Woke storm brews over steam train exhibit at Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum over slave trade

An exhbition about a train dating back to 1804 is being ‘decolonised’ over links between steam power and the slave trade. 

The display at Swansea’s National Waterfront Museum features a replica of the first steam locomotive, invented by engineer Richard Trevithick. 

From February 1804 it plied a nine-mile route from an ironworks at Penydarren to the Merthyr-Cardiff Canal. 

Trevithick had no slave trade links and by the time railways spread around the British Empire in the 1850s, slavery had been abolished in the UK for four decades. 

But museum bosses still plan to ‘relabel’ the display to say steam was used in the wider slave trade and to aid colonial expansion as part of a policy to ‘decolonise’ exhibits.     

The proposed relabelling of the exhibition will include information on the links between industrial technology and colonialism, to ‘decolonise’ the museum’s displays.

The National Railway Museum, in York, has previously changed its displays to include information about how steam-powered machinery drove sugar mills on slave plantations and cotton mills – and how railways aided colonial expansion.

Robert Poll, a heritage campaigner and founder of the Save Our Statues campaign, told The Daily Telegraph: ‘Trying to cancel trains shows the desperation of some to attack any and every part of British history.

‘We should be celebrating these amazing feats of civilisation, rather than weaving them into a false narrative of endless oppression.

‘This relentless focus on supposed negative associations of progress is leading us backwards, with science, philosophy and now industry all being systematically renounced.’

British colonialism historian Dr Zareer Masani said that it was ‘absurd how once-sensible institutions have been infected by the craze to look for slavery connections, however tenuous’.

In a statement, the museum said: ‘Although there might not be direct links between the Trevithick locomotive and the slave trade, we acknowledge the reality that links to slavery are woven into the warp and weft of Welsh society.

‘Trade and colonial exploitation were embedded in Wales’s economy and society and were fundamental to Wales’s development as an industrialised nation.

‘As we continue to audit the collection, we will explore how the slave trade linked and fed into the development of the steam and railway infrastructure in Wales.’

As well as arguments about the use of steam engines in slavery, claims have been made that some early railway investors had partly made their wealth through the slave trade.

Trevithick, a Cornishman, developed his locomotive from a steam engine he had previously invented for use on roads.

He was brought to South Wales by industrialist Samuel Homfray, who wanted to use the steam technology to create high-pressure mine pumps.

The first journey of Trevithick’s steam locomotive was able to carry ‘ten tons of iron in five wagons, and seventy men’ at 5mph.

But the train suffered a series of setbacks including being too heavy for the tracks.

It was not until 1825 that the world’s first commercial railway opened between Stockton and Darlington, using George Stephenson’s steam engines.

The National Museum Wales has launched a ‘charter for decolonising’, promising it would ‘identify collections linked to colonial aggression and the transatlantic slave trade’.

Its charter states that ‘labelling of objects needs to be honest’, adding: ‘Collections that have links to colonial aggression or the transatlantic slave trade will be labelled as such across all our platforms.’

Confirming the display of Trevithick’s train would be included, the museum said: ‘We will review this area of our collection in collaboration with our community partners to ensure that we give clear and explicit information to audiences on the sometimes-complex history of objects in our collections and the stories they tell. This will form part of our wider decolonising work.’

Steve Oates, chief executive of the Heritage Railway Association, representing Britain’s historic and preserved steam railways, said: ‘The history of railways, and the steam locomotive, is huge and complicated; but on balance they did an awful lot more good than bad.

‘It’s well recognised that the coming of steam lead to industrialisation and wealth, but it also increased access to knowledge and understanding. Even the concept of a national newspaper would have been impossible without the railways to deliver them to towns, cities, and villages.

‘It’s important to recognise the engineering triumph of Trevithick’s machine too. The coming of steam railways was the first time that humans didn’t have to depend upon animals to get to where they needed to be for example.

‘It’s of real importance that future generations get to learn the whole story. So much of what we now take for granted was either made possible or accelerated by what Trevithick and his successors did.’

A spokesman for the National Museum Wales said: ‘The Trevithick locomotive has long been used as an icon of Welsh industry. We have always acknowledged the fact that there are no direct links with the Trevithick locomotive and slavery. However, the links between steam power, railways, and slavery cannot be ignored.

‘Trade and colonial exploitation were embedded in Wales’ economy and society and was fundamental to Wales’ development as an industrialised nation.

‘Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales has begun its work on delivering our Decolonising Charter, to uncover different stories and perspectives behind objects in our collection. This is a significant programme of work and we will be working with communities to decide on which objects to review and reinterpret.

‘The exploration of how the slave trade fed into the development of the steam and railway infrastructure in Wales is one of the areas we will be exploring with communities.’