Bristol Slave Trade
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up Statue of slave trader The Centre, Bristol, erected in 1895, Statue of Edward Colston#Toppling and removal">toppled in 2020 ">The Centre, Bristol">The Centre, Bristol, erected in 1895, Statue of Edward Colston#Toppling and removal">toppled in 2020 Bristol, a port city in the South West of England, on the banks of the River Avon (Bristol), River Avon, has been an important location for maritime trade for centuries. In the time of History of Anglo-Saxon England, Anglo-Saxon England, Bristol was the principal port for the export of English slaves to
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
. Bristol was the leading English port in the
transatlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade or transatlantic slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of Slavery in Africa, enslaved African people to the Americas. European slave ships regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Pass ...
in the 17th and 18th centuries. It has been estimated that Bristol merchants traded over 500,000 enslaved African people.


Anglo-Saxon slave trade

Before the
Norman conquest of England The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
in 1066, English slaves were exported to
Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...
from a number of ports, including
Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...
, but Bristol was the main centre, and slaves were brought there from all over the country for export. This trade was brought to an end when
William the Conqueror William the Conqueror (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), sometimes called William the Bastard, was the first Norman king of England (as William I), reigning from 1066 until his death. A descendant of Rollo, he was D ...
reluctantly agreed to ban the Anglo-Irish slave trade, as a result of a vigorous campaign by Wulfstan, Bishop of Worcester, supported by
Lanfranc Lanfranc, OSB (1005  1010 – 24 May 1089) was an Italian-born English churchman, monk and scholar. Born in Italy, he moved to Normandy to become a Benedictine monk at Bec. He served successively as prior of Bec Abbey and abbot of St Ste ...
, the
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
.


Transatlantic slave trade


Bristol's entry into the transatlantic slave trade

The
Royal African Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English trading company established in 1660 by the House of Stuart and City of London merchants to trade along the West African coast. It was overseen by the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of Eng ...
, based in the
City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...
, controlled all trade between the
Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...
and
Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
from 1672 to 1698. At this time, only ships owned by members of the Royal African Company could trade with Africa for anything. Slaves were an increasingly important commodity at the time, since the English colonisation of the Caribbean and the Americas in the 17th century had created sugar, rum, tobacco, and cotton plantations, which all needed plentiful cheap labour. The
Society of Merchant Venturers The Society of Merchant Venturers is a charitable organisation in the English city of Bristol. The society can be traced back to a 13th-century guild which went on to fund the 15th-century voyage of John Cabot to Canada. In 1552, it gained a mono ...
, an organisation of rich merchants in Bristol, wanted to participate in the African slave trade, and after much pressure from them and traders in other English cities, including
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
and Hull, the Royal African Company's
monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...
over the slave trade was broken in 1698. As soon as it was broken, Bristol commenced its participation, although it is thought that unlawful involvement in the trade had preceded this. What is thought to have been the first "legitimate" Bristol slave ship, the ''Beginning'', owned by Stephen Barker, purchased a cargo of enslaved Africans and delivered them to the Caribbean. Some typical slave prices were then £20, £50, or £100. In her will of 1693, Jane Bridges, a widow of Leigh-upon-Mendip, bequeathed her interest of £130 in this ship to her grandson Thomas Bridges, indicating that the vessel was owned in the City of Bristol. Due to the over-crowding and harsh conditions on the ships, it is estimated that approximately half of each cargo of slaves did not survive the trip across the Atlantic. Bristol became one of the biggest centres of the transatlantic slave trade between 1725 and 1740, when it is estimated that profits of 5-20% were made from the trading of black slaves. Between 1730 and 1745, it became the leading English slaving port. By the 1730s, an average of 39 slave ships left Bristol each year, and between 1739 and 1748, there were 245 slaving voyages from Bristol (about 37.6% of the whole British trade). In the final years of the British slave trade, Bristol's share of it decreased to 62 voyages, or 3.3% of the trade in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...
– in comparison, Liverpool's share increased to 62% (1,605 voyages). In 1750 alone, Bristol ships transported approximately 8,000 of the 20,000 enslaved Africans sent that year to the British Caribbean and
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
.


