Two U.K. companies — insurer Lloyd's of London and pub chain Greene King —are apologizing and pledging charity donations after research publicized how founders had benefited from the slave trade.
An academic database put together by The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership recently detailed that founders of Lloyd's and Greene King received compensation linked to slavery.
One entry shows that the British government paid Greene King founder Benjamin Greene to surrender several plantations in the Caribbean after the country abolished slavery in 1833.
In a statement, Greene King CEO Nick Mackenzie pledged that the more than two-century-old company would substantially invest in black and minority communities and support diversity.
The apologies from Greene King and Lloyd's of London also come as anti-racist protesters, spurred on by the police killing of George Floyd, zero in on racist elements of U.K. history.
