Abominable Traffic slave trade teaching pack · 3. Olaudah Equiano (c1745-1799) was born in Nigeria, taken as a slave to America, gained his freedom, came to England, travelled extensively

1 Introduction and background p1Andy Mortimer, Director,Creative Partnerships, Cumbria

2 The transatlantic slave trade, p4its abolition and the CumbrianconnectionDr Rob David, Historian

3 Slavery as a contemporary issue p16Wendy Ridley, Advisory Teacher,Cumbria County Council

4 Ideas for using this resource in p22primary schoolsPam Tipping, Sedbergh PrimarySchool

5 Ideas for using this resource p32in secondary schoolsJames Thorp, St Benedict’s RomanCatholic High School, Whitehavenand Liz West, St Martin’s College,Carlisle

6 Index of images on the CD Rom p38

7 Detailed information about the p42sources on the CD Rom

8 Books suitable for teachers, p58school libraries and classrooms

9 Websites p62

10 Information about access, p64support and links to sources

11 Acknowledgements p68

Contents

Creative Partnerships, Cumbria is pleased to provide all Cumbrian schools with thisresource pack to support teaching and learning across the curriculum and help addressthemes of slavery, displacement, diversity, exploitation and human rights. We hope that itwill become a useful and sustainable classroom tool.

Many teachers in Creative Partnerships schools told us that they would welcome ideasfor addressing issues of multi-cultural and anti-racist education. This was confirmed bythe views of Wendy Ridley, County Advisory Teacher for Race Equality, and by evidencefrom the ‘Cumbria Attitude Survey’ (2004) and many other sources.

It seemed sensible, therefore, to look for materials that were ‘first hand’ and readilyaccessible to teachers in Cumbria. Creative Partnerships commissioned a scoping studyto explore what was out there and how it might be used. This work was carried out byDr Rob David in May 2005, with the help of Cumbria Archive Service, and provides thebasis for this pack. At the same time, the study indicated that there were also resourcesand opportunities, provided by museums, archives and other organisations further afield,which were available to Cumbrian teachers. Information about these is also included inthis pack. Other creative events and supporting activities associated with the archivalmaterial will be offered to schools during 2007.

The year 2007 marks the bicentenary of the ‘Abolition of the British trade in EnslavedPeople’ and, therefore, it became the catalyst to bring together and launch this resource.However, references to Cumbria’s involvement in the slave trade in the eighteenth centurymight also be seen in the broader context of today’s ongoing use of ‘slaves’ locally(Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay), nationally (East European girls in the sextrade in UK cities) and abroad (child labour in the clothing industry of several countries).These are issues that impact on the young people of Cumbria today and inform theirunderstandings and attitudes. This is not simply a ‘history’ resource.(See Section 3: Slavery as a Contemporary Issue.)

As well as the records and artefacts, the dialect, family and place names of Cumbriareveal that this part of the British Isles has hosted waves of immigrants - some invaders,some enticed, some enslaved - for thousands of years. We believe that we should useour knowledge of this rich heritage to inform creative approaches to a 21st centurycurriculum because, as a Year 8 student in a Whitehaven school suggested, “slaverymeans something to us today because it shows what our ancestors did or made peopledo years back. It shows how wrong it is and that we don’t want it to happen again.”

Andy Mortimer, Director, Creative Partnerships, CumbriaOctober 2006

1 Introduction and background

“the abominable traffic” “the abominable traffic”

1

Additional useful definitionsassociated with chattel slaveryand the transatlantic slavetrade can be found on theUnderstanding Slavery website:www.understandingslavery.com

Front cover image: Source 25from a photograph of shacklesfound in a house in Bowness onWindermere where WilliamWilberforce stayed. Whilstthere is no evidence of a directconnection between thesearticles and the slave trade ofearlier centuries, they remainpowerful symbols ofenslavement for all times.

slave, n. 1 (historical) -a person who is the legalproperty of another or othersand is bound to absoluteobedience; a human chattel;a person treated as propertywith no possessions and norights.

2 The transatlantic slave trade,its abolition and the Cumbrianconnection Dr Rob David, Historian

Source 12b: The plantation accounts listing negro slaves and animals on the Christchurch Plantation,31 December 1766 (reproduced with permission of the Lowther Estate Trust)

Origins in the 16th centuryThe transatlantic slave trade dates backto the sixteenth century and, though Britaindid not initiate it, British merchantsdeveloped the sophisticated structures thatenabled its expansion. Initially Britainsupplied slaves for the Spanish andPortuguese colonists in America. After theestablishment of British settlements in theCaribbean and North America, British slavetraders increasingly supplied Britishcolonies.

NB. A timeline of transatlantic slavery isbeing developed at:www.brycchancarey.com./slavery/chronol.htm

The Triangular Trade from the 17thto the 19th centuriesThe image most people have of theslave trade is connected with the notorioustriangular trade. From the 17th to the 19thcenturies, millions of black people fromnumerous African countries were takenacross the Atlantic to work on theplantations of the West Indies and thesouthern states of America. The productsof their slave labour were then shippedback to Europe.

The trade was dominated by Britain,particularly during the 18th century.Between 1710 and 1810, 1.75 millionslaves were imported into Britishpossessions in the Americas. Ships operatedout of British ports, principally Liverpool,London and Bristol, but Lancaster andWhitehaven were also involved. Shipsdeparted from British ports for Africa takingmanufactured goods which were thenexchanged for slaves. Slaves were boughtfrom African traders and Europeanentrepreneurs working in West Africa.During the terrible voyage of the ‘MiddlePassage’ across the Atlantic, on average,one in eight of the slaves being transporteddied. After the ‘Middle Passage’ the slaveswere sold to plantation owners in the West

2 The transatlantic slave trade,its abolition and the Cumbrianconnection


Indies and North America and the shipsreturned to Britain with tobacco, cotton,indigo, sugar and other goods. Cheaplabour was central to the economicprosperity of the plantations. The Britishgovernment encouraged the slave tradethrough the provision of royal charters totrading companies and also through givingthe Royal Navy instructions to police thetrade. The government and its agencieswere involved in the regulation and controlof the trade in Africa, on the sea and in theplantations. As the number of slavesoutnumbered the settlers, complex rulesand legal codes came into play to ensurecontrol of the slave population by thegovernments and settlers in the Caribbeanand the Americas.

The number of people involved in thisactivity was enormous, ranging from thosewho had simply a share in a ship (whichmust have included many people withmoney to invest), the merchants andmanufacturers, the captains and crewsof the ships, the people who organisedthe supply of slaves in Africa and theplantation owners who purchased them.

3. Olaudah Equiano (c1745-1799)was born in Nigeria, taken as aslave to America, gained hisfreedom, came to England,travelled extensively and in 1789wrote The Interesting Narrative ofthe Life of Olaudah Equiano,which became a best seller;

l The ideas of the American War ofIndependence raised questions aboutcontinuing the institution of slavery ina political system that promoted that itwas a ‘self-evident truth’ that all menare created equal and are endowedwith ‘certain inalienable Rights’ notably‘Life, Liberty and the Pursuit ofHappiness’. The writings of Tom Painein The Rights of Man were alsoinfluential;

l Involvement in the anti-slaverymovement appealed to people for avariety of reasons. Some, such as theQuakers (including James Cropper),supported it for religious reasons, whileothers (such as Henry Brougham) wereagainst it on humanitarian grounds.The founding, largely by Quakers, ofThe Society for Effecting the Abolition ofthe Slave Trade in 1787 was importanthere.

l Women also became involved,campaigning in particular against theenslavement of women and children;

l High profile political events such as theslave rebellions in Jamaica in 1760 andHaiti in the 1790s, and the failure of theSierra Leone scheme to repatriateslaves in Africa in the 1780s, raisedawareness that issues associatedwith the slave trade could have aninternational impact.

During the 1770s and 1780s the Quakersused their networks to organise petitions toParliament against the slave trade. Supportersof the slave trade challenged the Quakersby organising petitions in favour. In 1788 anAct was passed to regulate the number ofslaves which could be carried on ships on theMiddle Passage, but for the next two decadesthe French Wars (1793-1815) divertedattention from the abolition movement.

This trade was lucrative. There were losses(for example ships were wrecked, manyAfricans died on the voyage, and not allplantations were successful), but aslong as there were profits to be made itflourished. In 1749, when the trade was atits height (although not the Whitehaventrade), a pamphlet published in Englandproclaimed

‘our West India and African trades are themost nationally beneficial of any we carryon….The Negroe Trade….may be justlyesteemed an inexhaustible Fund of Wealthand Naval Power to this nation’.

Challenges to the TransatlanticSlave Trade (1760s – 1807)The slave trade began to be challenged bywhite and black abolitionists in Britain. Theleading white abolitionists includedGranville Sharp (1735-1813), WilliamWilberforce (1759-1833), ThomasClarkson (1760-1846) and HenryBrougham (1778-1868). Black abolitionistsincluded Ottobah Cugoano (dates of birthand death unknown), Ignatius Sancho(1729-1789) and Olaudah Equiano(c1745 - 1799). Many of the whiteabolitionists, but not the black abolitionists,had links with Cumbria. During the 18thcentury, the climate of opinion regardingslavery changed:

l Granville Sharp led the white abolitionistmovement in Britain from the 1760s;

l Prominent black abolitionists in Britainwere also important in keeping slaveryin the public eye:

1. Ottobah Cugoana (dates unknown)was born in Ghana, taken as aslave to Grenada, and came toEngland where he obtained hisfreedom. In 1787 he publishedThoughts and Sentiments on theEvil and Wicked Traffic of theCommerce of the Human Species;

2. Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) wasprobably born on a slave ship,became a child slave in Greenwich(London), and later a Butler and onretirement opened a grocers shop;

Source 32: Panel from The Quaker Tapestry(© The Quaker Tapestry, Kendal)

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The Act of 1807British participation in the slave trade wasabolished by act of the British Parliamenton 25 March 1807. (Note that it was thetrade in slaves that was abolished, not theinstitution of slavery, which continuedunabated in the West Indies and in NorthAmerica). However enforcement was noteasy and in 1811 Henry Broughamorganised the passing of the Felony Actwhich made trading punishable by fiveyears imprisonment or fourteen yearstransportation. The Royal Navy positionedships along the West African coast and offEast Africa and in the Caribbean to enforcethe ban, and slave ships continued to beintercepted into the 1880s. It was estimatedthat in 1807, 600,000 slaves were still atwork in the West Indies.

Completing the process ofabolition 1807 - 1838Despite Britain’s initiative in 1807, slavescontinued to be transported across theAtlantic, particularly to the booming economiesof Brazil and Cuba. One of the RoyalNavy’s main tasks was to suppress thistrade on the West and East African coasts.Between 1810 and 1867 it is estimated thatanother 2,737,900 slaves were shippedacross the Atlantic. Other Europeancountries did not immediately follow Britain’slead - abolition only occured in Sweden in1813, the Netherlands in 1814, France in1817, Portugal in 1819 and Spain in 1820.

The abolitionists assumed that, with theabolition of the slave trade, slavery wouldwither away as the supply of slaves dried upand that, over a period of time, existingslaves would acquire rights and freedoms.By 1822 it became obvious that there neededto be a further movement for the abolition ofslavery. Henry Brougham was central to thismovement. Abolitionists promoted the ideaof an alternative trading system with Africancountries in which Africa could both be asource of raw materials for British industryand a market for British goods, and thattherefore there was no continuing need totrade in slaves. As time went on theeconomics of slavery on the West Indianplantations were increasingly questioned.


The 1832 Reform Act resulted in a Houseof Commons more sympathetic to the anti-slavery movement. Discussions overemancipation focused on whether it shouldbe immediate or gradual and whether theplantation owners should be compensated.No one suggested that the slaves shouldbe compensated. In 1833 Parliament,encouraged by Henry Brougham, abolishedthe institution of slavery throughout theBritish Empire - an Act which came into forcein 1834. All those enslaved and over 6 yearsof age were given the status of ‘indenturedlabourer’ prior to full emancipation in 1838.When slavery finally ended in 1838, overthree quarters of a million slaves were freedin the British colonies, and the plantationowners received £20 million in compensation.After 1838, Britain, rather self-righteously,campaigned for abolition elsewhere, despitehaving created the indentured laboursystem which was later used to justify thetransportation of many thousands of Indiansaround the world to work as indenturedlabour. From the 1840s slavery was abolishedin the colonies of other European countries.However slavery continued in the southernstates of the United States until 1865, inCuba until 1886 and Brazil until 1888.

The slave trade has been called the AfricanHolocaust, though the word Maafa issometimes used to distinguish the trans-atlantic slave trade from the exterminationof the Jews and others in the twentiethcentury. Estimates of the numbers involvedin the Maafa vary. Shipping records suggest12 million, but this may be an underestimateand it may have been nearer 20 million.Some historians have suggested that thoseaffected may have numbered between 50and 100 million.

seems to have functioned prior to 1720and again after 1750. During the 1730sand 1740s, Whitehaven’s tobacco tradewas very successful - second only toLondon - but during the 1750s, Glasgowdominated the trade.

The Whitehaven slave trade lasted from1710-1769 during which 69 slave voyageswere fitted out (between 1-2% of totalvoyages made by British slave ships):

1710-1721 8 ships involved in slavevoyages

1722-1749 Tobacco trade flourished - noships involved in the slavetrade though Walter Lutwidgemay have sent ships normallyinvolved in the tobacco tradeon 3 slaving ventures toAngola (1733-9) - but thesewere isolated ventures

1750-1759 18 ships involved in slavevoyages

1760-1769 43 ships involved in slavevoyages (the busiest yearwas 1763 with 9 ships)

In comparison 1250 ships departed fromLiverpool, 500 ships from London and 470 shipsfrom Bristol between 1750 - 1769. 86 shipsdeparted from Lancaster between 1757-76.

Traders and investors

Between 1710-1721 Thomas Lutwidge(Senior) with his nephew Walter Lutwidge,fitted out 5 of the 8 ships involved in theslave trade. He was initially involved in thewine trade and later in the tobacco and sugartrade, so slave trading was an extension ofhis American interests. His first slave venture,The Swift, failed because the 95 slaves onboard were taken by a French privateer.His letter books (1739-49) which areavailable at Whitehaven Record Office(YDX79) include references to his interestsin the trade. In 1749 he was in correspondencewith John Hardman of Liverpool about usingsome of his ships which were lying idle atLiverpool for slaving in Guinea.

Thomas Rumball fitted out one of the eightships and was Master on five of the ships.

The Slave Trade in CumbriaCumbrians were involved in the slave tradeand the institution of slavery in a number ofways. Whitehaven was the only Cumbrianport involved in the Triangular Trade, andthat was only for a relatively few yearsduring the 18th century. However Cumbriantraders and mariners were also involved inthe slave trade at other ports - in particularLancaster and Liverpool - and Cumbrianmerchants who traded with the West Indiesand the Americas were probably tradingcommodities that had used slave labour(such as sugar, tobacco and rum). Someproducts manufactured in Cumbria wereexported to Africa as part of the TriangularTrade. In addition some Cumbrian landownersowned slaves through their ownership ofplantations in the Caribbean. A small numberof Black people lived in Cumbria in the 18thand early 19th centuries, and some of thesemay have arrived in Britain as a result of thetransatlantic slave trade. Many Cumbrianswere also involved in the abolition of the slavetrade, and one of the leading abolitionists,William Wilberforce, spent many summerholidays in the Lake District.

The Slave Trade and WhitehavenThe slave trading era

Whitehaven’s prosperity between 1688 andc1750 was based on importing tobacco forre-export (1,639,193lbs in 1712; in 1721 therewere 24 vessels listed as sailing to Virginiafor tobacco) and exporting textiles, shoes,clothing, horse equipment and iron goods toVirginia and the West Indies, and coal morelocally. Sir John Lowther was instrumental inboth improving the facilities of the port and inattracting maritime expertise into the town.Isaac Milner, a native of Whitehaven but aresident of London, was encouraged by SirJohn to persuade Whitehaven merchants tobecome involved in the Africa trade.Merchants like the Lutwidges, Hows,Flemings and Speddings were involved notonly in the transatlantic trade but also in atrade between the West Indies and thecoast of America. The slave trade shouldprobably be seen as an attempt at economicdiversification by merchants with connectionsin America, at times when the coal andtobacco trades declined. The slave trade

Source 8c: Model of King George (© The Beacon,Whitehaven)

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Between 1750-1769 investment in theslave trade was shared betweenWhitehaven traders and old SailingMasters, meaning that quite a largenumber of Whitehaven people had a stakein the slave trade. Many ships had multipleowners: for example, in 1763, Venus ofWhitehaven had 12 co-owners.

