Sir John Hawkins: Plymouth's Dilemma?

Sir Francis Drake

In a scene familiar to Plymothians and visitors alike, Sir Francis Drake stands atop Plymouth Hoe where, legend has it, he finished his game of bowls before defeating the Spanish Armada. Where now, immortalised in bronze, he looks proudly over Plymouth Sound, past the island named in his honour and on to the open seas beyond.

It is impossible to visit Plymouth and not be aware of the esteem the swashbuckling, King of Spain's beard singeing Drake is held, even now, over 400 years since his death. A parliamentary constituency, an electoral ward, public houses, streets, businesses, shopping centres all bear (or have borne) his name, as well as a myriad others commemorating "his" defeat of the Spanish Armada.

But what of  Drakes' cousin, Sir John Hawkins? Forever remembered and reviled for his activities as a slaver - that in spite of the rather inconvenient truth that Hawkins neither "invented" the slave trade, nor was he the first European slave trader (the Portuguese had been at it for a century or more before him); nor was he even the first Englishman to participate in the trade, that dubious "honour" going to John Lok of London. Hawkins' four slaving voyages covered six years (1561-1567) and he was  accompanied by Drake on at least one occasion. These voyages introduced the concept of the "triangular trade" and made Hawkins an extremely wealthy, influential and powerful man. Firstly as Treasurer and subsequently as Comptroller, his restructuring and reorganisation of the Navy and his design of warships was as much, if not more, responsible for the victory over the Spanish in 1588 and the resultant English dominance of the seas, and thus the world for the next 300 years.

Sir John Hawkins

So, Plymouth's dilemma is what to do about Hawkins? Plymouth never profited from the slave trade to anywhere near the same extent as such ports as Liverpool and Bristol. But, it's links to Hawkins and therefore the Slave Trade can't be ignored or hidden away like a guilty secret. There is a small square tucked away behind St Andrew's Church named after him, and a plaque marking his birthplace. However, the Hawkins question is far more complex than just writing him off as an evil slave trader unworthy of more than a side note in our fine city's history. His reorganisation of the Navy lead to better ships, to better paid sailors, which in turn, as we have seen, led to an enormous shift in England's wealth and power. He is also credited with bringing the potato (and, more controversially, tobacco) to these shores. He served Plymouth as Member of Parliament, and along with Drake, founded a charity and hospital  for the relief of elderly and sick mariners. But, as was shown by an unseemly kerfuffle over the naming of a city centre pub, "Hawkins Meeting House", there is no honour for him, and, as if to underline this, in 2006 his descendant Andrew Hawkins, felt compelled to apologise for his ancestors actions in the slave trade. And, it may be said, rightly so - after all, Sir John Hawkins' family crest rather brazenly depicts the image of a female African slave - the source of his wealth and power. The failure of the City of Plymouth to acknowledge Hawkins in any meaningful way, is a failure to acknowledge the misery and pain inflicted on those victims of the Slave Trade, the repercussions of which are still felt today the world over. It also overshadows the major role that Plymouth played in the Abolitionist movement that led to the end of Great Britain's involvement in the Slave Trade, a role which should be a source of great civic pride.