SLAVERY

Abolitionists

The slave trade continued to expand. In the 1790s Guyana was conquered from the Dutch and Trinidad from the Spanish.

The Evangelical lobby embraced the cause.

The issue of abolition was put on hold by the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. It was held to be unwise the make changes to the existing economic system at a time of crisis. A respite in hostilities enabled the Slave Trade Act of 1807 to be passed.

Thomas Chatterton

In the 1770s Thomas Chatterton, a native of Bristol, wrote abolitionist poetry from the slave's perspective. Unfortunately, abolitionist poetry was not yet the popular form that it became in the following decade.

Location: 39 Brooke Street, EC1N 2NS. On the western side two doors up from Holborn. (orange, turquoise)

Early Eighteenth Scepticism

Slavery was criticised by John Locke.

Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe (1719) contained material about Crusoe being involved in the slave trade. The book was attacked in a satirical pamphlet that was written by Charles Gildan. Slavery was one of the subjects that he used.

Granville Sharp

Granville Sharp was opposed to slavery because he was a High Anglican who believed in Providence. He believed that the recent setbacks that the British Empire had experienced - the American Rebellion and a number of major hurricanes that had swept through the Caribbean - derived from the sin that was generated by Britons having become the leading participants in the slave trade.

Location: All Souls Church, Putney Bridge Approach, Fulham, SW6 3LA. Sharp's grave.

Website: www.allsaints-fulham.org.uk

William Wilberforce

As a young man, Wilberforce inherited an income of 8000 p.a.. He paid 9000 to secure his election as one of Hull's M.P.s. He went on a Grand Tour with the Cambridge don Isaac Milner. During the Tour, Wilberforce became an evangelical Christian.

In 1787 a meeting with Charles Middleton M.P. caused Wilberforce to embrace the causing of opposing the slavery trade. Thomas Clarkson and others supplied him with a wealth of data about how the trade was conducted.

In 1789 the House of Commons held its first major debate of slavery. Pitt the Younger and Charles James Fox both gave their public backing to Wilberforce. However, during the debate it became apparent that the House was overwhelming hostile to his argument. Therefore, he did not seek a division as he would have lost it overwhelmingly. The outbreak of the French Revolution set back radical domestic campaigns in Britain. Wilberforce further marginalised himself by not showing any passion for the subsequent war against France

Location: 44 Cadogan Place, SW1X 9RU (purple, yellow)

American Abolitionists

Olivia Box Brown

Olivia Box Brown visited Britain in the 1850s.

William Douglas

William Douglas visited Britain in the 1850s.

Anti-Slavery International

Website: www.antislavery.org

Black Lives Matter Protests

In 2020 George Floyd was murdered by Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis. Subsequently, there were Black Lives Matter protests in Britain. Colston - Brixton.

In 2022 a jury cleared four people of charges of criminal damage for the roles in the toppling of the Colston statue.

Robert Geffrye (1613-1703) was active in the slave trade.

At the start of the 2020s The Museum of The Home underwent a redevelopment. A consultation revealed that local residents wished Geffrye's statue to be removed. However, the Department Culture insisted that it should remain in place.

The slaveowner Robert Milligan (1746-1809) was a leading figure in the creation of West India Docks. A statue of him stood in front of the Museum of London Docklands. In 2020 the Black Lives Matter protests occurred. The Museum took down the figure.

In 2021 the City of London Corporation announced that it was going to remove the statues of Sir John Cass (1661-1718) and William Beckford (1709-1770) from the Guildhall. This was because men had been deeply involved in slave trade.

In 2020 City University's Cass Business School announced that it was changing its name because of Sir John Cass's involvement in the Royal Africa Company. In 2021 it was announced that it was going to be renamed the Bayes Business School after the statisician the Rev Thomas Bayes (c.1701-1761).

Location: The Bayes Business School, 106 Bunhill Row, EC1Y 8TZ (purple, red)

The Museum of The Home, 136 Kingsland Road, E2 8EA (red, grey)

The Museum of London Docklands, 1 Warehouse, West India Quay, Hertsmere Road, E14 4AL

Website: https://bayes.city.ac.uk www.museumofthehome.org.uk www.museumoflondon.org.uk/news-room/press-releases/robert-milligan-statue-statement

Court Rulings

Lord Chief Justice Holt

In 1707 Lord Chief Justice Holt made a ruling in the Court of the Common Pleas that for by the common law, no man can have a property in another, but in special cases, as in a villain, or a captive taken in war; but there is no such thing as a slave by the law of England. However, it was not to be until the Somerset ruling of 1772 that the illegality of slavery within Britain was established irrefutably.

Location: Bedford Row, WC1R 4BU. Holt's townhouse. (red, yellow)

The Somerset Case

Elizabeth Cade was active around the Somerset Case.