The trading system

Slave trading was a risky venture - everythingneeded to be in place for the three legs ofthe voyage, with maximum cargoes on eachleg. The Triangular Trade consisted of:

l A voyage from Whitehaven to WestAfrica with a cargo of manufacturedgoods made in Britain which wereexchanged for slaves;

l The ‘Middle Passage’ from West Africato the West Indies or the southern statesof North America with a cargo of slaves;

l A voyage from the West Indies back toWhitehaven with a cargo of tobacco,sugar and rum.


The whole voyage, which often lasted overone year, was largely dependent upon thesailing and negotiating skills of the SailingMaster. Between 1750-1769 seven SailingMasters were responsible for commanding60% of the voyages. When everythingworked it was highly profitable, but often itdid not work out.

As a port for the transatlantic slave trade,Whitehaven suffered from:

l its distance from the places ofmanufacture of many of the goodsdestined for sale in West Africa;

l the lack of sugar refining opportunitiesin Whitehaven, a vital trading commodityon the Americas-Whitehaven leg;

l the small number of returning shipswhich made it difficult for Whitehaventraders and sailors to keep up to datewith developments in Africa and theAmericas.

Because Whitehaven traders had suchdifficulty acquiring cargoes for the first andthird legs, it was even more important tomake a profit on the Middle Passage.

Productivity

Productivity improved between the earlier(1710-1721) and later phases (1750-1769).Whitehaven ships performed as well asships from rival ports except on the MiddlePassage where loading rates were higherfor both Liverpool and Bristol ships.Whitehaven ships took longer to completethe voyages:

Whitehaven - Whitehaven

1710-1721 1760 - 1769

average length of average length ofvoyage was 14 voyage was 16months (range months (rangefrom 10 - 16 from 11 - 24months) months)

The difficulty for Whitehaven ships wasthat, with fewer voyages, they received lessinformation about conditions in West Africa.Knowing where slaves were located forembarkation was vital, and it varied fromyear to year depending on conditions inAfrica and the availability of slavesgathered by African entrepreneurs.

Bristol - Bristol

1723-1726 1763 - 1767

average length of average length ofvoyage was 12.2 voyage was 14.5months months

There are no detailed financial accountssurviving for Whitehaven merchants. Theaccounts (1757-1784) of William Davenport,a Liverpool trader, are amongst the mostcomplete and illustrate what often happened.They reveal that his profits from 74voyages were 8% per annum (65% ofvoyages made a profit, 35% made a loss)which was about average. They also showthat profit margins fluctuated wildly fromyear to year.

Why did the slave trade at Whitehavenend in 1769?

It is difficult to say what ended theWhitehaven trade except that it becameharder for Whitehaven merchants to makeit pay as compared with their rivals.

Whitehaven ships and the size of slavecargoes

As in the rest of Britain, Whitehaven slaveships became bigger as the eighteenthcentury progressed and this meant that thenumber of slaves each ship carried on theMiddle Passage also increased:

1710-1721 1760 - 1769

average 65 tons average 110 tonsmean 100 slaves mean 200 slavesper ship per ship

The cargoes on the Whitehaven Triangular Trade

Whitehaven - Africa(with probable source)

Cotton (East IndiesBar Iron (Sweden)Beads (Italy)Linen (Germany)Textiles (Britain - possiblyKendal cottons (wool))Brass/copper wares(Britain - possibly Furness) Iron ware (Britain - possiblyFurness where the introduc-tion of blast furnaces in 1711increased production. TheBackbarrow Iron Companymade ‘Guinea kettles’ in 1744) Gunpowder (Britain - possiblyKendal/Elterwater/Low Wood*)Glass (Britain) Earthenware (Britain) Spirits (Britain - possiblyWhitehaven) Tobacco (Whitehaven) Beans-to feed the slaves onthe Middle Passage (Britainpossibly Walney Island)

The Middle Passage

Whitehaven slave shipscollected slaves from(1750-1769):

Senegal - 1Windward Coast - 7Gold Coast - 6Bight of Benin - 5Guinea - 8(The rest from ‘Africa’ and4 ships seized by enemyprivateers)

Whitehaven slave shipsdischarged at (1750-1769):

Barbados - 16Jamaica - 23St Kitts - 2Guadeloupe - 2Antigua - 1Cuba - 1S. Carolina - 1Virginia - 1

Americas - Whitehaven

The ability to fill the ships forthe return leg was very varied.Cargoes included: sugar,tobacco,wood (mahogany),rum, cotton

*Pre-1807 Low Wood (nrHaverthwaite) gunpowder wasused in the slave trade and wasknown as ‘Africa’ powder. Afterabolition in 1807, the companyhad to refocus on blasting powder.

The slave/ship figures represent dischargesin the Americas. They do not reveal howmany slaves died on the voyage. Forexample Happy embarked 326 slaves inthe Bight of Benin for St. Kitts in the WestIndies, of whom 57 died (17.5%) on theMiddle Passage (13 weeks voyage).

The largest cargo was Venus in 1764 with340 slaves sold at Barbados.

Perhaps the most famous of theWhitehaven ships was King George, thesubject of the Beilby Goblet (Source 7)and a model (Source 8) at the BeaconMuseum, Whitehaven.

Source 7a: The Beilby Goblet(© The Beacon, Whitehaven)

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Its failure and the continuing difficultieswith tobacco prompted Whitehavenmerchants to abandon the Atlantic trade infavour of coastal trading.

It is perhaps symptomatic of Whitehaven’sremoteness and lack of expertise that,during the 1760s, the shopkeeper AbrahamDent at Kirkby Stephen purchased all hissugar from Lancaster, rather thanWhitehaven.

Houses, warehouses and offices ofWhitehaven merchants

The historic core of Whitehaven is largelyan eighteenth century development, andmuch of it has survived. Therefore anywalk around the town centre gives an ideaof the style and type of houses that theeighteenth century merchants would havelived in. The poorer housing used by themariners has not survived so well. It is not


easy to link the merchants involved withthe slave trade to specific houses, but it ispossible to see all or part of a number ofmerchants’ houses (such as those belongingto the Gale, Lutwidge and Milham families(see sources 49, 50 and 51)) from theslave trading era. The office of Jefferson’s,the rum importers, has been preserved atThe Rum Story museum and attraction inWhitehaven.

The Furness area of Cumbria and theslave trade

Cumbria’s contribution to the slave tradespread outside the county. For example,many captains and crew of slave tradingvessels came from Cumbria even thoughthey worked for merchants operating out ofLiverpool and Lancaster. Several of theLancaster slave trade Sailing Masterscame from Furness:

A number of Furness-born Lancaster slaveship Sailing Masters became investors inthe slave trade:

Captain’s name

John Addison

Samuel Bainbridge

Robert Dodson

Richard Millerson*

James Sawrey

SamuelSimondson

Henry Tindall

ThomasWoodburne

Place of origin

Ulverston

Pennington

Stony Cragg(nr Ulverston)

Ulverston

Hawkshead

Urswick

Furness

Ulverston

Date and age atfirst AfricanCommand

1763/24 years

1755/c23 years

1753/24 years

1752/22 years

1771/26 years

1771/26 years

1751

1764

Father’soccupation

Innkeeper

Yeoman

Mariner

Shopkeeper

Mariner

*Richard Millerson skippered and owned a largenumber of Lancaster slave ships. His ship Catoarrived in Barbados with 560 slaves in 1761. Hisolder brother Thomas (baptised Ulverston28/7/1728) had shares in two of them. Thomasspent many years in Barbados up to his death in1768. Richard’s ships had sold their slaves inBarbados which suggests that Thomas may haveacted as his agent for the African cargoes. When

Thomas died he left his personal slave, Stephen, tohis Barbadian wife.

Age whenNo. of No. of Age when Total no. made lastvoyages years retired of years investment

Name as captain as captain as captain as owner (age at death)

Richard Millerson 6 or 7 10 32 14 47(47)

Robert Dodson 6 or 7 9 33 14 48(50)

John Addison 5 or 6 8 32 17 49(49)

James Sawrey 5 6 32 13 49(85)

Richard Millerson and Robert Dodsonjointly owned at least 6 slaving vesselsbetween 1763-71. They were both youngersons and had to make their own way in theworld. John Addison, who was related toRobert Dodson, served as their captainduring these years. Addison later went intopartnership with James Sawrey and waspartner in 4 slaving vessels. One of thesewas the Molly III which brought 205 slavesto Grenada in Dec 1787. Sawrey hadskippered ships for another ex-Africancaptain Thomas Woodburn of Hawkshead.All these Furness men had significantinfluence in Lancaster’s slave trade.

Joseph Fayrer of Milnthorpe was partowner of the slave vessel Golden Agebetween 1783-1792.

Jonathan Lindall, a mariner from Ulverston,was lost on the Guinea Coast in 1757.

Eleanor Kilburn’s husband was ‘kill’d onboard the Mary at Gambia by the Negro’s’in 1761. Eleanor came from Ulverston.

William Spencer Barrow (aged 23) died onthe coast of Guinea in 1793; a stonecommemorates him inside Cartmel Priory.

These Ulverston men also becameLiverpool slavers:

ll Moses Benson (1738-1806), son of anUlverston salt dealer. He was residentin Jamaica for a time

ll Joseph Threlfall, slave-ship captainfrom Furness. A booklet about hiscareer is in Barrow RO (BX 413)

ll John Bolton (1756-1837), son of anUlverston apothecary. Apprenticed to aLiverpool firm; arrived St Vincent 1773,and St Lucia 1778. He had a WestIndian family whom he abandoned in1780s when he returned to England.When back in England, he marriedElizabeth Littledale, daughter of HenryLittledale of Whitehaven.

The following Bolton ships sailed onslaving voyages in 1798:

No. ofShip Captain Destination Owner slaves Date

King George S. Hensley Angola John Bolton 550 20 Mar

Betsy E. Mosson Angola John Bolton 317 20 Mar

Christopher J. Watson Gold Coast John Bolton 390 30 July

Dart W. Neale Angola John Bolton 384 8 Sept

Bolton J. Boardman Bonny John Bolton 432 12 Nov

Elizabeth E. Neale Bonny John Bolton 461 12 Nov

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John Bolton acquired Storrs Hall,Windermere in 1806 (source 52) andextended the building and the estate to3000 acres. He had acquired such wealthfrom his trading business that he employed


a butler, 2 footmen, a housekeeper, a cook,a kitchenmaid, 3 housemaids, farm bailiff,9 gardeners, coachmen, and 2 grooms.He died in 1837 and is buried at StMartin’s parish church, Bowness.

Industries in Cumbriaconnected to the slave tradeThere is no direct evidence of Cumbrianfirms (except shipping companies) beinginvolved in the slave trade. However someCumbrian industries were dependent uponraw materials from the West Indies andAmericas which used slaves in all or partof the labour force. It is also likely thatsome Cumbrian industries providedmanufactured products that were taken toWest Africa to be sold for slaves.

CottonSpinning and weaving of cotton took placein Carlisle, Brough, Kirkby Stephen, PennyBridge, Cark and Backbarrow. Althoughearly cotton came from India, Americancotton was imported at a time when slaveswere still working on the plantations of thesouthern United States. Shaddon Mill inCarlisle received bales of raw cotton fromthe US, but the disruption in suppliesduring the American Civil War and thedemand by freed slaves after the war fordifferent styles of clothing which they couldnot supply, bankrupted the mill.(NB Kendal ‘cottons’ were poor qualitywool not cotton).

ll James Penny (1741- 99) was born at Egton-cum-Newland in Furness.His journeys included:

Middle Passagecargo and crew Middle Passage

Date Ship Tonnage (where known) journey

1764 Jupiter 200 tons 250 slaves Sierra Leone to Jamaica

1768 and 1770 Cavendish 120 tons Sierra Leone toJamaica

1775-76 Wilbraham 531 negroes of whom Bonny (Nigeria) to27 died (5%); 40 West Indiesseamen of whom 6died, 1 drowned;

1776/1777 Wilbraham purchased 539 Bonny (Nigeria) to Negroes of whom 24 Americadied (4.5%); 38seamen of whom 4died

1777/1778 Nicholson purchased 560 Bonny (Nigeria) toNegroes of whom 31 West Indiesdied (5.5%); 48Seamen of whom 3died

1781/1782 Carolina purchased 571Negroes of whom 26died (4.5%); 45Seamen of whom 1drowned

1783 Count du Angola to Nord S. Carolina

1785 Madame purchased 209Pookata Negroes of whom 1

died (0.5%); 20seamen of whom3 died

In addition James Penny was appointed afactor in West Africa - on the Windwardcoast and in Bonny (Nigeria), 1769-70.After 1786 Penny became an investor andpart owner of slave ships. For one voyagePenny bought the following goods in

40000 beads4 kegs peas2 barrels barley2 barrels bread110 leg irons4 deck chains

43 empty butts14 cwts beans4000lbs beans1380 lbs barley50lbs iron collarsand chains.

SugarWest Indies plantations produced sugarfrom the 17th century and some Cumbriansowned plantations where sugar was grown.Some sugar was refined on the west coastof Cumbria, but the lack of a significantrefining industry was one of the factorshindering Whitehaven’s growth as a slaveport. Anyone buying and consuming sugarin the 18th century and early 19th centurywas probably buying slave sugar.

TobaccoWhitehaven was a major port for theimportation of tobacco up to the 1760s.Tobacconists could be found in manyCumbrian towns in the 18th and early 19thcentury - Longtown, Workington, Maryport,Ulverston, Kendal. This tobacco would havecome from Virginia and other southern statesand much would have been slave produced.The Kendal snuff industry is a survivor ofCumbria’s involvement with tobacco.

Products exported to West AfricaThere is some evidence that iron fromBackbarrow, cloth from Kendal and ‘peas’from Furness were purchased byWhitehaven traders for sale in West Africa.

Source 9: Whernside Manor, Dent, likely to have been built with the profits from slavery

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Liverpool to trade in West Africa:

3 Slavery as a contemporary issue Wendy Ridley, Advisory Teacher, Cumbria County Council

Workers sorting cocoa beans. See pages 18/19 for Fair Trade ideas.Image courtesy of The Fairtrade Foundation

What has been the impact of thetransatlantic slave trade?Imagine if relatives of yours, just 10generations back, had been violentlybought, sold, transported and forced towork as slaves, separated from their lovedones. Or imagine if your ancestors hadcruelly exploited hundreds of people,turning them into slaves.

Slavery has existed in different societiesthroughout history but the legacy ofthe transatlantic slave trade hasrepercussions today. Slavery and racismshare a history. Slavery was made workablebecause those who were enslaved werereduced to a less than human subspecies.The ideology that allowed masters tobelieve they were superior people, andslaves to be subdued into believing thatthey should accept their inferiority anddependency, did not end with the abolitionof slavery. Frantz Fanon suggested inBlack Skin, White Masks that the impactof the African Holocaust was so dreadfuland dehumanizing that it left even futuregenerations scarred. Many would agree thatcolonisation of the mind might take as longto escape from as colonisation of the land.

So any discussion of the transatlantic slavetrade should include how ‘theories’of race were used to justify slavery, andhow beliefs of white superiority and blackself-hatred still exist in the contemporaryworld and lead to racial inequality, racistbullying and harassment. This direct linkbetween contemporary experiences ofBlack people and the experiences of Blackpeople from the 1600s onwards can be thebasis for some powerful anti-racist work,using any of the resources in the list at theend of this section.

What is modern slavery?Many people think of slavery as long agoand far away rather than here and now.2007 does not mark ‘the abolition ofslavery’ because slavery continues TODAY.At this moment millions of men, womenand children around the world are forced to

3 Slavery as a contemporary issue


live as slaves. Although their exploitation isoften not called slavery, the conditions arethe same. People are sold like objects,forced to work for little or no pay, are oftenshackled and are at the mercy of their‘employers’. Their time and labour are nottheir own; they are not free to decide whothey work for and where they live.

Even though slavery is illegal internationally,in practice it still exists. Modern day slavescan be found labouring as servants orconcubines in Sudan, as child carpetslaves in India and as cane cutters in Haitiand Pakistan. Women from Eastern Europeand Thailand are bonded into prostitution,children are trafficked between WestAfrican countries and men are forced towork as slaves on Brazilian agriculturalestates and Cote d’Ivoirean cocoaplantations. UNICEF estimates that200,000 children from West Africa are soldinto slavery each year.

