The cruel Yale benefactor who traded in Indian slaves

Yale served as the all-powerful governor-president of the British East India Company in Madras in southern India. It was a gift of about £1,162 ($1,486) that earned him the honour of having the university named after him. Last month, Yale issued a formal apology for the links its early leaders and benefactors had with slavery. Yale apologises for its role in the Indian Ocean slave trade.

The university has released a book on the history of the trade in slaves. The book is called ‘Yale and Slavery: A History of The Indian Ocean Slave Trade’ It is published by Simon Schuster, priced £20. Prof Yannielli says the Atlantic trade saw 12 million slaves sold over 100 years. The Indian Ocean trade, he believes, was bigger as it covered a much larger geographical area.

Founded in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1701, Yale is the third-oldest institution of higher learning in the United State. Elihu Yale sent hundreds of books on theology, literature, medicine, history and architecture to the Collegiate School of Connecticut. The money raised by selling them was used to construct a new three-storey building which was named Yale College in his honour. Even though there are no direct descendants of his, the Ivy League university perpetuates his name.

Born in Boston in April 1649, Elihu Yale moved with his family to England when he was three. He arrived at Fort St George, the White colony in Madras, as a young man in 1672 with a clerical job with East India Company. But it did not say that a name change was on the cards. In 1699 when he returned to England, Yale was a hugely wealthy man.

He built a stately home in Queen#39;s Square on Great Ormond Street. But historians say he was also known during his time in Madras for his cruelty and greed. Upon his death in July 1721, British papers described him as a gentleman known for his extensive charity. His successors accused him of corruption and unusual deaths.

He was accused of ordering the hanging of one of his stable grooms. The historian says there#39;s some doubt about the evidence in the case. But he adds that it does not #34;disagree with his character. Elihu Yale was an active and successful slave trader.

He was in charge of directing the Indian Ocean slave trade. In the 1680s, a devastating famine in southern India led to a labour surplus. Yale and other company officials took advantage of it, buying hundreds of slaves. Elihu Yale was governor-president of the Madras settlement.

He enforced the 10-slaves-per-vessel rule. Yale, he adds, #34;participated in a meeting that ordered a minimum of 10 slaves sent on every ship going to Europe. Prof Yannielli says some of Yale#39;s earlier biographers have underplayed his links to slavery. But the presence of the child in the frame, serving him and others wine, shows that slavery was integrated into his day-to-day life.

Resistance to slavery and imperialism started in the 15th Century and there were abolitionists. Yale definitely wasn#39;t one. But Yale was back at it soon, ordering transport of slaves from Madagascar to Indonesia a year later. Yale was one of the first universities in the U.

S. to abolish slavery.

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