THE Archbishop of Canterbury discovered recently that one of his ancestors was a slave owner, he said on Tuesday.

In a statement, Archbishop Welby revealed that his biological father, Sir Anthony Montague Browne, had an “ancestral connection to the enslavement of people in Jamaica and Tobago”.

Sir Anthony was the great-great-grandson of Sir James Fergusson, the 4th Baronet of Kilkerran (1765–1838), who had owned slaves and received compensation when slavery was abolished.

The Archbishop learnt that Sir Anthony, a former private secretary to Winston Churchill, was his biological father only in 2016, three years after Sir Anthony had died (News, 9 April 2016).

They had no relationship, and Archbishop Welby did not receive any money from him during his life or from his estate after his death, although in the statement he spoke of his “delight” at meeting his half-sister and her son.

He also reiterated the Church Commissioners’ commitment to researching links with the slave trade, and referred to a recent trip to Jamaica (News, 22 July).

The trip, he said on Tuesday, helped him to “confront the legacies of enslavement in the Caribbean and the responsibility owed to those who still suffer from the effects of this evil trade”.

In January last year, the Commissioners announced their intention to invest £100 million in a fund designed to benefit communities affected by the transatlantic slave trade (News, 10 January 2023).

In March this year, the group that was set up to provide oversight for the fund expressed the hope that it would grow to £1 billion with the support of other investors (News, 4 March).

“I give thanks to God for this journey towards healing, justice, and repair, as we take the path that Jesus Christ calls us to walk,” Archbishop Welby said on Tuesday.