Refugees, driven by poverty to undertakehazardous journeys to distant countries,drown in crowded, unsafe boats orsuffocate to death crammed in the backs oflorries (e.g. recent prosecution of Turks).Contemporary slavery takes various formsand affects people of all ages, sex and race.However some governments are takingaction against slavery. For example, in May2004 slavery became illegal in Niger whichresulted in a slave owner freeing 7000slaves (see The Guardian, 5/3/05).

on a definition of freedom and adefinition of slavery. As a class,discuss what it means to be free andwhat it means not to be free. In pairs,list the differences between slaveryand freedom then put them in order ofimportance. As a class compareanswers. Finish this sentence in threeways: A slave is a person who…….

l In pairs, pupils could discuss some ofthe following: I have to go to school -am I a slave?; I have to obey rules - amI a slave?; Can I be a free person if Ihave to obey rules?; Would I be free ifI never had to obey any rules?; I am notallowed to go to a party I want to go to -is that a violation of my liberty?; Myteacher can give me a detention - am Imy teacher’s slave?; I have a paperround - am I the slave of my employeror the people I deliver to?; I have a dog - does my dog belong to me? Do Ibelong to my dog?; My parents possessa car - do my parents possess me?

l Use passages from Whose Side areyou on? by Alan Gibbons (Orion Press)or images from www.antislavery.org/as a stimulus for a Philosophy forChildren enquiry about modern slavery.Whose Side are you on? is about aLiverpool schoolboy struggling withracism against his friend. The experienceof being transported back to a Caribbeansugar plantation during the slave tradegives him the courage to tackle racismin the contemporary world.

l If everyone knows slavery is wrong andillegal, why do you think it still exists? Does slavery exist in England? If itdoes, how could it be ended?Pupils could research the work oforganisations (such as Anti-slaveryInternational www.antislavery.org/) incampaigning against modern slavery.

l The website http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-988560685098656947 has a variety of videos exploringmodern slavery. Pupils could design aposter to raise awareness of modernday slavery.

What types of slavery exist today?The most comprehensive website forcontemporary slavery issues iswww.antislavery.org/ from which thefollowing have been taken:

l There are at least 20 million bondedlabourers around the world. People take,or are tricked into taking, a loan (whichcan be for as little as the cost of medicinefor their sick child) but repayment involvesworking long hours, up to 365 days a year,often in hazardous conditions. They receivebasic food and shelter but may never payoff the debt, which can be passed downfor generations so children suffer the debtbondage of their parents and grandparents.

l Forced marriage affects women andgirls who are married without choiceand live as slaves, often accompaniedby physical violence.

l Forced labour affects people who areillegally recruited by individuals,governments or political parties andforced to work - usually under threat ofviolence (e.g. in China and Burma).

l Slavery by descent is where people areeither born into a slave class or arefrom a ‘group’ that society views assuited to being used as slave labour.

l Trafficking involves the transport and/ortrade of children, women, and menfrom one area to another with thepurpose of forcing them into slavery,which often includes forced prostitution.

l The worst forms of child labour can bedescribed as slavery, and affect anestimated 179 - 246 million children.This includes children who are bonded,trafficked or forced to work as soldiers,domestics, carpet makers, mine workers,on plantations, in factories, restaurantsor in commercial sex work.

How can we teach about slaveryin the contemporary world?l As a starter, to encourage thinking

about contemporary forms of slavery,pupils could discuss in pairs and agreeTea trading (© The Fairtrade Foundation)

16 17

l What are the arguments for and againstusing child labour? How would you stopyoung children becoming domesticservants? Do you think it is ever rightfor children to work for a living? Pupils could design a piece of art work toinform people of the existence of childlabour in the contemporary world usinghistorical and modern day images asstimulus, for example fromwww.antislavery.org/homepage/resources/africagallery/gallery.htm

l Are some forms of slavery worse thanothers? Pupils could devise, act out andvideo their own TV or radio newsinterview of the various people involvedin a situation of contemporary slaveryor child labour. What are the range ofemotions and motives? What twoquestions would pupils ask the maincharacters if they were going to interviewthem for a documentary?

l KS3/4 teachers could use the excellentteaching pack and video The ChangingFace of Slavery produced by Anti-Slavery International (Tel: 020 7501 8920or email [email protected]). Thevideo explores child labour in thecontemporary world and a range ofexcellent activities help studentsunderstand the complex issues anddiscuss what they think they could do toprevent slavery in the contemporaryworld.

l KS3/4 pupils could be given either ofthe following investigative assignments:

a) Your job is to investigate the victimsof slavery and to prepare a report forthe International Labour Organisation(ILO). Choose either children, women ormen and a country (e.g. Brazil, USA,UK, Pakistan) and investigate what kindof abusive practices that group of peoplefaces today, such as very low or nowages, dangerous conditions, and longworking hours. Create a presentationthat answers some of the following:what labour practices threaten thegroup?, how does it affect them?, whyare they susceptible?, what is being


done to help protect this group?, andwhat recommendations could you maketo help abolish it? Your presentationcan include visual images, maps andstatistics.

b) Imagine that a world leader (e.g.President of Brazil, USA, Pakistan) wasrecently told about the existence todayof slavery in their country and wasshocked. The President has asked you,as a worker in the Ministry of Labour, toteach him/her the basics of slavery.Research and make a poster timeline ofslavery in that country: when did itbegin, when was it abolished, majorslave rebellions, why was it thought tobe needed, how has it affected thecurrent culture and racial issues andwhat is known about slavery currently?Present it to the President.

l A discussion about slavery in thecontemporary world could lead intowork on Children’s Rights, for whichthere are many excellent teachingresources from Save the Children andUNICEF and Anti-Slavery International(available to borrow from CumbriaDevelopment Education Centre (CDEC)[see resource information at the end ofthis booklet]). Students could beinvolved in organising a human rightsconference or film night with the help oftheir local Amnesty International group.

l Use a simulation game which shows howthe global rules of trade keep people inpoverty, and how this can lead to childlabour and slavery. Good examplesinclude: ‘The Paper Bag Game’ fromChristian Aid, for KS2 pupils; ‘TheChocolate Game’ from Christian Aid, forKS2 and KS3 pupils; ‘The TradingTrainers’ game from CAFOD, for KS3pupils; ‘The Trading Game’ fromChristian Aid or Oxfam; ‘Just Trade’from Traidcraft - all available from CDEC.

l Give pupils small pieces of chocolate.Explain that some of the chocolate theyhave just eaten was made with slavelabour. Pupils could learn about FairTrade through researching products

such as fair trade chocolate, coffee, tea,bananas, sugar etc. which guaranteethat no slavery was involved in theirproduction. Pupils could designa wrapper for a new Fair Trade product.

l Use the book The Carpet Boy’s Gift byPegi Deitz Shea (Tilbury House) toexplore the legacy of Iqbal Masih, the12 year old who escaped slaveconditions, won the Reebok Youth inAction Award, special recognition at theInternational Labour Conference, andthen was shot dead on his return toPakistan. Pupils could design a posterfor ‘Rugmark’ which guarantees that nochild labour was used in the productionof carpets.

Source 16a: Detail from watercolour painting by George Heriot of works and other buildings on the OrangeValley, Tobago, sugar plantation which belonged to William Crosier

18 19

4 Ideas for using this resource inprimary schoolsPam Tipping, Sedbergh Primary School

Source 26b:A copy (made in1991) of William

Wilberforce’smodel of aslave ship

(© The Beacon,Whitehaven)

Suggested teaching sessionsfor Collective Worship orHistory at KS 2

Session 1Close your eyes and imagine.

It’s a hot day.

You have been taken from your home andchained to other people.

You are made to walk for miles along adusty track.

Your head hurts and you are frightened.

Your family don’t know where you are.

You don’t know where you are being taken.

You reach a huge expanse of water - youdon’t know what it is as you’ve never seenthe sea before.

You are dragged onto a small boat.

You are taken into the hold of what seemsto you to be an enormous ship. Here youare chained and crowded together withhundreds of other people.

You are crammed in and the boat beginsto rock. People around you are speakingdifferent languages which you don’tunderstand.

You are surrounded by pale faced peoplewho treat you cruelly and give you littlefood or drink.

You are kept in chains and there isn’tenough height to sit up properly. It is darkin the hold and the heat is unbearable.

Your muscles ache. The noise and thesmells are intolerable. This journey lasts for6-8 weeks and you have no idea whereyou are being taken. Some people aroundyou in the cramped, smelly and dark holddie. Their bodies are left then thrownoverboard. Eventually the boat stopsmoving and you emerge from thedarkness. You can hardly walk.

4 Ideas for using this resource inprimary schools


You look around and all you can see is atotally new and strange land. You have noidea where you are and if you’ll ever seeyou own home again.

I wonder if anyone knows the sort of life Iam describing?

Do you know what a slave is?

l A slave is a person who is forced towork for someone - they might bethreatened and harmed if they do notdo so.

l A slave is someone who is owned bysomeone/an employer.

l A slave can be bought and sold like apiece of property or an animal.

l A slave is not free to do what they wantto.

l A slave has to do what his or hermaster wants him or her to do.

These definitions could be written onseparate pieces of paper in the form oflabels to be revised and used later.

Where did the slaves come from?Different countries in Africa

Where did they go to?The Caribbean and parts of America

How did the slaves get to the Americas? Ships from Liverpool, London, Bristol,Lancaster and Whitehaven.

This was known as the transatlantic slavetrade and Britain was one of the countriesinvolved in it.

slave trade affected so many Africanpeople and their descendants.

Session 2I wonder if you can remember what wethought about last session.

We mentioned that both black and whitepeople were involved in the campaign toabolish slavery. A leading light in thatcampaign was a man called WilliamWilberforce who was born in 1759 in Hull,Yorkshire. His father died when he wasquite young so he was sent to live with anaunt and uncle for a while in London.William was influenced a great deal bythese relatives who were supporters ofJohn Wesley, the founder of a group ofChristians called Methodists. Later, whenWilliam was 17 years old, he went toCambridge University where he madefriends with a man called William Pitt whowas later to become Britain’s youngestPrime Minister. When William left universityhe decided to become an MP and in thosedays, if you were rich enough, you couldget elected so Wilberforce became MP forHull. In 1784 Wilberforce became a devoutChristian and this had a great influence onhis life. He learnt about the slave trade fromvarious people and it really shocked him.

Do you remember in our previoussession we imagined what it might belike to be taken as a slave?

Can you think of any words to describewhat it might have been like?

As a Christian, William could not acceptthat humans could treat other humans insuch a way. He was shocked that so muchmoney was being made by plantationowners and shippers. He was shocked bythe fact that so many African people weredying both on the trip to the Americas andwhile they were working on the plantations.He was mostly shocked that over half thetrade in people was carried in British shipsfrom towns such as Liverpool, London,Bristol, Lancaster and Whitehaven. Hediscovered that the pattern was to tradetextiles, beads, trinkets, brandy andgunpowder in Africa in exchange for people

There was a three-way trade. Ships leftfrom ports in England such as Whitehaven,with goods to trade for the slaves. Slaveswere taken from different countries in WestAfrica. Many were enslaved by Africanchiefs. The slaves were then taken to theCaribbean and the southern states ofAmerica where they were sold to work onthe plantations which grew cotton andsugar. The ships then returned to Englandcarrying goods such as tobacco, sugar,rum and cotton from the plantations thatthe slaves were working on.

(This can be described using a map of theworld showing how the ‘triangle’ worked).

How do you think the slaves felt?Frightened/scared/worried/ill/degraded/angry

(Children will come up with lots of ideashere).

This practice went on for years. It is thoughtthat between 1540 and 1800 at least 15million people from a variety of Africancountries were taken from where they livedto the Americas. Many died on the voyages- perhaps as many as half.

200 years ago, Britain passed a law toabolish the slave trade across the Atlantic.It then took a few more years before slaveswere freed. Both black and white peoplewere involved in the campaign to abolishslavery. Some of you may have heard ofOlaudah Equiano who was probably bornin Nigeria in about 1745. He was taken asa slave to America. He eventually gainedhis freedom and travelled to England. Hewas able to inform many people about thehorror of the transatlantic slave trade fromfirst hand knowledge through his writings.

Does anyone know the name of theBritish politician who worked hard toget slavery abolished?

William WilberforceThis year (2007) we are remembering thetwo hundredth anniversary of Wilberforce’scampaign to abolish the slave trade and weare thinking about how the transatlantic

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who became slaves. The slaves were thenshipped in appalling conditions, in theholds of ships where they were crammedtogether in overcrowded, damp, smellyconditions. They were taken to the southernstates of America and the West Indieswhere they were sold, just as if they wereanimals. They were taken to plantationswhere they worked in the heat in the fieldspicking cotton and sugar. Often they wereshackled and branded and often they weretreated very badly. The anti-slavery billwas difficult to get through Parliament.Wilberforce persevered and eventuallyhe was successful. On March 25, 1807 itwas declared that:

‘The purchase of slaves in Africa andtheir transport to the West Indies orany other country is hereby utterlyabolished and declared illegal.’

Although this was a great achievement,it was not the end of the struggle. Therewere still millions of slaves at work in theWest Indies and in the southern states ofAmerica. Wilberforce now wanted to freethese slaves.

He continued to campaign and just beforehis death in 1833 he heard that Parliamenthad passed an Act which meant that allslaves in lands controlled by Britain wouldbe made free by 1838.

Wilberforce spent some of his summerholidays in our area and he had manyfriends here as well. He first visited theLake District in 1779 while he was astudent. He became very fond of the area.Between 1781 and 1778 he rented a houseon the shores of Windermere where heenjoyed the quiet, the scenery and thecompany of friends. One of his friends wasColonel John Pennington who lived inMuncaster Castle, near Ravenglass.Some of you may have been to MuncasterCastle to see the owls. A little later, thefamous poet, William Wordsworth foundhim a house in Rydal where he spentsome summers. He was also a friend toRobert Southey, another poet who lived inKeswick. Apparently, when Southey visited


Wilberforce in 1818, he was amazed athow chaotic Wilberforce’s family was. Hedid however grow fond of him saying:

‘…and you can feel nothing but loveand admiration for a creature of sohappy and blessed nature.’

Session 3I wonder, do you think slavery existstoday?

We learnt in the last session that it wasabolished in Britain 200 years ago but doesit still exist today?

Think back to what we said a slave was.

(Reuse the definition of slavery labels fromearlier).

A slave is a person who is forced to workfor someone - they might be threatenedand harmed if they do not do so.A slave is not free to do what they want to.A slave has to do what his or her masterwants them to do.

(Show some pictureswww.anti-slaverysociety.addr.com/toc.htmor by typing bonded labour into Googleimages).These pictures are of people today.

Patience is 12 years old and lives in Togo,West Africa. Her employer’s daughter,Mimi, is the same age, yet their lives couldnot be more different. Mimi goes to school,speaks fluent French as well as her ownlanguage and wants to be a doctor whenshe grows up. While Mimi and her olderbrother, Jiji are at school, Patience is in thekitchen preparing their lunch which shelater serves to them. While they are eatingshe watches them and attends to theirevery need. Later she eats her lunch onher own. Patience has worked in thishouse for two years. She has lost allcontact with her own family and anychance of a better life. She believes shedeserves nothing more.

How would you feel if you werePatience? Do you think Patience is asfree as you?

Fatima is a young jasmine picker in Egypt.She picks flowers at night when the scentis at its strongest. The flowers are sold andmade into very expensive perfume. Shehas no choice but to work as her family isdesperately poor. She is working to try toget enough money to get an education.

How would you feel if you were Fatima?Do you think Fatima is as free as you?

Emilio was a child soldier in Guatemala,Central America. He became a soldier atthe age of 14. He was regularly beaten forno reason at all and was made to walk formiles carrying heavy loads which were fartoo heavy for his small, undernourishedbody. There was little food to eat. He wasforced to learn to fight and kill an enemy ina war he knew nothing about and did notunderstand why it was being fought.

According to the UN, there are about300 000 child soldiers in the world todayaged between 5 and 17 years. Not all ofthem are recruited to fight, some of themdo dangerous and life threatening jobs likemine detecting, carrying messages andspying.

How would you feel if you were Emilio?Do you think Emilio is as free as you?

Bonded labour affects at least 20 millionpeople (UN) around the world. People aretricked into taking a loan, for example formedicine for their child, and in order torepay the debt they have to work longhours, seven days a week for 365 days ayear. They receive basic food and shelteras ‘payment’ for their work but of coursethey can never pay off the loan. Thissort of debt is often passed down forgenerations so children become bondedlabourers because of their parents’ debt.

A slave is someone who is owned bysomeone/an employer.

A slave can be bought and sold like apiece of property or an animal.

Early and forced marriage affects womenand girls in some parts of the world. Someare married without choice and may beforced into lives of servitude, even underthe threat of violence.

It is estimated that 179 million childrenaround the world (International LabourOrganisation) are in work that is harmfulto their health and welfare. Globally, 246million children are child labourersincluding 73 million children who are lessthan 10 years old.www.freethechildren.org/getinvolved/geteducated/childlabour.htm

Some Case StudiesThese and other case studies can beseen at www.antislavery.org

Usman is just 11 years old. Dressed inragged, greasy clothes, he holds heavyengine parts as he awaits orders from hisemployer, who is busy fitting a head gasketto a taxi. For a 10-hour day he earns about£2.00 a month at a car repair workshop inPakistan. He says:

“What else can I do? I do want to study butbeing the lone earner in my family, I amforced to work. If I do not work, who willfeed those who depend on me?”

