2021, a year after the National Trust published a report detailing the historical links of 93 of its properties to colonialism and slavery. Restore claims on its website that the National Trust is “driven by popular, divisive ideologies” and calls on it to “restore a sense of welcome to all visitors without demonizing anyone’s history or heritage.”
Cornelia van der Poll, a current director of Restore and a former lecturer in ancient Greek at a private Catholic college in Oxford, believes the view of history presented by some trust properties “deviates” from its focus. In an emailed statement for this article, she also noted what she called “the loss of expert curators and the loss of the authority of qualified experts in deciding how properties are managed and displayed.”
The trust said its number of curators had doubled in the past five years.
Mary Beard, a classics expert and former Cambridge University professor, told The Times of London that the 2020 report “just illustrates the obvious bleeding points: certainly, some houses have uncomfortable pasts.” She praised Day Lemm’s treatment of its history is an example of good curation: keeping objects like statues of enslaved figures but placing them in context.
Restore says on its website that it is “politically independent” and was founded by individuals. But UK governance watchdog Good Law Project launched legal proceedings to identify those behind Restore and determined that its website was owned by a private company, RT2021, which was founded in April 2021 with the stated goal of “monitoring national trust.” “
Ian Browne, legal manager at the Good Law Project, said Restore posed as a “grassroots organization representing common sense” but had links to other right-wing advocacy groups. From 2021 to January, one of the group’s directors was Neil Record, the former chairman of the libertarian think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs and current chairman of Net Zero Watch, which denies The world is in a “climate emergency”.
Mr. Record did not respond to a request for comment.
Restore has also received support from the right, including Nigel Farage, the Brexit campaigner who is now running for parliament.
“We have received donations and help from thousands of supporters. We believe this is a fair definition of a grassroots movement,” Dr. van der Pol said, declining to elaborate on Restore’s funding status.
Restore advertised heavily on social media ahead of last November’s National Trust conference and highlighted its position in numerous articles and media appearances.
But on the day of the meeting, a record number of National Trust members (156,000) voted and rejected all initiatives and candidates supported by Restore.
However, its agenda has caused some tensions. After the results were announced, one man shouted: “You rigged the vote!”
Experts said the broader results may reflect the British public’s disdain for the culture wars, with many telling pollsters they long for quieter, more civilized political conversations.
According to a 2023 poll by University College London and More in Common, only 27% said “addressing political correctness and wokeness” is one of the most important issues facing the country.
The same study found the National Trust to be one of the most respected institutions in the country. By explaining rather than removing controversial historical items, the trust showed it “respects people enough to enable them to make their own decisions,” the study’s authors wrote.
Some trust members said the “anti-woke” movement had prompted them to show greater support for the group.
Judith Martin, 70, a member for decades, said she started attending annual meetings simply to show that recovery did not represent the majority opinion.
“To try to divide us like this and spark these fights when resources are already so limited, I think is horrific,” she added. “This fabrication of a culture war, I think is despicable.”
“A gentle thank you”
When visiting Daleham late last year, visitors enjoyed tea and scones in the cafe after touring the house. Young families stroll through the rolling hills of Daleham Park. Elderly couple walking hand in hand in the restored garden.
A new sign near the statues of enslaved people says they “reveal the reality of the colonial system at the end of the 17th century,” before telling visitors they can take an alternative route if they “don’t want to see these objects.”
On a nearby table lies a specially commissioned poem that reflects “a world in which so much pain can coexist with so much opulence”.
Sally Davis, 60, said the displays were a “gentle acknowledgment” of the past.
Ms. Davis, who is white, and her husband, Richard Davis, 63, who is black, were visiting with their 2-year-old granddaughter, who was waddling on the path outside their house. .
They said they lived nearby and came here often. Davis, whose parents are from Jamaica, was excited to learn about the deeper context, especially the kneeling statue.
“When I first came here, the tour guide was a little worried about the presence of the figures, and I said, ‘Look, you don’t need to worry about it, it’s just one of those things,'” Mr. Davis said. “But you have to put it out there so people can understand how a place like this came to be.”
