Liverpool: the Slave-Trading Capital of Britain

Some of my earliest memories of Liverpool were oppressive. When I was a wee nipper my mum would occasionally take me on the train to the city. 

I always felt gloomy to see some of the large derelict buildings along the track, as we got nearer to departure.

Back then, signs of the wartime damage left behind after devastating Luftwaffe raids were still visible. I knew about a lot of the WW2 history even as a child. However, when we reached the heart of the city the terrible feelings of oppression increased. 

The sights of the large sombre stone buildings imbued me with strange kind of despair and a desperate longing to get away, as fast as possible. 

For some time afterwards I was never quite sure why the distressing vibrations I got from that city were so intense. However, later on I discovered that Liverpool had been highly prominent concerning the slave trade. 

The very bricks and mortar of many prominent buildings therein were created with profits from the blood and suffering of enslaved humans. Several streets were also named after Liverpool mayors and other leading figures who promoted the slave trade. This was something that we have never been taught about at school.

Therefore, even before I comprehended the city’s evil slave heritage, I instinctively knew that something was just ‘not right’. I could feel it in my bones – it was just not right at all!

It always felt 'wrong' to simply be there and my instincts screamed at me to leave - as soon as possible!

The unspeakable horrors of Liverpool’s extensive slaving history had for me always been left simmering, just under the austere physical surface of the place, on deeper psychic levels. 

A great deal of Liverpool’s prosperity came from slavery. 

Above: the River Mersey into Liverpool 

Virtually all the principal inhabitants of the town, including the mayors, town councillors and MPs, happily invested in the slave trade, and profited extremely well from it.The affluence and expansion of Liverpool was closely connected with its huge commitment to slavery.

During the 18th century Liverpool was Britain’s foremost slaving port.Between 1700 and 1807, ships from Liverpool carried about 1.5 million Africans across the Atlantic in circumstances of enormous brutality. Around 779 slave ship captains were active in Liverpool between 1785 and the abolition of the trade in 1807.

Liverpool was somewhat late entering the slave trade. However, by 1740 it had exceeded both Bristol and London as the slave-trading capital of Britain.

https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL6675436A/Raymund_Harris

Liverpool streets named after prominent figures who were slave trade supporters

 

Here is a selection of just a few of the Liverpool mayors who built their wealth capitals out of slavery. 

John Bridge Aspinall (1759-1830) was a foremost Liverpool merchant and slave trader. He became Mayor of Liverpool in 1803. 

George Case, Mayor of Liverpool, (1747 - 1836), Case was a trader in enslaved African people. He was accountable for at least 109 voyages.

Charles Lawrence (1776 – 1853) was another slave trader who also became a Liverpool mayor. He is also remembered as Chairman of the Liverpool & Manchester Railway. 

Bryan Blundell (1675–1756) was a  merchant involved in the transatlantic slave trade. He served as Mayor of Liverpool between 1721 and 1722 and again between 1728 and 1729.

John Bramley-Moore (1800 – 19 November 1886) was chairman of Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. He was elected Lord Mayor of Liverpool in November 1848. Much of his wealth came from the slave trade. 

In 1762, prominent slave trader William Gregson became Liverpool’s Lord Mayor and in 1784 so did his son, and associate slaver, John Gregson. Gregson was one of Britain's most productive slave merchants with at least 152 slave voyages documented to his name.

In the year 1781, the crew of the slave ship Zong jettisoned their human cargo into the sea. Over 130 slaves drowned. The ship was owned by a collective of slave traders led by William Gregson that included his two sons John Gregson and James Gregson, his son-in-law George Case, Edward Wilson, and James Aspinall. 

Subsequent to the atrocity, the owners claimed an insurance payoff of £30 for each slave tossed overboard. The insurance company initially refused to pay out, so a court case followed. 

Thomas Earle (1754–1822) was a slave trader responsible for at least 73 slave voyages  He was Mayor of Liverpool in 1787. 

Many more eminent mayors and other politicians were deeply involved in Liverpool/s slave trade. 

Even as a child I believe I was unknowingly picking up the negative vibrations left behind from the evil days of lucrative slave trading within this dark port. 

Many city buildings that the slave trade wealth created still stand. So do the street names that still celebrate the greed-ridden mayors, etc, who profited from human suffering and were behind numerous atrocities on both land and sea. 

In 1700 Liverpool was a fishing port. The population amounted to 5,000 people. However, by 1800, the place flourished and 78,000 people lived and worked in Liverpool. Thousands of people found work because of the city’s growing slave trade. This included – ship builders and fitters, carpenters, rope makers, dockers and skilled sailors to man the slave vessels. Slavery was a highly lucrative business and virtually everyone wanted a piece of the action. 

“BEYOND A DOUBT IT WAS THE SLAVE TRADE THAT RAISED LIVERPOOL FROM A STRUGGLING PORT TO BE ONE OF THE RICHEST AND MOST PROSPEROUS TRADING CENTRES OF THE WORLD.”  PROFESSOR RAMSAY MUIR, A HISTORY OF LIVERPOOL, 1907

The tip of the Church Slavery iceberg

The Church of England knew full well that it was investing in the transatlantic slave trade during the 18th century. This has recently been admitted by the head of its investment arm after it committed 100 million British pounds ($121m) to address the wrongs of links to the slave trade. 

It’s worth remembering that many clergymen in the Church of England received financial compensation when slavery was ultimately abolished in the 1830s.  96 Anglican priests received compensation in total equivalent to £46 million today. Slavery and Christianity’s part in the evil trade  spanned numerous denominations and was big business. 

So much more remains presently uncovered about the extensive Church role in the slave trade  - it may however come to light in due course. 

Biblical God commanding rape, murder and slavery 

Slave traders frequently used the bible to support their worldview. Here is one small example...

'As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the people inside will serve you in forced labour. But if they refuse to make peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the LORD your God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. But you may keep for yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.'

Deuteronomy 20:10-14

In 1797, the poet William Bagshaw Stevens, wrote of Liverpool that:

 “Throughout this large built Town every Brick is cemented to its fellow Brick by the blood and sweat of Negroes.”

Man's inhumanity to man is of course nothing new. Slavery has existed since the first band of Stone Age warriors raided other tribes and thus gained captives. Slavery has existed within all colours and creeds and can not be an issue claimed solely by any one group.

Nevertheless, this brief outline above marks a personal discovery of why a certain city gave me a very bad vibration for so many years. 

The monstrous suffering that William Bagshaw Stevens alluded to in 1797 still resides there in Liverpool's ominous buildings, etc  - for me at least!