How would you feel if you were Usman?Do you think Usman is as free as you?

Source 29: A ceramic jug of creamware made byan unknown maker in Liverpool about 1818(© Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal)

24 25

The famous South African ArchbishopDesmond Tutu said in 1999:

“Slavery…I didn’t know all these formsexisted. I think it’s largely because wearen’t expecting it. It is hidden.Generally people would not believe thatit is possible under modern conditions.They would say “No, I think you aremaking it up because it’s just tooincredible.”

ReflectionWilberforce was a determined man whofought for what he firmly believed in.Is there something that you feel stronglyabout? Could you show so muchpersistence about it?

Think about people in many parts of theworld who are living like slaves.

Think about their lives and how differentthey are from yours.

Think about Usman, Patience, Fatima andEmilio and children like them all over theworld.

I wonder if there is anyone here who mightgrow up to be as influential as WilliamWilberforce in improving the lives ofmodern day slaves.

Suggested teachingsessions which could betaught through LiteracyKnowledge, understanding and empathyabout slavery are suitable pegs on whichto hang much literacy work, especially inYears 5 and 6.

Narrative/RecountPirates by Celia Rees(Bloomsbury ISBN 0747564698)

This book contains numerous passages,especially in the first half, that would besuitable to use as texts. There is muchinformation about the Middle Passage


Dramahttp://school.discovery.com/schooladventures/slavery/witness.html

Witness a slave auction. Here there is anexample of freeze framing with a greatdeal of information given. The charactersincluded are:

Mariah, an adult slave

Sam, her 12 year old son

Auctioneer

Justice

Newspaperman

Clergyman

Banker

Seller

Bidder

The question posed is: Could you stop anauction? Everyone’s point of view isexplored. This could form the basis of afreeze framing exercise as well as a debateas to who could stop the sale.From the information gathered, a debatecould take place with children givenassigned roles. Hot seating could also beused once enough information has beengathered.

Diary/JournalMy Story, Slave Girl, The Diary ofClotee, Virginia, USA 1859(Scholastic ISBN 0 439 98189-7)

Using researched information, entriescould be written as if from a journal.The entries could be from any aspect ofa slave’s life, eg the initial capture, theMiddle Passage, life on a plantation orlife as a freed slave.

Letter writingSkills could be developed through variousimaginary scenarios, but based on some ofthe historical evidence from the sources onthe CD Rom. For example:

l From a slave (as long as it wasunderstood that no such letters tookplace)

l From a sailor on the Middle Passage

l From a plantation owner

l From an abolitionist to their MP in 1789.

Letters could be written using archaiclanguage and possibly old script or typedusing an appropriate font. There are anumber of eighteenth and nineteenthcentury letters on the CD Rom whichprovide guidance as to style and layout.(Sources 17, 18, 28)

A letter could be written to an MP aboutmodern slavery. This links to Citizenshipat KS2:

Preparing to play an active role as a citizen.

Political literacy: how citizens can makethemselves effective in public life.

Play writingIncorporating the conventions of playwriting with researched information, childrencould take different aspects of thetransatlantic slave trade and write a play.The whole could then be put together.

NewspaperChildren could be given the writing framefor a newspaper. The headline could begiven (eg SLAVERY ABOLISHED), andthe main article could be written as wellas other newsworthy incidents, for exampleinformation about ships, William Pitt, priceof goods.

The CD Rom includes real historical mate-rial from Cumbria which could help to formthe basis of newspaper articles as well asexamples of ways in which people wrotein the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

and the living conditions of slaves onplantations as well as runaway slaves. It isalso a very ‘good read’ though probablyonly suitable for Year 6 in the primary school.

Another stimulus for narrative/recount isprovided by www.diduknow.info/slaveryThis website contains the journeys of fourslaves from their homes to their new livesas slaves.

The children could use this information toretell the story (in the first or third person)to create a piece of empathetic writing.Pictures from the CD Rom resource ofarchive material or the internet could beused to illustrate. A writing frame could begiven with illustrations already included.

The opening of the suggested Act ofCollective Worship would be an excellentway to create the atmosphere of what itmight have been like to undergo theexperiences of a slave (see page 22).

An opening sentence could be given tobe continued. This would encourage thechildren to use the knowledge they have ofthe slave trade and to incorporate as muchas was appropriate.

Kwumba was in darkness. All aroundhim he could hear the moans andcurious noises of strangers……

This beginning could be used to spark offa flashback story.

Using the same information, a storyboardcould be created with illustrations.

The following would be suitable forrecounts:

l An account of the Middle Passage

l My job as captain of a slave ship

l Memories of a freed slave - fromAfrican country to plantation to freedom

The visual resources featured on thefollowing website are extremely evocative:http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.educ/slavery/

26 27

Non-Chronological ReportThe whole class could research individual aspects of the transatlantic slave trade and thework could then be brought together.


PersuasionThis could follow on from a drama experience - maybe a ship’s captain, appalled by whathe has been expected to do, stating the abolitionist point of view.

IntroductionWhat? Who? Where? When?

Arguments against the transatlantic slave trade

Autobiography

Influentialfriends

Cumbrianconnection

Survival rates

MP

Legacy

Christianinfluence

Earlylife

Freedom

Plantations Abolition Capture

Chiefs

Traders

Abolitionists

Treatment

Life asa slave

OLAUDAHEQUIANO

WILLIAMWILBERFORCE

AMERICASSLAVERY

DEFINITIONAFRICAN

COUNTRIES

MIDDLEPASSAGE

Non-ChronologicalReport

There are several useful websites:

www.understandingslavery.com www.brycchancarey.com www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAslavery.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_slave_tradehttp://www.wsu.edu:8080/~wldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/equiano.htm(Excerpts of Olaudah Equiano’s narrative)

http://hitchcock.itc.virginia.educ/slavery/ (visual sources) http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/storyofafrica/index_section9.shtml

POINTONE

POINTTWO

POINTTHREE

POINTFOUR

POINTFIVE

Dehumanising effect of being treated as chattelsHumiliation

Conditions in the Middle Passage

Some people might say that slavery brought about agreat deal of economic wealth/abolition led todisastrous collapse of West Indian sugar trade.

Conditions in the plantations

The slave auction/splitting of familiesHumans for sale

ConclusionSumming up

REMEMBER some of the persuasive devices:Everyone knows that…

Surely…Clearly…

It is obvious to anyone that…The fact is…

28 29

PoetryA range of poetry forms lend themselvesto writing about aspects of the transatlanticslave trade. List poems, haiku, cinquains,ballad, kennings, narrative poems, tanka areall suitable and imagery could be added tocreate a vivid sensory picture.

There is a superb Alphabet of Slavery(which can also be seen performed) atwww.understandingslavery.com

The poem begins with:

A is an African torn from his home

and finishes with

Zealously labour to set the slaves free.

Any poems could be performed with thehelp of music/sounds as accompaniment.

Other Curriculum opportunitiesAlthough Whitehaven had ceased slavetrading years before abolition, theCumbrian connection allows a way in toexplore slavery and its heritage.

The History National Curriculum at KS2states that the local history unit can be:

A study investigating how the locality wasaffected by a significant national event.

The significant event being the abolition ofslavery.

At KS1 the breadth of study states that thechildren should study:

The lives of significant men, women andchildren drawn from the history of Britainand the wider world.

Wilberforce is a significant person soslavery could be explored, albeit in a lessgraphic way, for younger children. Anotherperson to be considered is Harriet Tubman,who was born a slave and by 1860 had ledmore than 300 slaves to freedom from thesouthern to northern States of America.

“the abominable traffic”

In the Geography curriculum at KS2 pupilsshould be taught:

To describe and explain how and whyplaces are similar to and different fromother places in the same country.

If you use Whitehaven or for that matterLiverpool, Bristol, Lancaster or London asyour contrasting location then a study ofslavery would be appropriate.

Special/significant people is an obvious primary RE theme.

In Religious Education the CumbriaAgreed Syllabus for KS2 in the Christianitysection under Themes states:

l Inspirational people: figures from whombelievers find inspiration;

l Beliefs in action in the world: howreligions and beliefs respond to globalissues of human rights, fairness, socialjustice and the importance of theenvironment.

Under Commitment it states:

l Introduce appropriate contemporary,social, moral and environmental issuesand begin to relate views andresponses to values in the Christiantradition.

William Wilberforce was greatly influencedby his belief in Christianity and is certainlyan example of a person whose lifeexemplified the spiritual and moral valuesof a faith community. His story could beused as part of a series of lessons lookingat special people such as those at home,at school and among religious leaders. Hewas certainly a notable Christian.

A suggested Act of Collective Worship isincluded which could be used over anumber of sessions. This is aimed at KS2but could be adapted for KS1.

30

5 Ideas for using this resource insecondary schoolsJames Thorp, St. Benedict’s Roman Catholic High School, Whitehavenand Liz West, St. Martin’s College, Carlisle

Source 36: A poster from Kendal (1826) requesting a meeting to organise an anti-slavery petition.

IntroductionThe following activities and ideas arepresented as a loosely linked series oflessons which history departments maywish to dip into depending on pressureson time. Teachers are encouraged to makeuse of the websites which amongst otherthings address the issues of languageassociated with slavery and racism. Manyof the themes are central to Citizenshipeducation and therefore themes from thistopic can be taught either as Citizenshipthrough History or as Citizenship in itsown right.

Suggested prior learningIn order to maintain the focus on theabolition of the transatlantic slave tradeand the Cumbrian dimension, it is assumedthat students will be familiar with someof the key facts and concepts. Previouslessons should have introduced studentsto some or all of the following:

l the geography of the transatlantic slavetrade;

l the status, heritage and culture of someof the African civilizations involved(Benin is a frequently used example);

l the circumstances surrounding who wascaptured and en-slaved;

l conditions and treatment during theMiddle Passage;

l the work undertaken and the treatmentof African people on arrival in the ‘NewWorld’;

l commodities involved in the othersections of the triangular trade and theircontemporary social/fashionimportance.

5 Ideas for using this resource insecondary school History andCitizenship


The following two activities would help torelate existing lessons to the Cumbrianconnection:

Short Activity Idea 1Students are given the information onJames Penny that appears on page 12 ofthis guide. It can be used to introduceaspects of the Middle Passage and/or toconsider the ‘mechanics’ of operating asa slave trader. Students might consider:

l The types and quantities of commoditiesthat were being traded for a ship full ofenslaved men, women and children;

l The numbers/proportions of enslavedmen, women and children that died oneach journey (especially interesting ifyou use film clips from either ‘Roots’or ‘Amistad’);

l The percentage of crew deaths andwhat this suggests about therisks/profits that were involved.

l The wealth that could be made bypeople like Penny in his role as themaster of a ship, so that he couldlater become an investor and partowner.

will already be using. It is possible to bringin some of the local sources at this point inorder to illustrate that plantation ownershipwas one way in which some Cumbrianfamilies were involved.

Activity Idea 3

Using the well known ‘layers of inference’activity, students can be encouragedto study in depth many of the sourcesin this pack. The three stages ofinvestigation involve students inprogressively deducing more from eachsource. An exemplar of this approach isprovided for sources 16a and 16b,although many sources in this pack lendthemselves to this approach.

Such source investigation can bedeveloped further by introducingadditional visual and written sources ofplantation conditions that focus more onthe experiences of the enslaved men,women and children themselves.

There are many images and othersources on the websites listed in Section9 of this guide.

Short Activity Idea 2Students are given sources 1-5 and thetranscribed versions of the Cumbrianentries that appear on pages 42 - 43 ofthis guide. They are asked to consider:

l Does the detailed file keeping suggestanything about the nature and scale ofthe transatlantic slave trade?

l What is suggested about the attitudesof the traders to the African people bytheir recording of only live arrivals?

l What do the arrival dates of theseships suggest about the numbers ofpeople/companies involved in the trade?

l How significant do these sourcessuggest Cumbria’s involvement wasas against that of other British ports?

l What are the advantages andlimitations of using these sourcesas a way of gauging Cumbria’sinvolvement?

Source 38: Poster from Kendal, 1833 requestingmeetings to organise anti-slavery petitions

Key questionsThis guide and CD Rom resource enablelessons to be centred around a number ofkey questions with Cumbrian associations.These include:

l How significant was the slave trade tothe port of Whitehaven?

l How significant was the ownership ofplantations to Cumbrian gentry?

l How important was Cumbria as acentre of opposition to the slave trade?

l Assuming that the contents of the packare representative of the evidence thathas survived in Cumbria for the slavetrade, why has information on someaspects survived better than others?

Conditions on the Plantations -Source InferenceAs part of the preparation for the ‘KendalPublic Meeting’ activity and ‘VirtualMuseum’, students should be encouragedto gain an understanding of the lives ofenslaved workers on the plantations. Thisis an area where many excellent sourcesexist and that many History departments

Example Responses for Sources16a and 16b (William Crosier’s‘Orange Valley Estate’)

1 - What can you see/read?

Note anything of interest that the sourceclearly tells you or shows. For example:

l A black boy/man is holding a horse

l There are bananas hanging on aframe

l Some buildings are larger than others

l There are many large buildings like awindmill and a press

32 33


The 2007 Abolition of SlaveryCumbria ‘Virtual Museum’Many museums around the country areusing the bi-centennial commemorationsof 2007 as an opportunity to undertakemajor re-development of their displaysconcerning the transatlantic slave trade.Displays within Cumbria are widelydispersed and generally limited so it wouldbe difficult to undertake an educational visitthat would satisfactorily cover all aspects ofthis international event.

This final activity attempts to engagestudents in this issue of historicalinterpretation by placing them in the roleof museum curators who have been askedto help develop a new display for theirlocal museum that would commemoratethe abolition of transatlantic slavery.This activity should be the culmination ofstudent study of this topic. If it has notalready been covered or introduced duringthe Public Meeting activity, there is a needto consider the issue of Black resistanceand rebellion whether at the individual orgroup level. There is an excellentdownloadable resource available fromwww.understandingslavery.com

2 - What can you infer from theseobservations?

What does this make you think? Whatcan you work out? What does thissuggest/imply? For example:

l The boy/man is going out riding/hemight be a chattel slave and is holdingthe horse for someone else

l This must be a hot country if bananasare growing

l The different size of buildings suggestthat people of differing status live onthe estate

l The press has long arms and mightbe man powered

3 - What questions do you stillhave?

What is this source not telling us orallowing us to work out with certainty?What questions are we unable to answeror are raised by it? For example:

l Why are there so few people shown inthe paintings?

l Is there any evidence that thisplantation used slave labour?

l Is there clear evidence of sugarproduction?

The Kendal Public Meeting -Researching the motives of theabolitionists and the pro-slaverygroupsOnce students have been thoroughlyintroduced to the main features of thetransatlantic slave trade it is time to focuson the abolition movement. Cumbria likemost other areas of the country, had anumber of local anti-slavery or abolitionistgroups. The CD-Rom includes a number ofsources relating to the abolitionist activitiesof people in Kendal and the various publicmeetings, posters and petitions that weregenerated. Reference is also made withinthem to the work of other local groups inPenrith, Windermere and Ambleside.

It is clear that these meetings were wellattended and occurred with reasonablefrequency. The following activity uses oneof these meetings as a backdrop againstwhich students can explore the differentmotivations of various groups whocampaigned for abolition and, later,emancipation.

Local sources on their own do not coverthe full range of motivations, so it is helpfulif teaching staff are able to use additionalsources. Many useful examples areavailable on-line. Three particularly usefulsites are

www.understandingslavery.comwww.empiremuseum.co.uk and

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/slavery

where there are numerous downloadablesources, audio and video clips and othersupport materials.

Activity Idea 4

l Students work in small teams (3-5)and select/are assigned one of thegroups that were involved in theprotest. The protest groups shouldcertainly include: The Quakers, thosewho opposed specifically onhumanitarian grounds, female anti-slavery societies, key individuals (e.g.Willberforce, Clarkson), freed slaves(Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano)

l They have time to prepare apresentation that will be made at thenext Kendal Public Meeting.

l They may wish to assign teammembers to different tasks that mightinclude researchers, speechwriters,illustrators, ‘spin-doctors’ andpropagandists.

l Their presentation should be nolonger than 5 minutes and should givethe other teams a clear idea of whattheir group’s position and motives arein relation to the abolition of thetransatlantic slave trade.

