The University has found evidence that King Leopold II of Belgium, whose regime was responsible for the murder of up to 10 million Africans, donated £500 to the institution on 26 September 1889.

The donation was part of a fund-raising campaign to build Armstrong College, at the time part of the University of Durham and now the Armstrong Building, Newcastle University.

During his reign, King Leopold II seized land in Central Africa and created the Congo Free State in 1885. His brutal regime used forced labour to cultivate and trade rubber, ivory and minerals and led to the deaths and mutilation of millions of people.

Details of the donation have been researched as part of an initial scoping project by one of our postgraduate students and at this stage the reason for King Leopold II’s donation remains unclear.

However, its lasting legacy in the physical form of the Armstrong building, which is still central to our campus today, must be recognised as part of our commitment to understand the history of our institution and acknowledge the injustices perpetrated in the name of imperialism and colonialism.