World

Research Reveals Extensive Involvement of Bank of England and UK Financial System in Slave Trade

By David Conn

New research into Britain's slavery history indicates that the Bank of England and the British financial system were deeply involved for centuries in the enslavement and transatlantic trafficking of millions of African people. Historians compiling the Register of British Slave Traders found that the financial system's participation in enslavement was more extensive than previously understood. The Bank of England, nationalized by Clement Attlee's Labour administration in 1946, had dozens of founding financiers who were also significant investors in the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans. Dr. Michael Bennett of the University of Sheffield, who researched the Bank's historical involvement, identified 24 directors who invested in the trafficking of enslaved African people. Four of these were founding directors of the Bank in 1694, while the remaining 20 served at Threadneedle Street over the subsequent century. Christopher Puller, the last of these directors, was a shipper of weapons for the slave trade and co-owner of a 1786 voyage that trafficked enslaved people from the Gambia to Jamaica, according to the register. Puller served as a director for 11 years until his death in 1789. Nine of the 24 directors also served as governors of the Bank. Bennett's research also revealed that at least 30 founding subscribers to the Bank of England invested in the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans, including King William III and Mary II, who held shares in the Royal African Company. Bennett stated that wealth from the slave trade constituted part of the Bank's initial capital, noting that "Slave traders and their wealth were firmly embedded within Britain’s, especially London’s, private banks and financial corporations during the 17th and 18th centuries. They shaped the development of the financial system." He added, "Banks and other institutions, like insurers, provided the financial services that supported, and made great wealth from, the transatlantic slave economy. The Bank of England supported this system throughout, and directly provided financial services to the slave trade. Its clients included the Royal African Company and the South Sea Company." John Rudge, MP for Evesham, is cited as an example of a Bank of England director listed in the register. He was a director of the Bank from 1699 to 1740 and governor from 1713-15, also holding shares and serving as an assistant (director) in the Royal African Company and deputy governor of the South Sea Company. These findings complement research by historians behind the Legacies of British Slavery (LBS) archive at University College London, which documents owners of enslaved people on plantations. That research identified 16 past governors and 26 directors of the Bank of England with financial interests in the ownership of enslaved people and plantations before abolition in 1833. The Bank and the Treasury were central to paying out £20 million, equivalent to £23 billion today by one calculation, in "compensation" to enslavers under the abolition legislation, with no payments made to the enslaved and trafficked individuals. Following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, several financial institutions acknowledged their historical involvement in slavery. Dr. Nicholas Draper, who led the LBS research and was a lead investigator for the register, discovered numerous historic slave traders who founded private banks and other financial organizations. Bennett's post-BLM research found that the Bank of England had owned 599 enslaved people on two plantations. A 2022 exhibition at the Bank displayed the names of these enslaved individuals, many with European names such as Pierre, Catherine, and Alexandre, without information on their country of origin. The Bank acknowledged and apologized for the involvement of past governors and directors in the slave trade. Humphry Morice, a director and governor from 1727-29, was also an MP who defrauded the Bank to fund his trafficking operations. Professor Matthew David Mitchell, in an article on the Bank's website, described Morice as "the biggest London-based trafficker of enslaved human beings from Africa to the British colonies in America." Morice was responsible for equipping approximately 110 ship voyages between 1704 and 1732, transporting over 30,000 enslaved men, women, and children to Jamaica, Barbados, Virginia, and other locations in America. Mitchell stated, "This was his principal commercial activity, and it is for this that he must chiefly be remembered." While the Bank has acknowledged this history and apologized, the Treasury has not publicly done so, aligning with the government's stance against discussing reparations and acknowledging culpability for centuries of trafficking and enslavement. Bennett's further findings are expected to increase pressure on the government from Caribbean and African countries to address this issue. A Bank of England spokesperson stated that its 2022 exhibition explored its connections to enslavement in depth and expressed gratitude for Dr. Bennett's collaboration. In 2023, the Scott Trust, owner of the Guardian, published research showing that the founder of the Manchester Guardian and his backers profited from the enslavement of African people in Jamaica and the US. In response, the Scott Trust launched the Cotton Capital series and the Legacies of Enslavement programme, a 10-year restorative justice initiative.