(continued on next page)

Activity Idea 4

(continued from previous page)

l Teaching staff should decide whatgroups can use in their presentation,eg video/audio recordings or aPowerpoint backdrop.

l Depending on school resources it maybe necessary to research and collecta pack of resources for each protestgroup or possibly provide somedirection to relevant Internet sites.

l It would also be interesting to includesome groups who would have beenagainst abolition such as plantationowners or merchants involved in thecotton, sugar, or tobacco trade.

l Whilst it is certain that all these groupswould never have been represented atthe same time in Kendal, if at all, theactivity should focus students on therange of different opinions andarguments on offer and the range oftechniques used in promoting theirviews.

l The activity concludes with the publicmeeting and the issue is voted upon.

l A further consolidating activity couldinvolve the writing of a newspaperreport of the meeting for the nextedition of the local paper.

Some of the other local sources illustratedin the pack which could be used to furtherdevelop this activity include:

Source 7a and 7b - Beilby Goblet.Source 8a, 8b and 8c - Model of King George.Source 26 (Wilberforce’s model) andThomas Clarkson’s famous deck images(Sources 30a and 30b).Sources 20 - 23 - Bills of sale of slaves.Source 32 - A panel from The Quaker Tapestry.Source 33a, 33b and 33c - a Cumbrianjustification for slavery.Sources 35-38 - Requests for publicmeetings in Kendal.Source 39 - An anti-slavery petition.Source 40 - A report of the public meetingreferred to in Source 35 in the KendalChronicle.

Activity Idea 5

You face a difficult task. You have beenasked to design a new exhibition for yourlocal museum on the abolition of thetransatlantic slave trade. Money and spaceare an issue and so you have been givencertain rules which need to be followed:

l You can only include 10 - 15 sources.

l Each source must have a caption thatexplains what the source is and whatit helps us to learn about the trans-atlantic slave trade and its abolition.

l Each caption can be no longer than50 words.

l You can write/film/illustrate anintroduction to your display. If this ispaper based it must be no larger thanA3 and include no more than 200 words.

(continued overleaf)

34 35


Notes regarding the task

There are clearly many different variablesin this activity that can be altered to suitthe age and ability range of your studentsand the time and resources that you canmake available. The number of sourcescould be altered, as can the word limitsfor the captions. Students might be askedto choose their sources from a limitedselection or could be given completefreedom over what they use and where itcomes from. If the department has accessto ICT facilities it would be possible to makeavailable all the sources used in the activitiesso far as well as others from internet research.Equally, you might decide to limit or expandthe range of ways in which students canpresent their final selection.

What is important is to use the exerciseas an opportunity for students to reallychallenge themselves and others in theirgroup to justify their selections and then

write about them in a concise, informativeand engaging way.

Final ThoughtsOther curriculum opportunities

l Although these ideas have beencompiled from the standpoint of theteaching of History, the issuessurrounding the transatlantic slavetrade, its legacy in modern Britain, thecommemoration in 2007, and racismin general (especially in a largelymono-ethnic county such as Cumbria)makes this subject particularlysignificant as a component ofCitizenship education.

Activity Idea 5

(continued from previous page)

Your instructions include a request toconsider very carefully which sources youselect and what information you providebecause you must get the right balancebetween:

l The local, national and the international;

l The trade system itself, the plantationactivities in the West Indies and theAmericas, and the work and progressof the abolitionists;

l The need to engage and interest peoplewhilst not becoming too sensational;

l Providing clear, accurate explanationswithout becoming too wordy;

l Different types of sources, written,visual, audio, objects;

l Portraying the men, women andchildren from African countries withdignity even though many of thesources tend not to do so;

l The need to explain what happenedand how it still affects us today(the legacy).

Source 19: One page from a list of 400 slavespurchased by Robert and Henry Jefferson, merchantsof Whitehaven, when they bought the York andNew Division Plantations on Antigua in 1832.

36

6 Index of images on the CD Rom

Source 7b:The Beilby Goblet

(© The Beacon,Whitehaven)

Copyright statementSources 1 - 6 are reproduced by permissionof The National Archives and are not to bereproduced except for educational usesintended in the CD package.Sources 7, 8, 26 are copyrightThe Beacon, Whitehaven.Sources 9, 24, 25, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54are copyright Creative Partnerships, Cumbriaand are not to be reproduced except foreducational uses intended in the CD package.Source 27 is reproduced by permissionof Brougham HallSource 29 is copyright Abbot Hall ArtGallery, KendalSource 32 is copyright The QuakerTapestry, KendalThe digital images of all other sourcesare copyright Cumbria ArchiveService.Permissions for use other than thoseintended in the CD package should besought from Cumbria Archive Service.

Source 1 The record of the ship Thomasat the Island of Barbados Source 2 The record of the shipSusannah at the Island of Barbados Source 3 The record of an unnamed‘Whitehaven Galley’ at the port of Kingstonin Jamaica Source 4, 4a and 4b The record of thePrincess at the island of Antigua. NB.these three images are from an enormousledger. The three images should beconsidered together. The entry for the shipPrincess is the fourth entry from the top oneach imageSource 5 and 5a The record of the Peaceat the island of Antigua. NB. these twoimages are from an enormous ledger. Thetwo images should be considered together.The entry for the ship Peace is the sixthentry from the top on each image

Source 6 and 6a A summary of the numberof ships leaving British ports (includingWhitehaven) for the coast of Africa between1734 and 1754

6 Index of images on the CD Rom


Source 7a The Beilby Goblet(©The Beacon, Whitehaven)

Source 7b The Beilby Goblet(©The Beacon, Whitehaven)

Source 8a Model of King George(©The Beacon, Whitehaven)

Source 8b Model of King George(©The Beacon, Whitehaven)

Source 8c Model of King George(©The Beacon, Whitehaven)

Source 9 Whernside Manor, Dent

Source 10a and 10b An account of thesugar produced on the Christchurchplantation and subsequently sent to London,1705-1745. N.B. A Hogshead was a caskcontaining between 100 and 140 gallons(reproduced with permission of theLowther Estate Trust)

Source 11a, 11b and 11c The front coverand the plantation accounts listing negroslaves and animals on the ChristchurchPlantation, 31 December 1765 (reproducedwith permission of the Lowther Estate Trust)

Source 12a and 12b The plantationaccounts listing negro slaves and animalson the Christchurch Plantation, 31 December1766 (reproduced with permission of theLowther Estate Trust)

Source 13a and 13b The cover andpages 299-300 of William Senhouse’s‘Recollections’. The two pages illustrateddescribe some of the difficulties in runningThe Grove Plantation

Source 14a and 14b A ledger from SirJoseph Senhouse’s Lowther Hall plantation(which he named after his patron andbenefactor Sir James Lowther), Dominica,1772. Accounts kept by the Manager

Source 15a The title pages of the ‘Memoirs’

Source 15b A description of Castle BrucePlantation belonging to Colonel JamesBruce

Source 15c A description of the ‘Caribbs’or indigenous people of the West Indieswho were living on the island of Dominicain the 18th century. They were part of the‘Amerindian’ people

Source 31 The title of page of ThomasClarkson’s History of the Rise, Progress andAccomplishment of the Abolition of the AfricanSlave trade by the British Parliament, 1839

Source 32 Panel from The QuakerTapestry (© The Quaker Tapestry, Kendal)

Source 33a The title page of theCumberland Magazine for 1779

Source 33b and 33c Part of an articlefrom the Cumberland Magazine for 1779,largely justifying slavery

Source 34 An undated anti-slavery poster

Source 35 A poster from Kendal (1824)requesting a meeting to organise an anti-slavery petition




Source 39 An example of an anti-slaverypetition sent to the House of Commons

Source 40 A report of the meeting referredto in Source 35 in the Kendal Chronicle

Source 41 A Bill for the Suppression ofthe Slave Trade, 8 August 1839

Source 42, 43 and 44 Baptism register:St. Nicholas’s Church, Whitehaven

Source 45 Marriage register: St. James’sChurch, Whitehaven

Source 46 and 47 Baptism register: St.James’s Church, Whitehaven

Source 48 Burial register: St. Michael’sChurch, Workington

Source 49 The Gale Mansion (151-152Queen St., Whitehaven)

Source 50 The Lutwidge Mansion (75Lowther St., Whitehaven)

Source 51 The Milham Mansion (44/45Irish St., Whitehaven)

Source 52 Storrs Hall on the shore ofLake Windermere

Source 53 and 54 The National Archivesbuilding at Kew in London

Source 16a and 16b Two watercolourpaintings by George Heriot of works andother buildings on the Orange Valley,Tobago, sugar plantation which belongedto William Crosier

Source 17a, 17b and 17c A letter fromWilliam Crosier to his brother John

Source 18a, 18b, 18c and 18d A letterfrom Thomas Forrester to his neighbourGeorge Ewart at Bewcastle.

Source 19 One page from a list of 400slaves purchased by Robert and HenryJefferson, merchants of Whitehaven, whenthey bought the York and New DivisionPlantations on Antigua in 1832

Source 20a and 20b A Bill of Sale of awoman, Mary, and her child for £140 in1814

Source 21a and 21b A Bill of Sale of awoman, Olive for £105 in 1811

Source 22a and 22b A Bill of Sale of aman, Faith for £35 in 1818

Source 23 A record of the sale of Job inNorth Carolina for $350 in 1826

Source 24 A house near Windermereoccupied by William Wilberforce as asummer home

Source 25 A pair of shackles found at thehouse near Windermere (Source 24)

Source 26a and 26b A copy (made in1991) of William Wilberforce’s model of aslave ship (©The Beacon, Whitehaven)

Source 27 A view of Brougham Hall, nearPenrith, as it is today

Source 28a, 28b and 28c A copy of aletter from Thomas Clarkson to DilworthCrewdson of Kendal, supporting LordBrougham in his acquisition of aparliamentary seat for Westmorland,19 February 1818

Source 29a, 29b and 29c A ceramic jugof cream ware made by an unknownmaker in Liverpool about 1818 (© AbbotHall Art Gallery, Kendal)

Source 30a and 30b An illustration of theslave ship, Brookes, from: The history ofthe rise, progress and accomplishment ofthe abolition of the African slave-trade bythe British Parliament, 1808

38 39

7 Detailed information about thesources on the CD Rom

Source 49:The Gale Mansion (151 - 152Queen Street, Whitehaven)

Sources associated with the Whitehaven slave tradeSource 1 The record of the ship Thomas at the Island of Barbados (CO33/15 ff11)(Not to be reproduced)

A list of Such Vessells that have imported Negroes to the Island of Barbados with theNumber of negroes reported by each vessell to the Naval Office of the Said Island, from25 March 1708 to the 25 March 1726.

7 Detailed information about thesources on the CD Rom


There is a record of this ship clearing the port of Kingston in Jamaica (CO142/15) - notillustrated

Number Total numberof Negroes of Negroesimported imported

Vessels’ Of what Masters’ in such into BarbadosYear Date names place names vessel during the year

1717 July Ship Thomas Whitehaven Nathaniel 80 538422 Walker

There is another entry recording the clearance (departure) of this ship from Barbados -not illustrated.

Of what Type From Masters’ When When Their WhetherDate Vessel place of Tons Guns what names entered cleared loading bound

1717 Thomas Whitehaven Ship 65 2 Guinea Nat Walker July 22 July 29 Sugar Whitehaven

Source 2 The record of the ship Susannah at the Island of Barbados (CO33/15 ff13)(Not to be reproduced)

A list of Such Vessells that have imported Negroes to the Island of Barbados with theNumber of negroes reported by each vessell to the Naval Office of the Said Island, from25 March 1708 to the 25 March 1726.


Vessells’ Of what Masters’ in such into BarbadosYear Date names place names vessel during the year

1722 June Ship Susannah Whitehaven George 50 5266 Gibson

There is also one other Whitehaven ship Swift which was recorded as bringing slaves tothe Island of Barbados - not illustrated


Vessels’ Of what Masters’ in such into BarbadosYear Date names place names vessel during the year

1713 June Brigantine Swift Whitehaven Thomas 122 417427 Rumball

Date Vessells’ names Masters’ names Guns Cargo From whence

21 Sept 1714 (Whitehaven Galley) Thomas Rumball 6 140 Negroes Guinea

Source 3 The record of an unnamed ‘Whitehaven Galley’ at the port of Kingston inJamaica (CO142/14 ff60) (Not to be reproduced)

Ships entering the port of Kingston in Jamaica

Date Vessells’ names Masters’ names Guns Cargo From whence

16 Oct 1714 (Whitehaven Galley) Thomas Rumball 6 In ballast Bay of Campoachy

There is another Whitehaven ship Providence which was recorded as bringing slaves tothe port of Kingston in Jamaica (CO142/15) - not illustrated

Ships and WhereVessels’ Masters’ Where and when Owners

Date names’ names Tons Guns Men and when registered name Cargo From whence

5 June Brigantine Daniel 30 4 14 Liverpool Whitehaven Thomas 111 Africa1753 Providence Baynes 1741 Sept 1751 Trougher Negroes

There is also a record of this ship clearing the port of Kingston in Jamaica - not illustrated

Ships and WhereVessels’ Masters’ Where and when Owners

Date names’ names Tons Guns Men and when registered name Cargo From whence

2 July Brigantine Daniel 30 4 14 Liverpool Whitehaven Thomas 41 Whitehaven1753 Providence Baynes 1741 7 Sept 1751 Trougher & Co hogsheads

and 12quarters ofSugar

Not every Whitehaven ship that sailed to Kingston, Jamaica had slaves on board. Shipsentering the port of Kingston in Jamaica (CO142/14/55) - not illustratedVessells’ Masters’ Where From When Where When Cargonames name built and Tons Guns what place entered bound cleared to Jamaica

Swift Albert Briganteen 70 4 Whitehaven 18 May Virginia 1 June Beef, muttonKilpatrick Plantation and Dublin 1714 1714 pork, fish

Source 4 The record of the ‘Princess’ at the island of Antigua (CO157/1 ff76-77)(Not to be reproduced) NB. Source 4, 4a and 4b are three images from an enormousledger. The three images should be considered together. The entry for the ship Princess isthe fourth entry from the top on each image.

Antigua. A List of all Ships and Vessells that have Entred at the Navall Office in HisMajesty’s Island of Antigua from 25 June 1719 to 25 September 1719:

Of what GeneralName of Of what built and From what Masters’ When cargoVessel place quality Tons Guns place names entered imported

Princess Whitehaven British ship 80 4 Guinea Thomas June 30 106 NegroRumball 1719 slaves

Not every Whitehaven ship that sailed to Antigua had slaves on board.

Source 5 and 5a The record of the ‘Peace’ at the island of Antigua (CO157/1 ff82)(Not to be reproduced)

Of what GeneralName of Of what built and From what Masters’ When cargoVessel place quality Tons Guns place names entered imported

Peace Whitehaven Brittish ship 70 - Dublin Albert June 22 Beef barrels - 474Kirkpatrick 1719 Corke - 18

Candles inboxes - 79

In 1719 Susannah (40 tons) with George Gibson as Master sailed from Whitehaven andDublin to Antigua with butter, candles and rope (See Source 2 for information on a slavetrading voyage of the same ship).

42 43

Source 6 and 6a A summary of thenumber of ships leaving British ports(including Whitehaven) for the coast ofAfrica between 1734 and 1754(T64/276A/273) (Not to be reproduced)

An account of the Number of ships andtheir Tonnage that ‘Cleared Out’ from GreatBritain to the Coast of Africa from the year1734 to the year 1754:

From Whitehaven:1750 1 ship of 100 tons total1751 2 ships of 200 tons total1752 2 ships of 120 tons total1754 3 ships of 170 tons total

Other ports that were recorded as havingships sailing to Africa were:London, Bristol, Liverpool, Lancaster.Portsmouth, Plymouth, Cowes, Poole,Preston, Poulton, Chester, Shoreham,Dover, (Kings) Lynn.

Source 7a and 7b The Beilby Goblet(©The Beacon, Whitehaven)

This glass goblet, which is 25 cms high,was made by William Beilby (1740 - 1819),a famous glass-enameller from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, in 1762, during the reign ofKing George III (1760-1820). It wasoriginally made to commemorate the birthof the future King George IV in 1762. Itspurpose was changed the following yearwhen it was altered to mark the launch atWhitehaven of a sailing ship called KingGeorge, which was to become involved inthe slave trade. The Royal Coat of Armshas been enamelled on one side and onthe other there is a picture of a sailing shipwith the words ‘Success to the AfricanTrade of Whitehaven’ - almost certainly areference to the Triangular Trade.

Source 8a and 8b and 8c Model of KingGeorge (©The Beacon, Whitehaven)This is a model, constructed between 1989and 1992, of King George, which is theship which was commemorated on theBeilby Goblet (Source 7). King George wasa slave ship and the model shows you howthe slaves were transported. Compare thismodel with Wilberforce’s model (Source26a and 26b) and the pictures in ThomasClarkson’s book (Source 30a and 30b).


