Elihu

Since then, one name that has come under intense scrutiny in India is that of Elihu Yale, the man after whom the Ivy League university is named.

Often described as a connoisseur and collector of fine things and a philanthropist who generously donated to churches and charities, Elihu Yale is now in focus as a colonialist who plundered India and - worse - traded in slaves.

The apology was accompanied by the release of a 448-page book - Yale and Slavery: A history - by Prof Blight that gives an insight into just how much Elihu Yale profited from slavery.

And it's well documented that starting in 1713, Elihu Yale sent hundreds of books on theology, literature, medicine, history and architecture, a portrait of King George I, fine textiles and other valuable gifts to the Collegiate School of Connecticut.

Historian and family member Rodney Horace Yale who wrote a biography of Elihu Yale in the 19th Century says his "donation made the precarious existence of Yale college a blessed certainty".