THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE, SLAVERY AND
ABOLITION
SOURCES AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY
BRIEFING
The British transatlantic slave trade began in the second half of the 16th century
and reached its peak in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was abolished by Act of
Parliament in March 1807.
Slavery in the British empire was abolished, in theory, in 1834, but a period of
enforced apprenticeship followed. Enslaved people in the Caribbean finally
became free in 1838.
The British Library holds resources relevant to the study of the slave trade and
slavery in most areas of its collections. This briefing gives a flavour of these
resources. It lists
1. some easily accessible resources on the Internet, provided on the British
Library’s site and elsewhere
2. introductions, reference books, bibliographies and other historical works
on slavery
3. literature by ex-slaves and other Black commentators
4. recently published reproductions of historic texts
5. resources for original research, including material in the British Library’s
Early Printed Books and Manuscript collections
Please note that this guide is not a comprehensive listing of the British Library’s
resources, or of works on the history of slavery.
(NB: where numbers are given below the entries, such as X.809/31045 and
YC.1998.b.6960, they indicate the British Library shelfmark of the quoted work.)
For the British Library’s catalogue see:
http://catalogue.bl.uk/
For information on obtaining a British Library Reader Pass see:
http://www.bl.uk/services/reading/admissions.html
For the British Library’s Online Shop see:
http://shop.bl.uk/
1. Internet resources
British Library
A major British Library resource, offering large amounts of material on the
Caribbean during the period of enslavement, is
Caribbean Views: sugar, slavery and the making of the West Indies
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/collections/caribbean/
An introduction to this resource and other historical galleries by the writer Mike
Phillips is online at
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/galleries/caribbeanviews/index.html
There are a number of slavery-related images at British Library Images Online
http://www.imagesonline.bl.uk/britishlibrary/controller/home
For the British Library’s African collections see
http://www.bl.uk/collections/african.html
For the British Library’s Caribbean collections see
http://www.bl.uk/collections/oes/caribbean/caribbean.html
Elsewhere
The National Archives offers an introduction to Black history 1500–1850,
including material on slavery, at
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/index.htm
For information and teaching and learning resources on slavery and
abolition, try the following websites:
• http://www.brycchancarey.com/
• Understanding Slavery, http://www.understandingslavery.com/
• Breaking the Silence,
http://www.antislavery.org/breakingthesilence/index.shtml
For events listings see, for example:
• Directgov http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/slavery/DG_065970
• Set All Free http://www.setallfree.net/
• Anti-Slavery International http://www.antislavery.org/
For family history resources see:
• http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk
• www.familyrecords.gov.uk
2. Introductions, bibliographies, reference books
and selected historical works
Accessible introductions to the subject include:
Blackburn, Robin, The rise and fall of slavery in the Americas (London: Verso,
2007)
Northrup, David (ed.), The Atlantic slave trade (2nd ed.) (Boston, Mass.:
Houghton Mifflin, 2002)
YC.2002.a.12097
Walvin, James, A short history of slavery (London: Penguin, 2007)
Walvin, James, Making the black Atlantic: Britain and the African diaspora
(London: Cassell, 2000)
YC.2001.a.9146; m00/30803
Walvin, James, Questioning slavery (London: Routledge, 1996)
YC.1997.a.608; 97/03005
2
For an illustrated introduction to the British Library’s collections see:
Hogg, Peter C., Slavery: the Afro-American experience. Illustrated from English
sources in the British Library Reference Division (London: British Library, 1979)
X.800/31045
For family history resources see:
Grannum, Guy, Tracing Your West Indian Ancestors (London: National Archives,
2002)
YC.2002.a.17358
Reference books, bibliographies and journals include:
Dantzig, Albert van, Forts and Castles of Ghana (Accra: Sedco, 1980)
X.809/51768
The historical encyclopedia of world slavery (Santa Barbara, Calif.: Oxford: ABCCLIO, 1997)
YC.1998.b.6960; HLR 306.362
Hogg, Peter C. The African slave trade and its suppression. A classified and
annotated bibliography of books, pamphlets and periodical articles (London:
Frank Cass, 1973)
HLR 382.44; X.520/7894
Macmillan encyclopedia of world slavery (New York: Macmillan Reference USA,
Simon & Schuster Macmillan, 1998)
m01/11903 vol. 1, A-K; m01/11904 vol. 2, L-Z
Miller, Joseph C. (ed.), Slavery and slaving in world history. A bibliography
(Armonk, NY; London: M.E. Sharpe, 1999). Vol.1, 1900-1991; vol. 2, 1992-1996
2725.g.2934; HLR 306.362
This is the main academic bibliography on slavery. Since 1996, it has been
continued annually in the journal:
Slavery and abolition: a journal of comparative studies
P.701/1718; 8309.373000
The journal is indexed in a number of electronic resources including the British
Humanities Index, available on-site at the British Library (see
http://www.bl.uk/collections/wider/eresources/eshomepg.html)
Some selected general historical works and electronic resources:
Eltis, David et al., The trans-Atlantic slave trade: a database on CD-ROM
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999)
CDM.2000.a.295
Hochschild, Adam, Bury the chains: the British struggle to abolish slavery
(London: Pan, 2006)
YC.2006.a.8070
H-Slavery http://www.h-net.org/~slavery/, a list-serv for academic discussion
3
James, C.L.R., The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo
Revolution, intro. James Walvin (1938; repub. London: Penguin, 2001)
YC.2001.a.8433
Gilroy, Paul, The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness (London:
Verso, 1993)
YC.1994.b.3724
Lovejoy, Paul, Transformations in slavery: a history of slavery in Africa
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000) [2nd ed.]