Sources associated withplantation ownershipSource 9 Whernside Manor, Dent

There are a number of stories about slavesin Dentdale. As with many local legendsthere is some truth behind them, but overthe years the stories have becomeelaborated. The following description ofthe connections between Dentdale andslavery is as accurate as present stateof knowledge allows.

The Sill family were long establishedlandowners in Dent, and during the 18thcentury some members of the familybecame involved in the West Indies tradeand in owning a plantation in Jamaica.

John Sill (1724-74) was described at thetime of his death as being ‘of Jamaica’.He seems to have been involved in thetrade between Lancaster and the WestIndies (but not the triangular route via WestAfrica) and he owned a plantation calledProvidence in Montego Bay in Jamaica.He would almost certainly have ownedslaves who would have worked on thisplantation. He was also connected to thepersistent story of the runaway slave inDent. John Sill and a business partner,David Kenyon, advertised in a Liverpoolpaper in 1758 offering a ‘handsomereward’ for the return to Dent of a ‘negroman’ called Thomas Anson. Nothing isknown about the background to thisepisode, who Thomas Anson was andwhat had happened, and whether this manwas ever found and returned to Dent.

When John Sill died in 1774 he left histhree nephews, Edmond, John and James,his estates in Jamaica. In 1801 their sisterAnn wrote a will in which she referred to‘my new erected house’. This is WhernsideManor, which is just over 200 years old. It istherefore likely that the house was built, atleast in part, from the profits the family hadmade from their plantation in Jamaica.A story that the house was built by a gangof negro slaves is almost certainly locallegend and nothing more.

Christchurch Plantation, Barbadosowned by the Lowther family

The Christchurch Plantation on Barbadoswas a valuable sugar plantation which wasacquired by Robert Lowther of MauldsMeaburn (1681-1745) by his marriage in1704 to Joan Carleton, widow of RobertCarleton of Penrith.

Robert Carleton’s will describes theplantation as consisting of:

‘one Mansion house, one Boyle house, oneCureing House, one Still house, two WindeMilnes, one catle Mill, one Trash house,one Corne house, Rum houses, Stablesand Forty Cottages….. four hundred acresof land…… planted with sugar, corne andpotatoes….. and four hundred and twelveNegroes (more or lesse)’.

With the death of Joan in 1722, the propertypassed to Robert Lowther and eventually toJames Lowther (1736 - 1802) who becamethe First Earl of Lonsdale. Robert Lowtherwas ‘Captain-General and Governor-in-Chiefof Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica,St. Vincent and the rest of the CaribeeIslands lying to windward of Guadeloupein America’ between 1710 and 1720.

The records in this collection date from theperiod of ownership of Robert Lowther andSir James Lowther.

Source 10a and 10b (D/Lons /L Box1031). An account of the sugar producedon the Christchurch plantation andsubsequently sent to London, 1705-1745.N.B. A Hogshead was a cask containingbetween 100 and 140 gallons (reproducedwith permission of the Lowther Estate Trust).

Source 11a, 11b and 11c (D/Lons/L Box1031). The front cover and the plantationaccounts listing negro slaves and animalson the Christchurch Plantation,31 December 1765 (reproduced withpermission of the Lowther Estate Trust).

Source 12a and 12b (D/Lons/L Box 1031).The plantation accounts listing negroslaves and animals on the ChristchurchPlantation, 31 December 1766 (reproducedwith permission of the Lowther Estate Trust).

Grove Plantation, Barbados andLowther Hall Plantation, Dominicaowned by the Senhouse family ofNetherhall, Maryport

The first members of the Senhouse familyto be involved with the West Indies weretwo sons of Humphrey Senhouse II(1706 - 1770) and his wife Mary Fleming(1713 - 1790). Humphrey was the founderof Maryport.

William and Joseph Senhouse were youngersons of this old Cumberland family which,though much respected, was not particularlywealthy. Their older brother Humphrey III,inherited the Netherhall estate at Maryportbut they had to make their own way in theworld. It was quite usual for young men intheir position to make a career in thechurch, the armed forces or to obtain apost in the colonies. William (1741 - 1800)started his career in the Navy and made avoyage to Virginia at the age of 14!

Fortunately in 1770 Sir James Lowther, hisfather’s friend (and by that time the ownerof the Christchurch plantation in Barbados),secured William the lucrative post ofSurveyor-General of the Customs in Barbadosand the Leeward Islands, a post he was tohold for about 17 years. In 1774 Williamacquired the Grove Plantation in Barbados.

William was also able to help his brotheradvance his career. Joseph (1743-1829)had gone to sea in 1759 but later heaccompanied his brother to Barbados and,in 1771, William was able to secure him apost as Collector (of Customs) at Roseauon the island of Dominica. This was abouttwo days’ sail from Barbados.

Joseph’s career in Dominica was, however,somewhat chequered! In 1773 he obtainedthe more lucrative post of Comptroller ofCustoms at a salary of £500 per annumbut almost immediately returned to England.He had acquired a plantation but it was notvery profitable and he left it in the care of amanager. Although he continued to visitBarbados, he only made one more trip toDominica and was deprived of his post.After Dominica was taken by France in1779 he never returned.

44 45

The Grove Plantation, Barbados

William Senhouse wrote a book of his‘Recollections’ later in his life. In it hedescribed life on the island and work onthe plantation. The Grove plantation wassome 219 acres in extent and had 109Negro slaves. Although the situation of theplantation was described as pleasant, being10 miles east of the capital Bridgetown, thehouse and buildings were not in goodrepair and it cost a good deal to rectify this.

Some of the problems of running a sugarplantation are described on pages 299 and 300:

‘The particular time of the purchase wasthe most unlucky that could be for in thatvery year commenced and has almost eversince continued, a succession of the worstcrops ever known in the island ofBarbados...’.

Owing to many of the original woodedareas of the island being cleared forcultivation of sugar, there had been areduction in the rainfall and an increase indrought and heat. Worse was to come,however, because William goes on todescribe the diseases and insects whichsubsequently attacked the canes - yellowblast, black blast, ants, inummerablehosts of vermin and an insect called theborer which had never been known before.He goes on to say:

‘But if these were not sufficient... let memention the Hurricane which a few yearsafter gave the coup de grace to the veryexistence almost of prosperity’

NB The islands of the Caribbean havealways been, and still are, subject toextremes of weather, including hurricanes.However, Barbados had generally escapedthese. The one mentioned above startedon 10 October 1780 and William gives agraphic account of its devastating effect onpages 321 to 335 of the ‘Recollections’ -not illustrated.

Source 13a and 13 b (D/Sen Box 220).The cover and pages 299-300 of WilliamSenhouse’s ‘Recollections’. The twopages illustrated describe some of thedifficulties in running The Grove Plantation.


The Lowther Hall Plantation, Dominica

Source 14a and 14b (D/SenBox194B)A ledger from Sir Joseph Senhouse’sLowther Hall plantation (which henamed after his patron and benefactorSir James Lowther), Dominica, 1772.Accounts kept by the Manager. Note theitems for clothing for Negro Slaves and on13 November:-

‘Lowell, Morson and Co. for 9 Negroes@ £62 14s 0d = £564 6s 0d’

William Senhouse’s brother Joseph wrotehis ‘Memoirs’, an account of his experiencesin the West Indies. His ‘Memoirs’ aremuch more lively and informative thanthe ‘Recollections’. Volume 2 of the‘Memoirs’ includes an account of a visitto Dominica in 1776.

Source 15a, 15b and 15c(D/Sen Box 194B)

15a The title pages of the ‘Memoirs’.

15b A description of Castle BrucePlantation belonging to Colonel JamesBruce (p.10).

15c A description of the ‘Caribbs’ orindigenous people of the West Indieswho were living on the island ofDominica in the 18th century. They werepart of the ‘Amerindian’ people (p.12).

Orange Valley Estate, Tobago, January1780 owned by William Crosier of Dalston

Two watercolour paintings by GeorgeHeriot of works and other buildings on thesugar plantation which belonged to WilliamCrosier (who came from Dalston, nearCarlisle, and his partner Alexander Wilcock).William Crosier died on this plantation inOctober 1780.

The paintings show the plantation owners’house on top of the hill, the huts where theslaves probably lived, various buildings todo with the processing of sugar, fields andthe surrounding landscape, and interestingfeatures such as a windmill and whatappear to be stacks of bananas.Interestingly the paintings show very fewpeople at work.

William Crosier (1738 - 1780) was the thirdson of his parents, John and Deborah, andtherefore would not be expected to inherittheir estates in Cumbria, which would go tothe eldest son. Consequently he went to theWest Indies to earn a living. At first he wentto Antigua, but in about 1775 he settled inTobago without his wife Anne and family.There he jointly owned the Orange Valleyplantation with Alexander Wilcock. Likemany Europeans who lived in the WestIndies, William suffered from the tropicalclimate. The letter to his brother John (13September 1779) refers to a fever (just oneyear before he died of another fever) andalso the growing need to defend the islandsin the West Indies from the French (Source17a, 17b, 17c).

Dear Brother,

I have the pleasure of informing youthat I am just getting well from a severeFever I have had. I believe I got it bybeing over-fatigued by attending Alarmsand the Duty of watching at the Bays andBatterys in the Heights... ...Orange Valleylooks at present as if it would make a goodCrop I hope dear Brother I shall send yousomething by and by. I heartily wish it wassoon. We have a 74 Gun Ship here and 2Sloops of Warr and I am told we shallhave another 74 Gun Ship on our Station......when I wrote you last I did not imaginewe should have been an English island thisday however I hope shall continue one......(D/Ing 145)

Despite the hopes for a good crop, theplantation was not a success and whenWilliam died of ‘a sudden putrid fever’ in1780, he left debts of several thousandpounds. Owning a plantation in the WestIndies did not guarantee prosperity, andliving in that part of the world often led toill health and sometimes death as a resultof catching a tropical disease.

William’s son, John, stayed in the WestIndies as a surgeon on the island ofBarbados, but he also died of a fever.

Source 16a and 16b (D/Ing 185 and186). Two watercolour paintings byGeorge Heriot of works and otherbuildings on the Orange Valley, Tobago,sugar plantation which belonged toWilliam Crosier.

Source 17a, 17b and 17c (D/Ing 145).Letter from William Crosier to hisbrother John.

The Tivoli Estate, Grenada

Thomas Forrester of ‘Slacks’, Bewcastle(1801-1874) went to Grenada in theWest Indies as an overseer on a sugarplantation, the Tivoli Estate. In a letter toa Bewcastle neighbour, George Ewart,written after four months on the island, heclaimed to be enjoying the work, to havehad no sickness, and to like the country(Source 18a, 18b, 18c, 18d). However themain focus of the letter is on his job. Thisgives us an interesting insight into the workof an overseer.

24 June 1827

‘Dear George,According to promise I write a few lines

to you, which will give you some account ofa West India planter’s life, as you told meyou had some thoughts of trying yourfortune in that line... I came to this Estateto learn the planting as I thought it best tocommence at once. There was about ahundred Hogshead of Sugar to make...and I attended to see it made. It is a largeEstate and makes betwixt two and threehundred Hogsheads of Sugar every year.There is two overseers and a manager.My fellow overseer and the manager isboth from the north of Scotland near FortWilliam.

I will give you a slight account of myemployment. At present I rise every morn-ing at day light when my boy has horse ormule, ready to mount... then I ride to thefield to see the negars all at work and ifthey be all there...

46 47

returning home to breakfast at seven...after breakfast I ride out again and remainwalking behind the people till noon to seeif they do there work properly such asplanting cains, weeding etc. At noon theyhave two hours to rest...

Thomas Forrester returned to Bewcastle in1874 where he died at the age of 73. Hisbrothers, John and Edward had alsoworked in Grenada, but like so manyEuropeans had succumbed to tropicaldiseases and had died much younger -John aged 47 and Edward aged 36.

Source 18a, 18b, 18c and 18d (DEW9/1).The letter from Thomas Forrester to hisneighbour George Ewart at Bewcastle.

Source 19 (YDB18/66/1). One pagefrom a list of 400 slaves purchased byRobert and Henry Jefferson, merchantsof Whitehaven, when they bought theYork and New Division Estates onAntigua in 1832.

The original of this document, which is aconveyance in which an estate ownercalled Ogilvie sells these two estates to theJeffersons of Whitehaven can be viewed atThe Rum Story in Whitehaven. A copyis kept at Whitehaven Record Office. Thepreamble to the document states that thetransfer extends to ‘all and singular theNegroes and other slaves mentioned inthe schedule hereunder written’.

Bills of sale

Bills of Sale reveal, perhaps more than anyother documents, the contemporary view ofa slave as a commodity, to be traded in thesame way as sugar or tobacco might bebought and sold. The three part-printeddocuments from Jamaica record the purchaseof various slaves by Thomas Milbourne,and the hand written one the sale of aslave in North Carolina. It is a reminderthat slaves were also part of the economyof north America. Although the Jamaicarecords are deposited in Carlisle RecordOffice, and Milbourne is a family namefrom North Cumbria, the true provenanceof these records is not known.


Source 20a and 20b (Ca7/32). A Bill ofSale of a woman, Mary, and her child for£140 in 1814.

Source 21a and 21b (Ca7/32). A Bill ofSale of a woman, Olive for £105 in 1811.

Source 22a and 22b (Ca7/32). A Bill ofSale of a man, Faith for £35 in 1818.

Source 23 (WDX/447). A record of thesale of Job in North Carolina for $350in 1826.

Sources associated with theabolition of slavery

William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce first visited the LakeDistrict as a student in 1779. He becamevery fond of the area. Not only did heenjoy the scenery, he also had manyfriends locally. Between 1781 and 1788he rented a house on the shores ofWindermere, and stayed there eachsummer. In 1818 William Wordsworth foundhim a house to rent in Rydal and he visitedGreta Hall in Keswick in 1818 at theinvitation of the poet, Robert Southey.He seems to have rather overstayed hiswelcome. Southey was initially irked byhis chaotic family and the poor disciplineamong the servants, but in time grew fondof him - ‘there is such a constant hilarity inevery look and motion, such a sweetnessin all his tones, such a benignity in all histhoughts, words and actions, that all senseof his grotesque appearance is presentlyovercome, and you feel nothing but loveand admiration for a creature of so happyand blessed nature’. Wilberforce was alsoa friend of Colonel John Pennington,Lord Muncaster. John Pennington inheritedMuncaster Castle near Ravenglass on theCumbrian coast. He had met WilliamWilberforce while a Member of Parliamentand, although a lot older than Wilberforce,had become a close friend. Wilberforceoften went to stay at Muncaster Castlewhen he was in Cumbria. Lord Muncasterwas also an enthusiastic abolitionist whosupported Wilberforce’s campaign. LordMuncaster died in 1813.

Source 24 A house near Windermere

This photograph shows one of the housesin the south of Cumbria where WilliamWilberforce stayed. The house was alreadyold when Wilberforce lived there. The parton the right of the photograph had beenbuilt about 1600, and the part on the left inabout 1750. In 1781 the house was ownedby the Fleming family who also owned andlived in Rydal Hall. Wilberforce leased thehouse between the years 1781 and 1788at an annual rent of £10. He was aged 23in 1781 so he was still a young man whenhe stayed at this house. For most of theyear the house remained unoccupied butWilberforce brought his family and friendsto spend the summers there. His bedroomwas probably on the upper floor at the lefthand corner which you can see. It containsa large fireplace and on one occasion it issaid that he lent his forehead against themantelpiece (Wilberforce was not a tallman). He was in despair, because theweather was so bad that there was littlelight getting into the rooms which made itdifficult to read, and because he had nothad any visitors for some time.

Wilberforce thought of the Lake District as‘the paradise of England’ and he oftenenjoyed boating on Windermere and horseriding and walking over the fells and passes.At other times he found life was too quiet.He did entertain visitors at his house aswell as visiting friends such as ColonelJohn Pennington at Muncaster Castle.However in 1788 Wilberforce complainedabout having too many visitors, and aboutbeing surrounded by the increasingnumbers of people who visited the LakeDistrict. At the end of the summer seasonhe decided not to return to this house.

Source 25 A pair of shackles found atthe house near Windermere (Source 24).

Source 26a and 26b A copy (made in1991) of William Wilberforce’s model ofa slave ship (©The Beacon, Whitehaven)

As part of his campaign to persuadeParliament to abolish the slave trade,William Wilberforce had a wooden model

of a slave ship constructed so that hecould demonstrate to audiences whatconditions on board ship were like. Theoriginal model can be seen at his birthplace in Hull. You should compare thismodel with the pictures of a slave shipwhich were included in a book by anotherabolitionist, Thomas Clarkson (See Source30a and 30b).