Number of enslaved African people traded

An estimated 2,108 slaving ventures departed from Bristol between 1698 and 1807. The average number of enslaved people on a ship was considered to be in excess of 250. It is therefore estimated that merchants in Bristol were responsible for more than 500,000 enslaved African people being shipped to the Caribbean and North America.


Triangular trade

The triangular trade was a route taken by slave merchants between England, Northwest Africa and the Caribbean during the years 1697 to 1807. Bristol ships traded their goods for enslaved people from south-east
Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...
and
Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...
, which were then known as Calabar and Bonny. They exchanged goods produced in Bristol like copper and brass goods as well as gunpowder, which were offered as payment of shares in the voyages by Bristol tradesmen and manufacturers. The ships set sail to
St Kitts Saint Kitts, officially Saint Christopher, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis constitute one ...
,
Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...
and
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
to supply English colonies requiring free or cheap labour to work on sugar and tobacco plantations, with enslaved Africans. Alongside slaves, the colonies were supplied with a wide range of goods for the plantations by the Bristol ships; this included guns, agricultural implements, foodstuffs, soap, candles, ladies' boots and "Negro cloths" for the enslaved, from which the British economy benefited. Some Bristol slave merchants were also importers of goods produced in the plantations. This meant that the Bristol economy was intrinsically linked to slave-produced Caribbean goods such as sugar, rum, indigo and cocoa. These goods were imported for sugar refining, tobacco processing and chocolate manufacturing; all important local industries which employed thousands of working-class people in Bristol and the surrounding areas.


Legacy


Racism

The slave trade significantly influenced the growth of racist theory as a method for society to justify itself. Stories of slave rebellions, runaways and attacks on plantation owners in the colonies were printed in the British press to perpetuate the myth that Black people were unreasonable and violent.


Street names, schools and public buildings

Street names such as Guinea Street, Jamaica Street, Codrington Place, Tyndall's Park, Worral and Stapleton Roads are references to Bristol's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Using the wealth generated from the slave trade, merchants invested in purchasing land, cultural buildings and upgrading ships in Bristol. The Theatre Royal, Bristol, which is the second oldest working theatre in the country, was built as a result of very wealthy subscribers (that directly or indirectly benefited from businesses involved in the slave trade) each pledging a sum of money for the building. Some buildings and institutions such as schools were named after their slave trading benefactors; for example, Colston Hall, Colston Girls School and Colston Primary School (since renamed to Bristol Beacon, Montpelier High School, and Cotham Gardens Primary School respectively) were named after
Edward Colston Edward Colston (2 November 1636 – 11 October 1721) was an English merchant, Atlantic slave trade, slave trader, philanthropy, philanthropist and Tories (British political party), Tory Member of Parliament. Colston followed his father in th ...
, Bristol's most famous philanthropist, a Bristol-born slave trader, senior manager of the
Royal African Company The Royal African Company (RAC) was an English trading company established in 1660 by the House of Stuart and City of London merchants to trade along the West African coast. It was overseen by the Duke of York, the brother of Charles II of Eng ...
and member of the
Society of Merchant Venturers The Society of Merchant Venturers is a charitable organisation in the English city of Bristol. The society can be traced back to a 13th-century guild which went on to fund the 15th-century voyage of John Cabot to Canada. In 1552, it gained a mono ...
. The Georgian House in Bristol was built for John Pinney (1740–1818) who owned several sugar plantations in the West Indies. From 1762 to 1783, Pinney lived on the island of
Nevis Nevis ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute the Saint Kitts and Nevis, Federation of Saint Kitts ...
, running his plantations, but in 1783 he returned to England and settled in Bristol. When Pinney moved to Bristol, he brought two black attendants with him, Fanny Coker and Pero Jones, both of whom he had bought in 1765. Pero was twelve years old when bought along with his two sisters, Nancy and Sheeba, then six years old. There is related original documentation held by the University of Bristol library, for example, the record of when Pinney bought Pero and his two sisters and proof of their age when bought. Pero's sisters Nancy and Sheeba were left behind to work on the Montravers plantation in Nevis. Pero died in 1798, aged 45 in Ashton, Bristol. Built in his memory, Pero's Bridge, a footbridge across the River Frome in the docks of Bristol, was opened in 1999.


