We must never forget our role in slave trade

MR Banwell (13th September) states in his letter “nobody alive today has any connection with the slave trade”. History not his favourite subject?

As a general statement it is true that school history, until recently, didn’t cover this evil with sufficient clarity. For moral, historical and contemporary reasons we must not “move on”, as Mr Banwell suggests, and ignore British involvement in slavery.

The slave trade is as much our history as World War Two is. For millions of British citizens this trade used their ancestors only a few generations ago. Much of the UK’s wealth now is due to our domination of that trade in humans over several centuries. Why should we “move on”?

Sir John Hawkins and Sir Francis Drake, well-respected South West privateers, traded slaves in the 1560s. British ships continued to lead in this business until our participation in it was banned in 1807. There is no dispute that in that period British merchants transported 3.4 million people across the Atlantic.

Between 10 and 20% of the “cargo” died during the voyage. Yet the ships had “Christian” names and every fortress where human “trade goods” were assembled on the African coast had a church. Slaves were forced to dance on deck during the voyage so that they were “in good condition” when they came to be sold, families being broken up at that stage to get a better price.

The case of the ‘Zorn’ ship was typical. In 1781 the “cargo” was ill and dying of thirst because of a navigation error; 131 humans were thrown overboard to drown; had they died on board there would have been no insurance compensation.

Bristol, Liverpool and the city of London grew rich; the trade represented more than 10% of the British economy. Coffee, bought in the Americas from the profit of selling humans, became enormously popular and the sugar used in many British homes came from the same trade. So many aspects of British wealth stemmed from this commerce, from the making of crockery to Devon lace.

When slavery was ended in British territories (1831) the owners of slaves were compensated; the sum borrowed by the Government to pay this represented 40% of its annual income. UK tax payers did not finish paying off this sum through our taxes until 2015.

Some British families with land and slaves in the West Indies became fabulously rich through this money; ordinary people (single old ladies, inheritors) received tens of pounds for the loss of one or two of their human/possessions. Many of those who got compensation were able to afford extended summer holidays in the coastal towns in the South West – even contemporary tourism here has some of its roots in slavery.

There is no comparison with other periods of history. Your correspondent is wrong about the Roman period – some “Brits” became merchants, led legions.

The Norman invasion had the aristocracies from both sides intermarrying and the Scandinavian arrival here meant the interweaving of cultures.

Mention should be made of a recent exhibition in the excellent Exeter Museum; entitled “In Plain Sight” it made the precise point that the effects of the slave trade are all around us. Had we all been the victims of that trade we would insist that it were not swept under the carpet. And in other ways, modern Britain might find its place in the world easier to navigate without a conviction that our attitudes and actions are beyond criticism.

Jeremy Hall

Exeter