Henry Brougham

Henry Brougham (1778 - 1868), the sonof Henry and Eleanora, was born inEdinburgh but the family estates includedBrougham Hall, near Penrith. He was aleading campaigner in the anti-slave tradeand slave emancipation movements. In1829 Henry Brougham was describedas ‘the most brilliant literary ornament ofWestmorland, and ranks as one of theablest lawyers, and most patriotic,indefatigable, and enlightened statesmenof the present age’ (Parson and WhiteDirectory of Cumberland and Westmorland,1829, p.52). He became Lord Chancellorin 1830 when he was created BaronBrougham and Vaux of Brougham,Westmorland. Brougham Hall was builtaround this time and demolished in 1934(except various out buildings which are stillin use). There is not much evidence of hisliving at Brougham Hall. For example,he is not recorded as residing at the Hallat the time of the 1851 census.

Henry Brougham became interested inthe abolition movement in 1803, and soonbecame a leader of the anti-slavery circle,which he approached from a humanitarianstandpoint rather than from any particularreligious sense of duty. Wilberforce andBrougham knew each other from 1804,and from 1806 Brougham, who was asensational orator, was instrumental inanti-slave trade agitation. In 1818 ThomasClarkson wrote a letter to DilworthCrewdson, a Quaker banker in Kendal,commenting that ‘Brougham has beenindefatigable for years in the promotionof the abolition of the Slave Trade’, andsuggested that he should be supportedin acquiring the parliamentary seat forWestmorland (Source 28).

48 49

Source 27 A view of Brougham Hall,near Penrith, as it is today.

Source 28a, 28b and 28c(WD/CR/4/213). A copy of a letter fromThomas Clarkson to Dilworth Crewdsonof Kendal, supporting Lord Broughamin his acquisition of a parliamentaryseat for Westmorland, 19 February 1818.

Source 29a, 29b and 29c A ceramic jugof cream ware made by an unknownmaker in Liverpool about 1818(© Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal).

Thomas Clarkson

One of the most famous of the illustrationsused by the abolitionists was that of theship Brookes, which appeared in ThomasClarkson’s The history of the rise, progressand accomplishment of the abolition of theAfrican slave-trade by the BritishParliament in 1808, a year after theAbolition. The picture showed the horrificovercrowding of the ship with its cargo of450 slaves, but earlier conditions had beenworse still. The ship had previously carried609 slaves, but legislation in 1788 hadreduced its maximum number to 454. Thisillustration was frequently reproduced inpamphlets at the time and was importantin helping the abolitionists to win thebattle. Later Clarkson wrote another bookdetailing the history of the slave trade andits abolition.

Source 30a and 30b (WD/CR/4/215).An illustration of the slave ship,Brookes, from: The history of the rise,progress and accomplishment of theabolition of the African slave-trade by theBritish Parliament, 1808.

Source 31 The title of page of ThomasClarkson’s History of the Rise, Progressand Accomplishment of the Abolition ofthe African Slave trade by the BritishParliament, 1839.

The Quaker Tapestry Panel F3 The Slave Trade

This famous tapestry, consisting of 77colourful embroidered panels, can be seen


at The Friends Meeting House in Kendal(see details on page 64). Made by 4,000men, women and children between 1981and 1996, this international communityproject explores three centuries of socialhistory. One of the panels which wasembroidered in Kendal recognises theQuaker contribution to the abolition of theslave trade. The panel depicts on the left aQuaker meeting which was the place whereopposition to slavery was voiced. In 1783,with the encouragement of AmericanQuakers, the Yearly Meeting in Britainsent a petition to parliament urging thatparticipation in the slave trade be forbidden.This was read aloud in the House ofCommons, which is the scene depictedupon the right of the panel. In 1787 theQuaker campaign was replaced by anational one which included abolitionistssuch as Thomas Clarkson and WilliamWilberforce . Quakers in Cumbria werealso involved in the campaign for abolitionwith petitions (see Sources 32, 35-39, 40)and through making abolitionist literatureavailable (see Source 31).

One leading Quaker family did not come toCumbria until after the Act of 1834, but anancestor had played a significant part inthe national abolitionist campaign. In 1845James Cropper, a Quaker, opened thepaper mill in Burneside near Kendal whichstill bears the family name. His father,another James Cropper, had been amerchant in Liverpool, much involved withthe cotton trade with the southernAmerican states. As a Quaker Jamesrealised that his cotton trading clashed withhis principles. ‘It is a very difficult thing tokeep from touching in any shape slaveproduce’ he wrote in 1827. During the1820s he became very active in theabolitionist movement as he realised thatthough the 1807 Act had virtually endedthe slave trade in Africa, it had not causedthe decline of slavery as an institutionin the West Indies and Americas. Heencouraged the production of sugar inIndia by free labour, and worked withWilberforce and Clarkson on raising publicawareness of the evils of slavery whicheventually resulted in the abolition ofslavery in the British dominions in 1834.

When the younger James Cropper, also aQuaker, came to Burneside in 1845 heno doubt brought with him a continuinginterest in slavery and slave trading.

Source 32 Panel from The QuakerTapestry (© The Quaker Tapestry, Kendal).

Justifying slavery and anti-slaverypetitions

Cumbrians were involved in, and exposedto, the debates for and against slavery andthe slave trade. Although the author of anarticle in The Cumberland Magazine of1779 (Source 33) admits that someoverseers are ‘tyrants’ who ‘are themselvesthe dregs of the nation, and the refuse ofthe jails of Europe’, he goes on to justifythe institution of slavery when slaves aretreated well. He argues that ‘many of thenegroes who fall into the hands ofgentlemen of humanity find their situationseasy and comfortable’, and that their deathis something that they welcome becausethey believe they will be transported backto Africa where they will again meet withtheir family and communities.

An anti-slavery poster (Source 34), datingfrom some time between 1807 and 1834points out ‘England has abolished herSlave-trade, but she has not emancipatedher slaves’, and thus only part of the taskis complete. It goes on to list ten reasonswhy the institution of slavery wasiniquitous, but to an extent exoneratesplantation owners (many of whom lived inBritain) because it suggests that they mightnot be aware of what the overseers did intheir name.

Quaker opposition dates back to 1727,so they were amongst the first to publiclyoppose the institution of slavery and theslave trade. They were responsible fornumerous anti-slavery petitions which weresent to the House of Commons (Source32). Petitions such as these became apopular method of direct action. There arenumerous examples from Cumbria ofrequests for meetings to organise petitions,such as the four from Kendal (1824, 1826,1830, 1833) (Source 35, 36, 37 and 38).

These requests are signed by members ofthe gentry and leading industrialists in thetown, some of whom were Quakers. Theyknew that despite the 1807 Act, slaverywas not withering away and that furtheraction would be necessary to complete thejob. An example of a petition sent to theHouse of Commons (Source 39) in 1814requests that parliament uses its influenceto ensure that at the forthcoming Congressof Vienna the abolition of the continuingtrade in slaves should be on the agenda.This resolution of Kendal inhabitantspetitioned Parliament in the following words:

‘…expressive of our desire to annihilatethe abominable traffic in slaves… a trafficrepugnant to every Principle of Justice,Morality, Humanity and Charity, productiveof unspeakable and direful Calamities tothe Continent of Africa, and attended atthe same time with a wonderful andimmense Destruction of Mankind’.

This Congress marked the end of theNapoleonic wars, and many of theEuropean nations still involved in slavetrading were present. The report of thatmeeting in the Kendal Chronicle (Source40) reveals the importance of the media inpromoting the cause and also shows thatthis Kendal paper was itself a supporter.The report says that the petition was sentto London with 2028 signatures. It alsosays that similar petitions were sent fromseveral other communities in the area.In 1824 Robert Southey forwarded apetition to his friend, William Wilberforcefrom Keswick urging ‘the gradual abolitionof slavery’.

Even the 1834 Act that led to theemancipation of the slaves was not theend of the story. Further Bills werediscussed by Parliament which aimed torestrict the continuation of slave tradingelsewhere. For example, an 1839 Billsought to authorise the Royal Navy tocapture any Portuguese ship, or slavetrading ships which could not demonstratethat they had the authority of any nation(Source 41).

50 51

Source 33a, Source 33b and Source 33cThe title page of the CumberlandMagazine for 1779 and two pages of anarticle largely justifying slavery.

Source 34 (DFCF/2/51). An undatedanti-slavery poster.

Sources 35, 36, 37, 38 (WD/Cu/160).Four posters from Kendal (1824, 1826,1830, 1833) requesting meetings toorganise anti-slavery petitions.


Other sourcesBlack people in Cumbria

The few Black people who are known to have lived in Cumbria in the 17th, 18th and 19thcenturies seem to have come here as servants. Sometimes they accompanied familieswho had been working in the West Indies and southern states of America or in India.We know very little about them except for occasional entries in parish registers, especiallybaptism registers. The fullest set of records come from St Nicholas’s Church, Whitehaven.Between 1700 and 1796, 47 Black people (8 were female) were baptised, many as adults.Some are referred to as being servants of named local people. Some pages of thebaptism register have been photographed for the CD Rom.

The extracts give examples of Black peoplebeing baptised in eighteenth centuryWhitehaven. The earliest reference to a Blackperson in Cumbria is probably from Carlisle:

‘Charles, a blackamoor, baptised by theChancellor of the Diocese, at St Mary’s,Carlisle, 6 March, 1687’.

In this case the word ‘blackamoor’ mayindicate someone of North African orIndian origin.

There are also records of Black peoplefrom other parishes in Cumbria. Here aresome examples (not illustrated):

Westward6 October 1771Richard, Indian or Black servant of HenryFletcher M.P. (of Clea Hall) baptised.

Thursby24 February 1772Prince Crofton, a negro servant at CroftonHall (home of the Brisco family) baptised.He was buried on 15 May 1781 also atThursby.

Cockermouth, All SaintsJanuary 1773Robinson Crusoe, a Black, aged 22(buried).

Carlisle St. Mary5 April 1787Robert Carlisle, a Black servant of RobertCollins Esq., of Carlisle, adult baptised.

Moresby1803Leonard Jackson, a Blackman marriedBella Johnston. He was described as ‘Agedthirty years, A Negro Man settled atWorkington, born at Savannah,Georgia….an iron Dresser’.

It would seem that some died fairly young,perhaps unable to cope with the cold, wetCumbrian climate.

As slavery did not officially exist in Britain,these Black People, although perhapsslaves while the families lived in the WestIndies or southern states of America, couldnot be considered to be slaves while inBritain. However, whether they could beconsidered to have gained their freedomwas less clear.

The family of Cato RobinsonThe history of one black family fromWhitehaven has been traced with somesuccess: Cato was baptised in Whitehavenin January 1773 as an adult (See Source44). He was in the employ of Mr JohnHartley. By the time of his marriage to MarySharp in St James’s Church, Whitehaven in1778, he had become a brewer (Source 45).His children, Mary and Joseph werebaptised in Whitehaven in 1779 (Source 46)and 1781 respectively (Source 47). Catodied thirteen years after the birth of his son(Source 48). He was buried as a ‘Negropauper’ in Workington in 1794.

Source 42 (YPR 23/11). St. Nicholas Church, Whitehaven

Details of peopleYear Date being baptised Place of baptism

1776 16th September William Sampson, a Black Man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 16th September Thomas Caton, a Black Man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 16th September Paul Jones, a Black Man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 16th September Susannah Jones, a Black Woman St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 17th September John Wilson, a Black man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 21st September Francis Oates, a Black Man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 21st September Edie Oates, a Black woman St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 21st September Samuel, of Francis and Edie, St. Nicholas, Whitehaven

a Black Boy1776 21st September Jonas, of Francis and Edie, St. Nicholas, Whitehaven

a Black Boy1776 21st September John Richards, Blackman St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 21st September Susannah Faddy, a Blackwoman St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 21st September Joanna Warwick, Blackwoman St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 10th December Richard Bush, Black Man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 10th December Robert Whaley, a Black man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven

Source 43 (YPR 23/11) St Nicholas’s Church, Whitehaven.


1777 23rd April Thomas Harrison, a Black Boy St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 21st October Richard Hilton, Black Man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1776 23rd December Samuel Thompson, Black Man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven

Source 39 (WD/Cu/160). An example ofan anti-slavery petition sent to theHouse of Commons.

Source 40 (WD/Cu/160). A report of themeeting referred to in Source 35 in theKendal Chronicle.

Source 41 (WD/CR/4/214). A Bill for theSuppression of the Slave Trade, 8August 1839.

Source 44 (YPR 23/9). St. Nicholas’s Church, Whitehaven


1772 20th October John Mawson, a Black Man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1772 21st October John Stanley, a Black Man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1772 23rd December John Williams, a Black Man St. Nicholas, Whitehaven1773 2nd January Cato Robinson, a Black St. Nicholas, Whitehaven

manservant of Mr John Hartley

Source 45 (YPR 17/7). St. James’s Church, Whitehaven.Cato Robinson and Mary Sharp - entry in marriage register

Source 46 (YPR 17/1). St. James’s Church, Whitehaven.


1779 1st June Mary, of Cato Robinson St. James’s, Whitehaven

52 53


The National ArchivesSource 53 The National Archives inLondon is the building where governmentrecords are kept. It is a huge buildingcontaining many miles of shelving forrecords that date back to the AngloSaxon period. Famous records like TheDomesday Book (1086) are kept there,but the building is also full of everydayrecords of government departments.Information about the Whitehaven slavetrade can be found in the records of theColonial Office (abbreviated to CO).The information is in the port records(ledgers) for various ports in the West

Source 47 (YPR 17/1). St. James’s Church, Whitehaven


1781 2nd October Joseph, of Cato Robinson St. James’s, Whitehaven

Source 50 The Lutwidge Mansion (75Lowther St., Whitehaven). This residentialwing dating from the 18th century is all thatis left of the house owned by the Lutwidgemerchant family. Originally it was probablysimilar in style to The Gale Mansion (Source 49).

Source 51 The Milham Mansion (44/45Irish St., Whitehaven). This house wasbuilt by the merchant James Milhamsometime after 1713. This house was muchaltered about 100 years ago so it is difficultto be sure of its original layout. The wingsoriginally only had one floor - the one on theright may have been used as a warehouse.

No. ofShip Captain Destination Owner slaves Date

King George S. Hensley Angola John Bolton 550 20 Mar

Betsy E. Mosson Angola John Bolton 317 20 Mar

Christopher J. Watson Gold Coast John Bolton 390 30 July

Dart W. Neale Angola John Bolton 384 8 Sept

Bolton J. Boardman Bonny John Bolton 432 12 Nov

Elizabeth E. Neale Bonny John Bolton 461 12 Nov

John Bolton acquired Storrs Hall, Windermerein 1806 and extended the building and theestate to 3000 acres. He had acquiredsuch wealth from his trading business thathe employed a butler,, 2 footmen, a house-keeper, a cook, a kitchenmaid, 3 house-maids, farm bailiff, 9 gardeners, coachmen,and 2 grooms. He died in 1837 and isburied at St Martin’s parish church,Bowness.

Indies which were visited by Whitehavenships carrying slaves and other cargoesto sell. When these ledgers were completethe records were brought back to theColonial Office in London. When they wereno longer needed in that department theywere sent to The National Archives.Sources 1 - 6 are photographs of pagesfrom these ledgers. This photograph is ageneral view of the building which is atKew in London.

Source 54 A detail of The NationalArchives building at Kew in London.

Source 53:The National Archives building at Kew in London

54 55

Source 48 (YPR 36/4). St. Michael’sChurch, Workington.Burial of Cato Robinson.

Merchants’ houses in Cumbria

Sources 49, 50 and 51 are examples oftypical merchants’ houses in Whitehaven.Merchants associated with the slave tradeprobably lived in similar houses.

Source 49 The Gale Mansion (151-152Queen St., Whitehaven). This house wasbuilt by William Gale in the 1730s. WilliamGale was a Whitehaven merchant withlinks to Virginia through the tobacco trade.The wing to the right of the main rangewas originally a warehouse. The mainrange functioned both as an office and as a house for the Gale family. The four mainrooms on the ground floor included an office,a kitchen and two living rooms. Beneaththese rooms were cellars for storage.

Source 52 Storrs Hall on the shore ofLake Windermere was remodelled byJohn Bolton (1756 - 1837) in the earlynineteenth century. Bolton, a Cumbrian,became involved in the Liverpool slavetrade and made a fortune, part of which heinvested in this sumptuous house. Formore information about John Bolton see‘The Furness area of Cumbria and theSlave Trade’ on page 11 of this guide.

8 Resources suitable for teachers,school libraries and classrooms

Source 31: The title page of Thomas Clarkson’s History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of theAbolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament, 1839

Books about slavery and theslave trade

Books for teachers

‘Black people in pre 20th century Cumbria’,North-west Labour History Journal,Vol. 20, p39-40.

