Trinity library named after slave-owning ex-Dean of Derry George Berkeley to be denamed

Trinity College, University of Dublin, said the name of the Berkeley Library is inconsistent with its values.

It said it will dename the library while adopting a retain-and-explain approach to a stained-glass window commemorating Berkeley, who served as the Dean of Derry and St. Columb’s Cathedral from 1724 and 1733.

As a philosopher he is best known for his contribution to subjectivist philosophy, having first popularised the concept by posing the question, ‘if a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’ in his 1710 work, ‘A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge.’

He bought several slaves to work on his Whitehall plantation in Rhode Island during the time he was serving as Dean of Derry.

Trinity’s largest library, which opened in 1967, was named in 1978 after Berkeley, who was a former librarian at the college.

Berkeley published some of his most important works while at Trinity. He also bought slaves – named Philip, Anthony, Edward, and Agnes Berkeley – to work on his Rhode Island estate in 1730-31 and sought to advance ideology in support of slavery.

The Trinity Legacies Review Working Group confirmed on Wednesday that the name is inconsistent with the university’s core values of human dignity, freedom, inclusivity, and equality.

The denaming does not deny Berkeley’s ‘importance as a writer, philosopher, and towering intellectual figure’, the university said.

His philosophical work will still be taught at Trinity and remains of significant contemporary relevance, it said, adding that a separate process will determine what the new name should be.

Trinity’s Provost Dr. Linda Doyle said: “It was our students who called on us to address the issue. We welcome their engagement, and we thank the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group for its assistance in providing evidence-based information to underpin this decision.

“George Berkeley’s enormous contribution to philosophical thought is not in question. However, it is also clear that he was both an owner of enslaved people and a theorist of slavery and racial discrimination, which is in clear conflict with Trinity’s core values.”

Professor Eoin O Sullivan, Senior Dean and Chair of the Trinity Legacies Review Working Group, said: “I am grateful to all those who contributed their time and expertise to the consideration of this critical issue. We received close to 100 submissions from members of the public, alumni and our own students and staff on this matter.

“Especially influential on our thinking has been the pioneering work at the universities of Glasgow, Dalhousie, Brown, and Harvard, all of which have faced similar issues to those we face at Trinity as we reckon with our past.”

Helen Shenton, Librarian and College Archivist at Trinity College Dublin, said: “The Library building known today as the ‘Berkeley’ started out as the ‘New’ Library in 1967. As a 21st century Library, another name change prioritises the current generation of students’ experience of a welcoming and supportive Library space. There is the opportunity to be creative and imaginative in response to this change.

“Trinity will continue to hold George Berkeley’s philosophical works in the Library collections and continue to teach and to research his works.”

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