Lankelly Chase is an endowed foundation, meaning that our income has come from our investments.

Our endowment originated in the combined legacies of Major Alfred Allnatt and Ron Diggens, who had worked together in the development of land and property.

A substantial bank loan from RBS provided the capital for the development of the Chase estate in north London, and this was followed by the creation, acquisition, merger and sale of property companies that allowed both men to accumulate and gift substantial wealth.  

Although Lankelly Chase’s endowment may not appear to have originated in overtly harmful colonising practices, we came to see that capital accumulation occurs through ongoing processes of colonial appropriation and exploitation.

Our endowment is embedded within the system of what scholars such as Cedric J. Robinson have called ‘racial capitalism.’

To be specific, if not comprehensive, the initial loan for the development of the Chase estate came from a bank whose predecessor institutions and directors were owners of slaves and provided loans to plantation owners in the Caribbean (this is documented in RBS’s 2006 ‘Historical Research Report: Predecessor Institutions Research Regarding Slavery and the Slave Trade’).

Indeed, many of the institutions and practices central to the UK’s centres for global investment, the City of London and Edinburgh – where all of the funds we invest in are based – have their roots in the Atlantic slave trade.

For example, UCL’s Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery lists James Cazenove as one of 17 signatories who requested British military intervention in the French colony of Saint-Domingue (now known as Haiti) in 1794. Their motive was to defend their commercial interests in the island’s plantation economy amidst the successful slave rebellion which took place that year, and which led to the abolition of slavery throughout France’s colonies. James Cazenove was also father and father-in-law to the founders of Cazenove & Co, a firm which continues today as part of Schroders plc and is one of the primary investment managers serving UK foundations and trusts, including Lankelly Chase.

As an investor in global capital markets over several decades, we have also profited from countless institutions – including, until 2021, fossil fuel companies – which make up the neocolonial economic system.

We tried to approach our investments in a way that actively built towards the change we were seeking. However, we reached a point where we could no longer reconcile our position as an owner and active accumulator of private financial capital with a mission anchored in social, and particularly racial, justice and equity.