Dresser, M., Slavery Obscured: The SocialHistory of the Slave Trade in an EnglishProvincial Port, London, 2001 (An accountof Bristol – makes for interestingcomparisons with Whitehaven).

Elder, M., The Slave Trade and theEconomic Development of Lancaster,Halifax, 1992.

Furneaux, R., William Wilberforce, London,1974.

Hughes, E., North Country Life in theEighteenth Century: volume II Cumberlandand Westmorland, Oxford, 1965.

Pictorial Guide to the Quaker Tapestry,Kendal, 1998.

Pollock, J., Wilberforce, London, 1977.

Richardson, D. and Schofield, M.M.,‘Whitehaven and the eighteenth-centuryBritish slave trade’, Transactions of theCumberland and Westmorland Antiquarianand Archaeological Society, vol.92, (1992)183-204.

Rigg, A.N., Cumbria, Slavery and theTextile Industrial Revolution (privatelypublished), 1994.

Royal Commission for HistoricalMonuments in England, Whitehaven1660-1800, London, 1991.

Sambo’s grave: ‘Testimony of Lancaster’sinvolvement in the Slave Trade’, North-westLabour History Journal, Vol 20, p36-38.

Storey, M., Robert Southey: A Life, Oxford,1997.

Tattersfield, N., The Forgotten Trade,London, 1991.

8 Resources suitable for teachers,school libraries and classrooms


Tibbles, A., Transatlantic Slavery - AgainstHuman Dignity, National Museums andGalleries on Merseyside, London, 1994.

Walvin, J., Black Ivory: Slavery and theBritish Empire, Oxford, 2001.

Walvin, J., An African’s Life: The Life andTimes of Olaudah Equiano 1745 - 1797,London, 1998.

Walvin, J., The Slave Trade, Stroud, SuttonPublishing, 1999.

Walvin, J., Making the Black Atlantic:Britain and the African Diaspora, London,2000.

Wrangham, C. E., (ed), Journey to theLake District from Cambridge 1779: ADiary written by William Wilberforce,Stocksfield, 1983.

Books for pupils at KS3

Most of the textbooks which have beenwritten for the KS3 Study Unit, Britain 1750- 1900 include a section on the slave trade.The following three are typical of thosefound in schools:

J. Byrom et al., Think Through History:Minds and Machines-Britain 1750-1900,Longman, 1999, p14-21.

C. Culpin, Expansion, Trade and Industry,Collins, 1993, p32 - 33.

N. DeMarco, New Worlds for Old: Britain1750 - 1900, Hodder, 2000, p40 - 45.

Resource packs

Lancaster Museums, Slavery: CitizenshipResource Pack for KS3.

Merseyside Maritime Museum, Slaves andPrivateers.

National Maritime Museum, Freedom Pack.

Fiction for KS2 and KS3

Altman, l., The Legend of Freedom Hill,Lee and Low Books, 2004.

Blackman, M., Noughts and Crosses,Corgi, 2002.

KS3-4:

Senker, C., Why Are People Racist?,Hodder Wayland, 2001.

Senker, C., Racism: the impact on ourlives, Hodder Wayland, 2003.

Books and other resources for teachers:

ben Jalloun, Tahar, Racism Explained toMy Daughter published in the US andavailable in UK from the WillesdenBookshop atwww.willesdenbookshop.co.uk

Bowles, M., The Little Book of PersonaDolls, Featherstone, 2004.

Brown,B., Combating Discrimination,Persona Dolls in Action, Trentham Books,2001.

Dadzie, S., Toolkit for Tackling Racism inSchools, Trentham, 2000.

Richardson, R., and Miles, B., EqualityStories: recognition, respect and raisingachievement, Trentham, 2003.

Other print resources can also be takenfrom the following websites:

www.antiracist.org.uk has anti-racistteaching materials and ideas produced byWoodcraft Folk.

www.runnymedetrust.org providesinformation and reports on racialdiscrimination, anti-racist legislation andpromotion of multi-ethnic Britain.

www.teachernet.gov.uk/racistbullyingTeacher Net has lots of advice on racismby Robin Richardson

www.gypsy-traveller.org/ is an excellentsite designed for travellers, students, thegeneral public, service providers and localauthorities.

www.qca.org.uk/ca/inclusion/respect_for_all/ has examples of lessons whichpromote inclusion and cultural awareness.

A full listing of online resources appears inthe next section.

Brailsford, D., Confessions of Anansi, LMHPublishing, 2004.

Grindley, S., Spilled Water, Bloomsbury,2005.

Hendry, F., Chains, Oxford UniversityPress, 2004.

Lees, S., Runaway Jack, Francs Lincoln,2004.

McKissack, P., Slave Girl, Scholastic, 2003.

Matthews, A., The Runaway Slave, Watts,2003.

Nelson, V., Almost to Freedom, LernerPublishing Group, 2004.

Rees, C., Pirates, Bloomsbury, 2004.

Books that address issuesof racismBooks for pupils:Badger Publishing have developed a box of19 books for KS2 and KS3 pupils with thegeneric title Challenging Racism ThroughLiterature. Details are athttp://www.badger-publishing.co.uk/sec_12b.htm

Non-fiction:KS1:

Green, J., How do I feel about Dealing withRacism?, Watts Books, 2001.

Green, J., What Do We Think AboutRacism?, Hodder Wayland, 2002.

Thomas, P., The Skin I’m in: A First Look atRacism, Hodder Wayland, 2004.

KS2:

Lishak, A., Racism, Watts Books, 2005.

Sanders, B., Racism, Watts Books, 2003.

Sanders, P., What do you know AboutRacism? Franklin Watts, 2000.

Zephaniah, B., We Are Britain! , FrancesLincoln, 2002.

KS2-3:

Medina, S., Racism and Prejudice,Heineman, 2006.

Sanders, B. and Myers, S., Dealing withRacism , Watts Books, 2004.

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Drama, videos, CD ROMs, etc for usewith pupils to counter racism:

Ally Comes to Cumbria and Just Passingare two pieces of Forum Theatrecommissioned by Cumbria Children’sServices to stimulate discussion onmethods to counter racism at KS2-5.There is a pack of teaching materials toaccompany both productions. To bookcontact Wendy Ridley [email protected] phone 01539 773 486.

Fortress Europe and Escape To Safetyare two large interactive simulations toaddress racism towards refugees andasylum seekers at KS2-5. Seehttp://www.globallink.org.uk/

To book contact Global Link,[email protected] or phone01524 36201.

A Safe Place video pack explores attitudesto refugees and asylum seekers andfollows on from Show racism the Red Cardwhich explores racism in football for KS2-4.See www.srtrc.org/rs_videocd.htmAvailable from [email protected] orphone 0191 2910160.

Throwing Stones is a video pack forKS2 -3 pupils produced by LeicestershireConstabulary. The video tells the storyof two friends torn apart by racism and isintended for PSHE, citizenship and literacy.Seewww.networkpress.co.uk?Tstones.htmlAvailable from Network Educational Press,PO Box 635, Stafford ST16 1BF or phone01785 225515.

Moral Courage: Whose Got it? is a videopack for KS2-3 which explores the role ofthe bystander in supporting victims ofracism. Available from Anne Frank Trust,Star House, 104 / 108 Grafton Road,London NW5 [email protected] or phone 0207284 5858.


Coming Unstuck: Teaching about racismwith 10 to 11-year-olds is a comprehensiveteaching pack available from HIASPublications Clarendon House, RomseyRoad, Winchester, Hampshire SO22 5PWFax: 01962 876275 or phone 01962876264. (These cost £70.00 each;Wendy Ridley has 2 copies which can beborrowed)

Persona Dolls - white, Black Asian,Chinese boy or girl dolls for FoundationStage & KS1 + video and support pack,available from Persona Doll Training, 51Granville Road London N12 OJH.

Trial and Error CD Rom was sent free tosecondary schools by DFES for teachingabout diversity and racism throughCitizenship at KS 3 & 4. Available fromhttp://www.front-line-training.co.uk/trialanderror/

Homebeats CD Rom, produced by theInstitute of Race Relations for KS 3-5,covers the history of race relations inBritain. www.homebeats.co.uk givesupdates on news and events concerningthe CD Rom.

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9 Websites

Source 16b:Watercolour painting by George Heriot ofworks and other buildings on the OrangeValley, Tobago, sugar plantation whichbelonged to William Crosier.

Websites on slavery

The website to start with is:www.understandingslavery.com

then

www.antislavery.org

www.antislavery.org/breakingthesilence

www.brycchancarey.com/slavery/index.htm

www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives

www.discoverybristol.org.uk

www.empiremuseum.co.uk

www.hullcc.gov.uk/wilberforce/index.ht

www.learningcurve.gov.uk/snapshots/snapshot27/snapshot27.htm

www.learningcurve.gov.uk/index Followlinks to Index of topics - 1750-1900 - slavery.

A work programme using pictures anddocuments on ‘How did the Abolition Actsof 1807 and 1833 affect slavery?’

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/slavery/index.asp

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/imagelibrary/slaveryA large collection of pictures on line

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/exhibitions.htm Follow links to BlackPresence - information and documents/pictures about black people in the UK

www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/educationservices/ks3.htm#3 There is aYear 8 session on the Atlantic slave tradelinked to QCA scheme of work Unit 15Black Peoples of America: from slavery toequality. Also another session ‘Section 4:Sold into Slavery: What was the reality ofthe Atlantic slave trade?’

www.port.nmm.ac.uk The excellentNational Maritime Museum website and aportal to many other maritime websites

www.nmm.ac.uk/freedom

www.nmm.ac.uk/collections/education/slavery/

www.quaker-tapestry.co.uk/panels.htm

9 Websites


www.rumstory.co.uk

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAslavery.htmAn extensive website, with an Americanbias, that covers almost every conceivableaspect of the history of slavery. There is aspecial section on the biographies ofBritish anti-slavery leaders including HenryBrougham whose parents came fromWestmorland.

www.standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes2/secondary_history/his15

www.stevebulman.f9.co.uk/cumbria/carlisle_factories.html

www.whernsidemanor.com

www.wm.edu/oieahc/wmq/Jan01/EltisTable2.html

In addition there is a further list of websitesat the back of the National MaritimeMuseum Freedom Pack (see bibliographyabove).

Source 24: A house near Windermere occupied byWilliam Wilberforce as a summer home.

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10 Information about access,support and links to sources

Source 22a: A Bill of Sale of a man, Faith for £35 in 1818

Cumbria Record Office, CarlisleAlma Block, The Castle, Carlisle, CA3 8UR01228 607284/5Email enquiries:[email protected]: www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives

Cumbria Record Office, KendalCounty Offices, Kendal, LA9 4RQ 01539 773540Email enquiries:[email protected]: www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives

Cumbria Record Office andLocal Studies Library, WhitehavenScotch Street, Whitehaven, CA28 7NL01946 852920 Email enquiries:[email protected]: www.cumbria.gov.uk/archives

Abbot Hall Art Gallery, KendalAbbot Hall, Kendal, LA9 5AL01539 722464Email enquiries:[email protected]:www.abbothall.org.uk

The Beacon, WhitehavenWest Strand, Whitehaven, CA28 7LY0845 095 2131Email enquiries:[email protected]:www.thebeacon-whitehaven.co.uk

The National ArchivesKew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 4DU020 8876 3444Email:[email protected]:www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

10 Information about access,support and links to sources


The Quaker Tapestry Exhibition Centre& TearoomFriends Meeting House, Stramongate,Kendal, LA9 4BH 01539 722975Email:[email protected]: www.quaker-tapestry.co.uk

The Rum Story, WhitehavenLowther St., Whitehaven, CA28 7DN01946 592933Email:[email protected]: www.rumstory.co.uk

Other sources of support withinCumbria

Cumbria Development Education Centre(CDEC)St Martin’s CollegeLow Nook, Rydal Road, AmblesideCumbria LA22 9BBTel & Fax: 015394 [email protected]

CDEC has a large collection of resourcesabout contemporary life and culture inWest African and Caribbean countries thatwere involved in the slave trade such asBenin and St Lucia; and topic-specificresources on the slave trade andcolonialism. The resources range fromteaching packs, photopacks and books;to artefacts such as textiles, musicalinstruments and household objects.To borrow resources schools must bemembers of CDEC - please contact themfor membership rates and generalenquiries.

Friends of Cumbria Archives (FOCAS)FOCAS provides small grants to help withtransport costs for schools wishing to visitCumbria’s archive offices. Teachers shouldcontact the Record Office which they wishto visit for further information.

Other sources of informationoutside Cumbria

Anti Slavery InternationalThomas Clarkson House, The Stableyard,Broomsgrove Road, London, SW9 9TLTel: 020 7501 8920Website: www.antislavery.org

Bristol City MuseumQueens Road, Bristol, BS8 1RLTel: 01179 223571Website:www.bristol-city.gov.uk/museums

Bristol: British Empire andCommonwealth MuseumStation Approach, Temple Meads,Bristol, BS1 6QHTel: 0117 925 4980 Website: www.empiremuseum.co.uk

Hull, Wilberforce Museum36 High Street, Hull, HU1 1NQTel: 01482 613 902Website:www.hullcc.gov.uk/museums/wilberforce/index.php

Lancaster Maritime Museum and TheJudges’ Lodgings Museum, LancasterCustom House, St Georges’s Quay,Lancaster, LA1 1RBTel: 01524 64637Website:www.lancashire.gov.uk/education/museums/lancaster/maritime.asp

Liverpool: Merseyside Maritime MuseumAlbert Dock, Liverpool, L3 4AQTel: 0151 478 4499Website:www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/

London, National Maritime MuseumGreenwich, London, SE10 9NFTel: 020 8858 4422Website: www.nmm.ac.uk/

64 65

11 Acknowledgements

Source 41: A Bill for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, 8 August 1839

Creative Partnerships, Cumbria wouldlike to thank the following members ofthe steering group and other individualswho have helped develop and producethis resource:

Steering group

Rob David (Chair), ConsultantAlex Cox-King, (Minutes) CreativePartnerships, CumbriaAnna Farthing, History ConsultantPeter Foley, BME ConsultantAnne Rowe, Cumbria County Council,Archive ServiceCatherine Clark, Cumbria County Council,Archive ServiceAnne Singleton, Cumbria County Council,Schools Library ServiceLiz Bowe, Cumbria County Council, LibraryServiceHelen Towers, Cumbria County Council,Reader DevelopmentWendy Ridley, Cumbria County Council,Children’s ServicesEndaur Kaur, Cumbria County Council,Children’s ServicesHeather Tipler, Museums, Libraries andArchives, North WestFran Dryden, Fairfield Infants School,CockermouthKate Morgan, Cumbria Arts in EducationKate Simpson, Cumbria DevelopmentEducation CentreMichelle Kelly, The Beacon WhitehavenPhil Hazelhurst, The Rum Story,WhitehavenPeter Tyas, Copeland Borough CouncilJohn Hall, ArtistSally Seed, Stoneleigh Communications forCreative Partnerships, Cumbria

Pack authors

Dr Rob David, Lancaster UniversityPam Tipping, Sedbergh Primary SchoolJames Thorp, St. Benedicts High School,WhitehavenLiz West, St Martin’s College, CarlisleWendy Ridley, Cumbria County Council,Children’s Services

11 Acknowledgements


Technical support

Liz ClementBen Cornwell

Creative Partnerships, Cumbria wouldlike to thank the following people andorganisations for giving permission toplace digitised images of documents,artefacts and photographs on theCDRom and in the Teacher’s Guide.

Anonymous owners of propertiesThe Beacon, WhitehavenBrougham HallCarlisle Friends MeetingPeter CrewdsonCumbria Archive ServiceLakeland Arts TrustLowther Estate TrustJ. Scott PlummerSedbergh and District History SocietyQuaker Tapestry, KendalWhernside Manor

We have made every effort to contactowners of the documents and othermaterials that appear as digitised imageson the CDRom. We hope that where wehave failed, owners will be content to seetheir material being used for educationalpurposes. Any other owners are welcometo contact Creative Partnerships, Cumbria.

The contents of the CD Rom and thisTeacher’s Guide have been edited by Dr Rob David for Creative Partnerships,Cumbria.

Creative Partnerships works to giveschool children throughout England theopportunity to develop their potential,their ambition their creativity andimagination through sustainablepartnerships with creative and culturalorganisations, businesses andindividuals.

© 2006 Arts Council England

This Pack has been designed and printedby Badger Press Ltd, Bowness on Windermere,Cumbria LA23 3AS

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‘the abominable traffic’ is a phrase taken from a petition toParliament for the abolition of slavery by the inhabitants of Kendal.

Documents

Abominable Traffic slave trade teaching pack · 3. Olaudah Equiano (c1745-1799) was born in Nigeria, taken as a slave to America, gained his freedom, came to England, travelled extensively