A descendant of William Wordsworth has urged the National Trust to reverse an “absurd” decision to highlight the poet’s home in a slavery and colonialism report.
Christopher Wordsworth Andrew said that his great-great-great-great-grandfather had been “dumped” into a mea culpa over the historical connections of popular British estates.
A National Trust report documented how 93 properties were built and maintained at least in part through imperialism and the slave trade. Allan Bank, Wordsworth’s Cumbrian home, was included because his brother John commanded an East India Company ship.
The trust noted that although the poet and his sister, Dorothy, were “known for expressing views in opposition to slavery . . . [John had] captained two successful voyages to China in which the family invested”.
The trust
