Legacies of Empire report published

The University has announced the publication of 'The University of St Andrews and the legacies of empire, 1700-1900', a report which examines in detail the ways in which the University of St Andrews has benefitted from, participated in, or supported British colonialism and imperialism. It is accompanied by the Legacies of Empire website.

The Berry Bequest begs particular mention for its significance to the University's survival in the difficult financial times of the 19th century and its relationship to the exploitation of Indigenous people and land in Australia.

The Berry Chair was established in 1897 following a bequest made by David Berry in acknowledgement of his brother Alexander’s intention to leave money to the University of St Andrews. Alexander Berry was a ship's doctor, then a trader and plantation-owner, from Fife who had studied at the University. The Berrys' enormous wealth derived from trade in Oceania and, later, from a plantation in Australia. The Berry bequest funded several appointments and other projects in the University, but the Chair in English is the only one to retain the Berry name. The bequest has not formed a distinct part of the University's accounts for several decades and does not directly fund the Chair in English.

Recent holders of the Berry Chair include:

• Professor Lorna Hutson (now Merton Professor of English Literature, Oxford),
• Professor Anne Coldiron (now Emerita, formerly George Matthews Edgar Professor of English at Florida State University)

Alexander Berry obtained a grant of 10,000 acres from the Governor of New South Wales, Australia, in the early 1820s in exchange for maintaining 100 convicts. In 1822, Berry occupied land at Shoalhaven which had been inhabited and managed for generations by Indigenous people and which is now the subject of a successful Native Title claim by the South Coast People.

Although David Berry's treatment of Indigenous Australians was described as considerate in obituaries in the Australian press, the Berrys' behaviour reflects common European values of the time: Alexander Berry intimidated local people with firearms and handcuffs and was engaged in the practice of exhuming the remains of Aboriginal people and sending them to Britain as specimens.

The School has begun a process to acknowledge publicly the complex history of the Berry legacy through a research colloquium held in 2023; further public events will follow.

The School acknowledges that the material and intellectual benefits we have derived from the bequest are founded on the knowledge, practices and natural resources of the South Coast People, other Indigenous people of Oceania, and convict labourers. We are considering how to acknowledge and use privileges that came in part from the colonisation of land and claims to its exclusive use that were not recognised by the local Aboriginal Australian communities.  We are grateful for the guidance of Indigenous scholars in reconsiderations of Berry's legacy and in engaging with those communities who historically and presently are affected by the Berrys' appropriation of land. We are developing resources and activities to support Indigenous scholarship and creative work. Further details will be announced in due course.

Following the School's work over the last few years researching and reconsidering the colonial history of the Berry bequest, the decision was taken to emphasise and foster global, transnational, postcolonial, and Indigenous studies in the appointment of a new Chair. Postgraduate scholarships in these areas will complement this work. It is envisaged that holders of the chair will take a leading role in the ongoing work of recognition and that the designation of the area of their Professorship will reflect their particular academic approach to such work.

This process marks a new period in the history of the Berry Chair.