- The non-ministerial government department has withdraw displays and a blog
- Tony Adler, 69, first complained about the archive’s lack of balance in 2009
- The organisation, based in Kew, west London, have finally admitted their material lacked ‘due impartiality’
The National Archives has removed a series of displays and a blog post after being accused of ‘anti-British Empire-bashing’.
Retired history lecturer Tony Adler, 69, first complained to the organisation in 2009 after seeing a description of British colonialism as ‘profoundly oppressive’.
The caption was part of an exhibition at the Keeper’s Gallery museum, where visitors are introduced to historic moments covered by the archive’s 11 million records.
The National Archives has removed a series of displays and a blog post after retired history lecturer Tony Adler, 69, accused them of anti-British Empire-bashing
The organisation initially rejected the complaint but then agreed to reword it after Mr Adler appealed to their chief executive.
Mr Adler also complained about a blog post discussing the partition of India, arguing that it took an anti-British stance on the historical event.
He took further issue with curators’ failure to mention William Wilberforce’s successful campaign to abolish the slave trade.
The organisation also didn’t make clear in the caption of a picture of HMS Daphne carrying slaves in the Indian Ocean in 1868 that the vessel was used to police seas and prevent slaving from east Africa and the Arabian peninsula, he said.
And now the archive, a non-ministerial government department based in Kew, west London, have admitted presenting Britain’s colonial history without ‘due impartiality’.
Responding to criticisms of ‘Empire-bashing’, it replaced its contentious displays with ones discussing different topics and removed the offending blog post so it could be edited.
Mr Adler complained that the National Archives didn’t make clear in the caption of a picture of HMS Daphne carrying slaves in the Indian Ocean in 1868 that the vessel was used to police seas and prevent slaving from east Africa and the Arabian peninsula
‘An internal review of the complaint found that, while the majority of the blog did meet our editorial guidelines, there were some parts that required further editorial review,’ a spokeswoman told The Times.
‘The blog in question was therefore temporarily taken down for review.’
Addressing the use of the phrase ‘profoundly oppressive’ in the display, she said it was ‘more emotive’ than other sections of the gallery, but that the archive was committed to its ‘overall interpretative approach’.
The internal review, which followed a complaint by Mr Adler in May 2015, found that information on display boards was accurate but should have been expanded and enhanced.
Mr Adler told The Times he was pleased his complaints were taken seriously but still believes the displays are ‘unremittingly anti-British’.