Commercial

Several Bristol banks, such as the Bristol Old Bank, were founded by prominent slave traders and merchants, such as Isaac Elton. They have amalgamated and changed names many times before becoming part of other institutions, notably
NatWest National Westminster Bank, trading as NatWest, is a major Retail banking, retail and commercial bank in the United Kingdom based in London, England. It was established in 1968 by the Corporate merger, merger of National Provincial Bank and We ...
.


Profit and wealth

Residents in Bristol could financially benefit from the slave trade in a myriad of ways. This was primarily from investing in the slave voyages, which were sometimes funded by as many as eight investors. They also benefited from industries which facilitated the slave trade, for example, employment in the production of goods that were exported to the plantations and to Africa, employment in the ships which carried enslaved Africans and local goods and, from the handling and further refinement of cargoes received from the plantations. It is estimated that by the late 1780s, Bristol earned £525,000 per year from all of these slave-related commercial activities. Since this was past the peak of Bristol's participation in the slave trade, it is likely that Bristol's earnings from the commercialisation of enslaved Africans and related activities were much higher in the earlier 18th century. Whilst the Bristol economy benefited, it was primarily the merchants that owned the ships who made significant material gains in their personal family wealth. The merchants were organised as a group in the Merchant Venturers Society. Given their status with holding leadership positions in Bristol, the Society was able to successfully oppose movements to abolish the slave trade in the late 1700s in order to maintain their power and source of wealth. The slave trade in the British Empire was abolished in 1807 however the institution itself was not outlawed until 1834. Following the
Slave Compensation Act 1837 The Slave Compensation Act 1837 ( 1 & 2 Vict. c. 3) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, signed into law on 23 December 1837. Together with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 ( 3 & 4 Will. 4. c. 73), it authorized the Commissione ...
, which compensated slave owners for the loss of what was considered their property, according to the Bristol Museums, plantation owners based in Bristol claimed over £500,000, equivalent to £2bn in 2020.


In popular culture

The folk duo
Show of Hands Show of Hands is an English acoustic roots/ folk duo formed in 1986 by singer-songwriter Steve Knightley (guitars, mandolin, mandocello, cuatro) and composer and multi-instrumentalist Phil Beer (vocals, guitars, violin, viola, mandolin, mando ...
have written and performed a song entitled "The Bristol Slaver" covering the subject.


Museums

M Shed M Shed is a museum in Bristol, England, located on Prince's Wharf beside the Bristol Harbour, Floating Harbour in a dockside Goods shed, transit shed formerly occupied by Bristol Industrial Museum. The museum's name is derived from the way that t ...
in Bristol explore Bristol's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade in their "Bristol People" gallery. It features a section on the legacies of the slave trade on some of Bristol's public institutions. It features the antislavery movement as the beginning of a display on modern public protests including the Bristol Bus Boycott, treating the abolition campaign as the start of a British tradition of society campaigning. M Shed held a workshop on Bristol and the Transatlantic slave trade from September 2019 to July 2020. This workshop encouraged students to investigate historic objects, modern attitudes and opinions and to consider how Bristol was changed by its involvement in the slave trade. M Shed also held a workshop in February 2020 on "Slavery, public history and the British country house", outlining the historic links to slavery of many country houses in the south west of England.
New Room, Bristol John Wesley's New Room is a historic building located between The Horsefair and Broadmead, Bristol, England. Opened in June 1739, it housed the earliest Methodist societies, and was enlarged in 1748. As the oldest purpose-built Methodist Church ...
has an exhibition about the abolitionist
John Wesley John Wesley ( ; 2 March 1791) was an English cleric, Christian theology, theologian, and Evangelism, evangelist who was a principal leader of a Christian revival, revival movement within the Church of England known as Methodism. The societies ...
and the Methodist response to slavery.


See also

* Dinah Black * John Pinney * Slave Coast * Lancaster slave trade * Role of Nantes in the slave trade


References

{{Reflist


Further reading

* O'Malley, Gregory E. (2014). ''Final Passages: The Intercolonial Slave Trade of British America, 1619–1807''. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.


External links


bristolandslavery.com
Black British culture in Bristol Black British history British slave trade Economic history of England History of Bristol History of the Atlantic Ocean Maritime history of England Slavery in the British Empire Slavery in the Caribbean Slavery in the United States
Slave Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regards to their labour. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bondage. Enslavemen ...