Henry Dundas
(1742—1811)

On Saturday morning, April 15th, 2023, the CIHE presented a symposium on Henry Dundas in person at Massey College in Toronto, with participants also joining online by Zoom.  Among the speakers were Professor Joe Martin, Professor Patrice Dutil and Jennifer Dundas.  The main presentation that day came from Trent University historian Professor Christopher Dummitt who was commissioned by the CIHE to assess the historical case against Henry Dundas.  His task was to take seriously the accusations that have been made against Dundas – in Dummitt’s words to “steel-man” the case – most notably that he “delayed” the abolition of slavery, to weigh the available evidence, and to present his findings.  Professor Dummitt’s talk can be viewed HERE.

Also available at the links below are further resources including peer-reviewed articles from other professional historians that together make it abundantly clear that Henry Dundas was a life-long abolitionist, directly responsible for convincing the Scottish court to declare that no one could be a slave on Scottish soil, and a brilliant parliamentary tactician who, by personal intervention with the powerful slave-holding interests in 1792, secured the passage through the British House of Commons of the first ever measure for the gradual abolition of the slave trade – the single biggest victory to date of the Abolitionist Movement.