Uncovering Britain’s hidden links to slavery

Historians from UCL have produced the first freely accessible database of Britons involved in slave-ownership. The resource will help people explore their family, local and regional histories, and also help increase understanding about a national past which is often obscured. Using the records of the £20m paid in compensation to slave-owners in the 1830s for the loss of their 'property' as a starting-point, the Legacies of British Slave-ownership project has documented around 46,000 individual claims and awards made to those who either owned slaves or benefitted indirectly from ownership.  "Our overall finding is that British colonial slave-ownership was of far greater significance in Britain than has previously been recognised," said project leader Catherine Hall (UCL History). "What we have done is to establish the life-trajectories of some 3,000 absentee slave-owners in Britain, and analysis of this has allowed us to trace the legacies of slave-ownership in Victorian Britain." During the three year project, the team, which also included Nick Draper, Keith McClelland and Rachel Lang, has made a detailed investigation of the around 3,000 Britons, both men and women, who received compensation. What we have done is to establish the life-trajectories of some 3,000 absentee slave-owners in Britain, and analysis of this has allowed us to trace the legacies of slave-ownership in Victorian Britain - Catherine Hall "The focus has been on tracing the legacies of these beneficiaries and their descendants through six strands.