In 1772 Lord Chief Justice Mansfield delivered the Somerset ruling in a case that concerned James Somerset.

Lord Mansfield's great-niece Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761-1804) was the daughter of his nephew and a former slave. She was raised as a member of the judge's household. Mansfield sought to divide the professional from the personal.

Location: Bloomsbury Square, WC1B 4DA (red, brown)

The Zong Massacre of 1781

The Zong was a Dutch slaving ship that was captured by a privateer. It was acquired by the Liverpool-based William Gregson (1721-1800) slave syndicate.

In terms of the ratio of crew to slaves, the ship was carrying a double cargo. The ship's officers had a perq of being able to receive the money for two slaves that were sold. The more slaves were landed the lower their individual prices would be and the perq less remunerative.

It was claimed that the slaves had been thrown overboard because the vessel was running low on water. However, it rained and an additional three weeks water was collected. However, more slaves were cast overboard subsequently.

In part, the Zong Massacre also occurred so the slavers could profit through the insurance. The matter became infamous because it went to court. The slavers won, however, the insurers took the matter to appeal. Mansfield tried the Zong insurance case. The case was about whether or not the captain of the vessel had committed fraud. He could not be charged with murdering the slaves because they had been categorised as livestock and therefore could not be murdered. Equiano drew the matter to the attention of Granville Sharp. He sat in the court during the second trial and took notes. He then protested about how the matter had been only heard as an insurance case. He asked the Admiralty to indict the crew for murder. It proved to be unreresponsive to this suggestion.

No one was prosecuted.

(Turner s painting The Slave Ship (1840) may have been his interpretation of the Zong Case. It may have been his protest at the on-going trade to Brazil and Cuba.)

Escaped Slaves

William and Ellen Craft

A sculpture of a Greek slave by the American sculptor was displayed at American Stand the Great Exhibition. William Craft (1824-1900), a former slave, staged a protest. He did so by walking arm-in-arm with a white abolitionist.

Location: 26 Cambridge Grove, Hammersmith, W6 0LA

Mary Prince

In 1828 Mary Prince (1788-1833), a West Indian slave, was brought to Britain by her owners. Some missionaries in East London arranged her escape.

Georgia

1619 was the year in which European people first took enslaved African people to America.

That Georgia's original charter banned slavery.

The Methodist preacher George Whitefield campaigned for its introduction.

In 1774 John Wesley issued a tract that opposed slavery.

Location: The American Church, 79a Tottenham Court Road, W1T 4TD (blue, orange)

Website: https://amchurch.co.uk

Government Abolitions

Denmark abolished the slave trade in 1792. In 1794 the French Revolutionary government abolished slavery. Napoleon tried to reimpose it. In 1804 the newly independent Haiti abolished it permanently. In 1807 the British slave trade was ended. In 1833 slavery was abolished. About 20m was paid out in compensation.

In 2015 the Slavery Compensation Act of 1837 bill was finally paid off.

The London Anti-Slavery Society

The London Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1823.

The Scale of The Trade

Philip Curtin's book The Atlantic Slave Trade: A Census used port data and shipping contracts to estimate that between 20 and 30 million people were loaded on slave ships and that only about 9.5m survived the Crossing.

Slave Owners

King William III

King William III had a favourite slave. There was a collared bust of him at Hampton Court Palace.

Location: Hampton Court Way, East Molesey, KT8 9AU

Website: www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace

Slave Traders

John Newton

John Newton (1725-1807), a former slave trader, was appointed to be the Vicar of St Mary Woolnorth in 1780.

Location: St Mary Woolnoth, 1 King William Street, EC4N 7BJ (orange, purple)

Website: https://stml.org.uk

Richard Oswald

Richard Oswald was a London-based Glaswegian merchant who was active in the slave trade. Bence Island was a centre for slave trading. It had a golf course. Africans, sporting specially woven kilts, acted as caddies. He was also active in the Baltic and German linen trades. In 1757 his 60,000 loan to the government was the largest individual contribution to a subscription that helped to finance the Seven Years War.

Oswald died in 1784. He bequeathed his interest his nephews Alexander and John Anderson of Philpot Lane.

Slaving Ports

Slaves that were shipped on Liverpool-owned vessels were cheaper than those that were carried by ones that were based in Bristol and London. The reason for this was Liverpool shipowners employed their captains and factors on salaries, whereas in the other two ports the practice was for there to be a series of perquisites instead.

Slaves were bought and sold at the Exchange. They tended to compelled to wear a collar and often had been branded with a particular mark. In 1764 a writer who was published in the Gentleman's Magazines estimated that there were 20,000 in London.

Unreleased Documents

In 2014 it was the case that there were unreleased documents in the Henslowe Court facility that dated back to the 1840s. These were to do with the slave trade.

White Slaves

David Backhouse 2024