Slavery and the Building of Britain
By James Walvin

The Atlantic slave trade between Britain, Africa and the Americas transformed the economy of Britain as industry and commerce flourished on the back of its success. The processing and distribution of produce such as tobacco, sugar and cotton produced on plantations resulted in massive investment in British quaysides, warehouses, factories, trading houses and banks.

The profits built fashionable townhouses and rural stately homes for the masters of the trade. British cities such as London, Bristol, Glasgow and Liverpool grew as the slave colonies became more important, while other towns and ports scrambled to reap the benefits of this lucrative trade.










The mock-medieval castle at Penrhyn is another reminder of the ubiquity of Britain's links with slavery. The castle belonged to the Pennant family, famous for its slate quarries in North Wales, but whose major fortunes came from the Caribbean. The Pennants turned to Caribbean sugar and trade in the 17th century.

The family acquired plantations in Jamaica and held high office on that island, before a new generation returned to Britain and started trading from Liverpool. With the money the family made from these varied slavery-based enterprises, the Pennants acquired substantial holdings in Wales and also developed slate quarries. Penrhyn Castle was developed on the site of an ancient property, but it is a 19th-century version of a Norman castle. Alongside Harewood House, it provides an example of the levels of material wealth that was accumulated by those engaged in the slave trade, which was then invested into British property and land.








All Souls College, Oxford, houses one of the city's finest libraries, which is named after a former fellow who had strong Caribbean connections. Christopher Codrington was born in Barbados in 1668. His father was captain-general of the Leeward Islands and one of the wealthiest planters in Barbados. At the time, Barbados was the centre of Britain's slave islands, its sugar plantations disgorging unprecedented wealth based on the labour of enslaved Africans.

Codrington was educated at Christ Church College Oxford before becoming a Fellow of All Souls. He was a great book collector, but embarked on a military career in Europe before returning to replace his father in the Caribbean as governor-general. In the last years of his life he devoted himself to his plantation. When he died in 1710, he bequeathed his books (12,000 volumes) to All Souls. They consisted of a wide range of mainly 17th-century French and Italian books. He also left a huge legacy of £10,000 to All Souls, £6,000 of which was to be spent on building a library, and the rest on buying books. Although not formally completed until 1751, the library has been used by scholars ever since. Like so many of the buildings from this period, the library is rooted in the slave trade.


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BBC - History - Slavery and the Building of Britain

Researching African-Caribbean Family History;

By Guy Grannum
Colin Jackson the athlete traced his ancestry back to the Caribbean Researching family history can be quite challenging for African-Caribbean people because the dispossession caused by the slave trade means that ancestral links have been lost or buried. Guy Grannum suggests some useful leads on uncovering your family's past.


Introduction

Most Caribbean people have African ancestors. It has been estimated that more than 1.6 million people were transported between Africa and the Caribbean between 1640 and 1807. Once in the Caribbean, these people were enslaved and forced to toil on the plantations and in households. Although the British slave trade from Africa was abolished in 1807, emancipation of the people did not occur until 1 August 1834.

'For most people, slavery did not officially end until 1 August 1838'
Until emancipation, most African-Caribbeans were considered to be the property of their owners. This meant that they were subject to the whims of their owner and local slave laws. For example, families could be split up, people could be sold, gifted and inherited as property. The enslaved people migrated with their owners to other countries, and were often denied an education and not allowed to attend church. Therefore, enslaved African-Caribbeans are not listed in the usual records used by family historians.

Although slavery in the British Caribbean officially ended on 1 August 1834, most former slaves were apprenticed to their former masters for a period of four years. Only children under the age of six, and slaves in Antigua and the Bahamas (who had passed local laws abolishing apprenticeship) were freed immediately. Therefore, for most people, slavery did not officially end until 1 August 1838.

To research African-Caribbean people that were free before and after emancipation, the usual sources such as church registers, employment records, poor law records and wills etc can be used - most of which will be held in Caribbean archives and libraries. General guidance is available on the BBC website Family History and under useful resources.

Using these sources it should be possible for most people to trace their families back to the 1840s. Going back earlier into the period of slavery is more challenging because African-Caribbeans were viewed as property, so the name of at least one owner will be needed.

BBC - History - Researching African-Caribbean Family History


West Indians In Britain;


The term 'West Indian' originally had two meanings. The first described a person born or settled in the West Indies. The second described someone living in Britain who had a financial interest in the West Indies, such as a merchant (trader) or and owner of an estate there. These people may never have left Britain but are nevertheless referred to as West Indian merchants.


Since the settling of Caribbean countries in the 17th century Caribbean people have returned or migrated to Britain. Many planters, land owners and merchants living in the West Indies sent their children to school in Britain and may themselves have retired to Britain, bringing their servants, including slaves, with them. West Indian merchant seamen, soldiers and sailors were often discharged in Britain and decided to remain there, and many others arrived as businessmen and students.


While white Caribbean migrants were soon integrated into British population and society, black Caribbean migrants could not easily do so because of their colour. Most early black Caribbean settlers in Britain were men - discharged soldiers and sailors, or students. Since there were no Caribbean communities in England at this date, they usually married white women which meant that after several generations, descendants of these settlers would be considered white.


Although Caribbean people have settled in the UK for over 300 years it was not until 1948 that large numbers migrated to the UK and this is demonstrated in the census returns, covering the period 1891-1951. It is not possible to identify ethnic origin here although it can be assumed that the majority of migrants were of African descent and to a lesser extent European and Asian.

Tracing Caribbean Roots