Scotland’s ongoing wrestling with its problematic history of ties to the slave trade is perhaps epitomised by the row over the plaque, or the absence of it, on the statue of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, in Edinburgh’s Andrew Square.
The plaque, which accuses Henry Dundas of being “instrumental in deferring the abolition of the Atlantic slave trade”, adding that as a “result of this delay, more than half a million enslaved Africans crossed the Atlantic”, was removed by the Melville Monument Committee earlier this year, arising the ire of Edinburgh City Council.
At the end of last month, historian Angela McCarthy queried the historical foundation to the wording on the plaque, and accused the council of acting improperly in attaching it.
That latter accusation prompted a sharp response from the leader of Edinburgh City Council, Councillor Cammy Day.
Today, the saga took another twist when Dundas’s descendant, the 10th Viscount, hit back.
Viscount Bobby Melville of Edinburgh writes:
"Edinburgh City Council Leader Cammy Day’s recent letter to the editor (September 30) about the removal of the plaque on the Melville Monument is misleading.
"Unlike the City of Edinburgh, the Melville Monument Committee (MMC) discharged all of its regulatory obligations regarding the plaque. We notified every owner in St Andrew Square of our planning application, and informed them about our intention to remove the plaque. Then, we notified them again. The owners expressed not a single objection.
"The council, on the other hand, failed to take similar precautions when it installed the plaque, which are mandated by regulation. The owners, many of whom reside outside of Scotland, were left to learn about the details from the media.
"Councillor Day also appears to be unaware that the planning committee granted approval on March 2 to remove the plaque, subject to a condition regarding “method of removal”. The MMC met that condition, which was discharged on May 28.
"I would encourage the council to pay more attention to its own breaches of planning regulations – especially the continued display of unauthorised signs in the square that repeat the false accusations against Henry Dundas. These signs were subject to enforcement action, and the council promised to remove them when it installed the plaque. That was over two years ago.
"The council has made repeated errors in its approach to the plaque, from ignoring historians, to ignoring planning controls, to forgetting about the rights of the owners under the lease. The council does not own the plaque. It should stop making false accusations against the MMC, concentrate on complying with its own obligations, and take down the inaccurate and unlawful signs in St Andrew Square."
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