A man from Guyana and Mahatma Gandhi in Hull

THERE IS A GARDEN close to the Wilberforce House Museum and other museums in the old part of Hull (Yorkshire). At one side of this well-tended space, the Mandela Gardens, with his back to the Wilberforce House, there is a bust of the Indian freedom fighter Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948). The bust was created by an artist from Maharashtra, Jaiprakash Shirgaonkar (born about 1952). When I saw it, I wondered whether Gandhi had ever visited Hull. I do not think he did. On the back of the plinth that supports the bust, there is an inscribed plaque, facing Wilberforce House, with some words spoken (or written) in May 1983 by Sir Sridath (‘Sonny’) Ramphal (1928-2024), who was born in what was British Guiana. They read:

“I invite each and every one of you, citizens of Hull and other friends, to question whether any can take pride in the work and achievements of Wilberforce and the Anti-slavery Movement if, as a nation, as a world community, we fail to take a righteous and uncompromising stand against apartheid. By what quirk of logic, what twist of values can we celebrate emancipation and tolerate apartheid? …”

These words were spoken (or written) in 1983, and apartheid ended in South Africa only in 1994.

The bust of Gandhi was unveiled in October 2018. The following year, Gandhi’s grandson Gopal Gandhi (a former IAS officer and diplomat who was the 23rd Governor of West Bengal, serving from 2004 to 2009) visited Hull to celebrate what would have been the Mahatma’s one hundred and fiftieth birthday. In anticipation of his visit, one of Hull’s then councillors Dave Craker said:

“Hull has a long history of being a city that, like Gandhi, promotes and fights for freedom and civil liberties, so it’s fantastic that we are able to welcome his grandson, Gopal Gandhi, this summer to celebrate his grandfather’s 150th birthday.” (https://news.hull.gov.uk/24/05/2019/gandhis-grandson-coming-to-hull-for-grandfathers-150th-birthday/).

So, even if the Mahatma never visited Hull, at least one member of his close family managed to get there.

Returning to Ramphal, whose words are at the back of Gandhi’s monument, he did have a significant connection with Hull, and visited the city. In 1983, this former Commonwealth Secretary General (from 1975 to 1990) gave a lecture at the University of Hull, which had awarded him an honorary degree.