Slave Trade Records from Liverpool, 1754-1792

From the mid-eighteenth century, Liverpool emerged as the dominant British port in the development of Britain’s transatlantic slavery economy. This collection sheds light on this dark period of British history by bringing together the papers of prominent figures and institutions connected with the city that were involved in the business of slavery: merchants, slave ship owners and captains, insurance brokers, bankers, and other businesses and trades associated with this infamous commercial enterprise.

The documents cover many aspects of transatlantic slavery, from the exchange of goods for enslaved people with indigenous merchants on the west coast of Africa, to instructions for slave ship captains navigating the “Middle Passage” across the Atlantic. The sources in this collection likewise supply much information regarding the sale and prices paid for enslaved Africans throughout the Caribbean. There are also accounts of colonial products shipped back to Liverpool. Liverpool Slave Trade Records, 1754–1792 consequently provides insights into the profit motive that drove this commodification of people.

Liverpool was at the centre of other Atlantic trade routes. The papers of ship owner, James Brown, who traded salt, mainly between New Orleans and Liverpool, are therefore included as a supplement. These sources date between c.1809–1898.

By the 1740s Liverpool overtook Bristol and London to become the leading British slave-trading port, whether measured by the number of ships dispatched to Africa or the number of slaves carried across the Atlantic Ocean.

Kenneth Morgan, Brunel University

Insights

Once a small village, during the mid-seventeenth century Liverpool’s development was catalysed by Britain’s increasing involvement in the lucrative Atlantic slave trade. Situated on the river Mersey, Liverpool was a natural link between Britain and emerging colonial markets.

At the close of the eighteenth century Liverpool accounted for 80% of Britain’s activity in the Atlantic slave trade. According to Kenneth Morgan, throughout this period Liverpool’s ships displaced over one million enslaved people to the “New World”. This valuable collection grants key insights into the city’s development as a major port during the mid to late eighteenth century and how it functioned, economically, on a daily basis.

The documents in this collection evidence the geographically vast, colonial trading networks that those who were involved in the trade of enslaved people operated within and exploited.

This collection documents the growth and economics of the transatlantic slave trade. Yet it also grants key insights into development, particularly on the economic front, of Britain’s empire. Indeed, the collection serves as a stark reminder of the way in which slavery underpinned Britain’s colonial expansion.

The collection includes the papers of several merchants — Thomas Case, Nicholas Southworth, Thomas Leyland, and David Tuohy — who were involved in the trade in enslaved people. The papers of James Brown (who mostly traded salt) are also included as a supplement. These documents shed light on the period following the abolition of transatlantic slavery. They likewise highlight how Liverpool was at the centre of a number of lucrative markets.

Liverpool Slave Trade Records, 1754–1792 includes a large volume of financial documents — bills of exchange, invoices, accounts, and other financial documentation. It also features a good deal of private correspondence from leading figures involved in the transatlantic slave trade. The dispassionate nature of these documents can be shocking. Yet they remind us that involvement in Britain's West Indian plantation economy was once an acceptable and highly sought after commercial opportunity for investors and merchants.