A relative of Henry Dundas has hit out after a plaque was added to a statue of his under-fire ancestor in Edinburgh.
Amid the Black Lives Matter Movement, the Melville Monument in St Andrew's Square has been subject to vandalism and calls for it to be torn down due to it celebrating Henry Dundas who was said to support the slave trade
Polo player Bobby Dundas, a distant relative of the controversial figure, claims that Henry Dundas supported the abolition of the slave trade and his statue is being 'unfairly targeted.''
Bobby Dundas is the 10th Viscount Melville ,making Henry Dundas his seven time great-grandfather
While historians say that Henry Dundas delayed the abolition of the slave trade by more than 15 years, Bobby Dundas argues that the issue is not that straight forward.
BBC reports how Bobby Dundas believes that his ancestor was actually for the abolition of the slave trade.
The Polo player claimed that Dundas placed the word 'gradual' into legislation because he 'knew it was the only way to get it abolished' in the future after it was rejected initially.
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The aristocrat said he condemns any "the thuggery and extremism" he has seen towards statues in the capital dedicated to Henry Dundas.
He also slammed Edinburgh City Council after they placed a plaque on the Melville Monument which highlighted Dundas' links to the slave trade saying it has "historical inaccuracies"
The Edinburgh City Council plinth reads: “In 2020 this was dedicated to the memory of the more than half a million Africans whose enslavement was a consequence of Henry Dundas’s actions.”
However, Bobby Dundas claims his under-fire ancestor had "no personal involvement in the slave trade" and that it was a "profound injustice" so say that he did.
