Legacies of British Slave-ownership

Legacies of British Slave-ownership

British slave-owners who were compensated at the time slavery ended.

A database focused on British slave-owners who received (or unsuccessfully applied for) compensation, with a wealth of biographical and related information. In 1833 the British parliament passed an Act which led to the abolition of slavery in the British Caribbean, Mauritius and the Cape (South Africa). The slave trade had been abolished in 1807, but it had taken another 26 years to effect the emancipation of the enslaved. However, in place of slavery the negotiated settlement established a system of apprenticeship, tying the newly freed men and women into another form of unfree labour for fixed terms. It also granted £20 million in compensation, to be paid by British taxpayers to the former slave-owners. This project traces the ownership histories of the 4000 or so estates identified by the project's researchers, and currently extends back to 1763.

University College London Department of History

University College London Department of History

1833

A blog on the project is available at https://lbsatucl.wordpress.com/

Eighteenth century, nineteenth century