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| The Elihu Yale, pub, Wrexham leaderlive.co.uk |
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| The Elihu Yale pub Wrexham dailypost.co.uk |
Above image: The Elihu Yale pub in Wrexham, Wales, UK was renamed due to Yale's links with the East India Company, who were involved with the East African and Indian Ocean slave trade...
In the UK there are innumerable pubs (taverns) where the drinks and food are served at a reasonable rates. Normally called Weatherspoon pubs, they are quite popular where the brits go and get rid of their frustration and ennui.
The Elihu Yale pub, named after the 17th century English merchant of the same name, was a famous one in this town. Yale was a benefactor of Yale University in the United States and is buried in Wrexham. During the BLM protests in the UK, the Elihu Yale pub in Wrexham, North Wales, received several call to change its name. Reason: Eilhu Yale, once the Governor of Ft. St George, Madras (Chennai), an official of East India Co had links with slave trade. In 2017 the sign the firm depicting a black figure kneeling beside Yale was removed.
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| Yale sign in the Pub,Wrexhamdailymail.co.uk |
An official of of the East India Company, Yale did oversee the company's slave trading activities, according to the Yale Center for British Art. An on line petition to the town council with around 600 signatures wanted the pub it to be renamed 'Old Man Spoons' or Llwyau Hen Ddyn in Welsh in support of the Black Lives Movement.
Unaware of the historical facts, the management of Wetherspoon said 'the pub was named Yale due to his contributions in funding Yale University in US' .''The town should not be commemorating 'a slave trader who made his notoriety and fortune off the suffering of others,' Petition organizer firmly said.
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| The Elihu Yale pub Wrexham dailymail.co.uk |
Elihu Yale, born in Massachusetts, moved over to Wrexham when he was three with his parents. he never lived in the USA after that. He began carrier in India in the late 16th Century and through hard work he became the Governor of St. George Fort, an English settlement in Madras (Tamil Nadu) founded by the East India Co. According to his descendant and the owner of the pub his great-grandfather bought what is now part of the Erdigg estate, run by the National Trust of Britain which manages innumerable mansions, buildings, castles, estates, etc., owned by the decedents of officers who made their fortunes illegally in the colonies, in particular in India. The trust also manages Robert Clive's estate.
Yale retuned to India as a wealthy man and secured a name in history in 1718 when he made his famous charity “nine bales of goods together with 417 books and a portrait of King George I ”,. The small college in New Haven, Connecticut raised the money by selling the gift in Boston for some £800 and the money was used to construct a building called Yale College. American Cotton Mather was in the fore front in establishing the college.
The college changed its name as a token of its gratitude to Yale’s timely gift. But the men from the small US college never knew about Yale's ill-gotten wealth earned in Madras, India his racist attitude, besides his link with clandestine slave trade operation on the sides to make extra bucks. The humble college later became a world famous university with an endowment of USD 25 billion.
Some of the affiliated colleges of Yale were founded by men who were supremacists and who had connection with despicable slave trade. One of it was Calhoun college founded by John C. Calhoun, vice president, secretary of state, secretary of war, and a U.S. senator. He unashamedly, used his office to advocate ardently for slavery and white supremacy. In 2017,Calhoun College was renamed in honor of Grace Murray Hopper, a trailblazer in computer science. She also served as a rear admiral in the U.S. About the change of name Yale university said, ''his legacy as a white supremacist and a national leader who passionately promoted slavery as a ‘positive good’ fundamentally conflicts with Yale’s mission and values.''
The Pubs owner in Wrexham was not only cooperative and changed the name of the pub. It is no longer known as the Elihu Yale Pub. It is a good gesture on his part.
https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/wetherspoon-change-name-pub-whose-18387437
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