The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Digital database of newspapers reveals truth of British slavery
Records are evidence of a grim period in our history when many captive servants fled lives of servitude
A digital database of fugitive slave adverts from 18th-century British newspapers was launched yesterday.
The database, a result of the Runaway Slaves in Britain project by Glasgow University, reveals hundreds of stories of enslaved people who had escaped their captivity.
More than 800 advertisements were placed by masters and owners offering rewards to anyone who captured and returned the runaways.
The escapees represent a tiny portion of a far larger number of enslaved and bound people, as many masters did not place newspaper advertisements, and a great many slaves and bound servants do not appear to have tried to escape.
Most runaways were of African descent, though a small number were from the Indian sub-continent and a few were native Americans – so-called Red Indians.
The adverts paint a fascinating picture of the men, women and children who ran away in an attempt to be free off servitude, providing a rich source off information about the enslaved and slavery in 18th-century Britain.
The written notices described the mannerisms, clothes, hairstyles, skin markings, and skills of people who otherwise would have been completely absent from the official historical records of the time.
The adverts also include information about the work of the slaves, their homes and situations, and the lives and homes of their masters and mistresses.
Some of the runaway slaves were employed as sailors and dock workers, as well as craftsmen and washerwomen.
These adverts are important because they remind us slavery was routine and unremarkable in 18th-century Britain
The large majority were domestic servants and workers in the households of elite and mercantile families who had spent time in, or had connections with, the far-flung domains of the British Empire.
The principal sources for the project are English and Scottish newspapers published between 1700 and 1780. The database covers all the regions of England and mainland Scotland.
Professor of history at the university Simon Newman said: “We do not have the words or sometimes even the names of bound or enslaved people.
“In many cases, all that remains are the short newspaper advertisements written by masters who were eager to reclaim their valuable human property.
“These advertisements are important because they remind us that slavery was routine and unremarkable in 18th-century Britain.
“This is made very clear by the placement of these newspaper notices offering enslaved people for sale or seeking the recapture and return of enslaved runaways.
“These advertisements appeared next to the mundane and everyday news items that filled the pages of the burgeoning newspaper press.
“Slavery was not an institution restricted to the Caribbean, America or South Asia, and these short newspaper notices bring to life the enslaved individuals who lived, worked, and who attempted to escape into British society.
“This is an important resource for the understanding of slavery and telling the stories of the enslaved and slavery in Britain.”
Nelson Mundell, a research assistant on the project, said: “This project shows that it wasn’t an unusual thing to have slaves walking around the streets of villages, towns and cities the length and breadth of Britain.
“The adverts make for sobering reading as they describe scars and markings from whips or brands.”