YC.2001.a.13959
Lovejoy, Paul (ed.), Identity in the shadow of slavery (London: Continuum, 2000)
YC.2001.a.14820
Oldfield, John, Popular politics and British anti-slavery: the mobilisation of public
opinion against the slave trade, 1787–1807 (London: Frank Cass, 1998)
YC.1998.a.3923
Schama, Simon, Rough crossings: the slaves, the British and the American
revolution (London: BBC, 2006)
YC.2006.a.1161
St Clair, William, The grand slave emporium: Cape Coast Castle and the British
slave trade (London: Profile, 2007)
Shepherd, Verene, I Want to Disturb My Neighbour: Lectures on Slavery,
Emancipation, and Postcolonial Jamaica (Jamaica: Ian Randle Publishers, 2007)
Sherwood, Marika, After abolition: Britain and slave trade since 1807 (I. B.
Tauris, 2007)
m07/.18926
Walvin, James, The trader, the owner, the slave (London: Jonathan Cape, 2007)
Williams, Eric, Capitalism and Slavery, with a new Introduction by Colin Palmer
(Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1994)
95/35615
3. Literature by Black writers
There are a small number of works by Black writers published during the period
of slavery and abolition.
Olaudah Equiano
The best known is the work of Olaudah Equiano, whose autobiography, The
interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the
African ... written by himself, was first published in 1789. The interesting
narrative… tells how Equiano was captured and enslaved in Africa and subjected
to the horrors of the middle passage when transported by slave ship to the
Caribbean. His book describes the many and varied episodes of his life. In 1766
he managed to buy his freedom and eventually settled in England, where he
became an important voice in the campaign for abolition.
4
The interesting narrative… was first published in 1789, and went through several
(enlarged) editions in Equiano’s lifetime. The last before his death in 1797 was
the ninth edition, published in 1794. It was followed by several posthumous
editions.
The interesting narrative has been republished several times in recent years, the
latest edition being:
Equiano, Olaudah, The interesting narrative and other writings (London: Penguin,
2003) (Ed. Vincent Carretta)
YC.2003.a.10785
For recent biographies see:
Carretta, Vincent, Equiano, the African: biography of a self-made man (Athens,
Ga.: University of Georgia Press, 2005.)
YC.2006.a.4039; m05/.39533
Walvin, James, An African's life: the life and times of Olaudah Equiano, 17451797 (London: Cassell, 1998)
YC.2000.a.2239; 99/17715
For more on Equiano see Mike Phillips’s online essay at
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/galleries/caribbeanviews/room_3.html#
Extracts of The interesting narrative are available on Caribbean Views,
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/collections/caribbean/.
See also Brycchan Carey’s collection of resources at
http://www.brycchancarey.com/equiano/index.htm.
The British Library holds many of the early editions of The interesting narrative.
The original first edition is:
Equiano, Olaudah, The interesting narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano, or
Gustavus Vassa, the African ... written by himself (London: 1789, 2 vols)
615.d.8.
The different editions are detailed in Carretta’s 2003 publication of The interesting
narrative (for which see above).
Ottobah Cugoano
Cugoano was born in Africa, kidnapped into slavery and transported to the
Caribbean. He came to Britain, where he campaigned against slavery and
published Thoughts and sentiments on the evil and wicked traffic of the slavery
and commerce of the human species, etc. in 1787.
This text was republished in 1999, along with other writings by Cugoano, as
Cugoano, Ottobah Thoughts and sentiments on the evil of slavery and other
writings (ed. Vincent Carretta) (New York; London: Penguin, 1999)
YA.2001.a.22738
The original edition is
5
Cugoano, Ottobah, Thoughts and sentiments on the evil and wicked traffic of the
slavery and commerce of the human species, etc. (London: 1787)
T.111(4); 8156.b.22 (and several other copies)
Extracts from Thoughts and sentiments will be found in Caribbean Views
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/collections/caribbean/.
For more on Cugoano see also
http://www.brycchancarey.com/cugoano/index.htm
Mary Prince
Mary Prince was a former slave who was born in Bermuda, and escaped from her
owners after they had brought her to London in 1828. With the help of the AntiSlavery Society, she published her autobiography, detailing the cruelty she had
suffered, in 1831. It has been republished several times, most recently as:
Prince, Mary, The history of Mary Prince: a West Indian slave (ed. Sarah Salih)
(London: Penguin, 2000)
Y.C.2002.a.8104
It was originally published as
Prince, Mary, The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian slave. Related by herself.
With a supplement by the editor (T. Pringle). To which is added, the Narrative of
Asa-Asa, a captured African (London, 1831)
8157.bbb.30; T.1512.(5.)
6
Ignatius Sancho
Sancho was born on a slave ship, and worked in London as a slave as a child, but
later attained a position in society. His letters, in which he attacks the slave trade
(although he was not a major figure in the abolition movement), have been
republished several times, most recently as:
Sancho, Ignatius, Letters of the late Ignatius Sancho, an African (ed. Vincent
Carretta) (New York; London: Penguin, 1998)
YC.2001.a.1576
For a biography see:
King, Reyahn (ed.), Ignatius Sancho: an African man of letters (London: National
Portrait Gallery, 1997)
YC.1997.a.2573; 98/08835
His music has been published as:
Sancho, Ignatius, Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780). An early African composer in
England: the collected editions of his music in facsimile (ed. Josephine Wright)
(New York; London: Garland Publishing, 1981)
E.1500.u.
The first edition of his Letters is:
Sancho, Ignatius, Letters of the late Ignatius Sancho, an African. ... To which are
prefixed, memoirs of his life (London: 1782, 2 vols)
10920.bbb.5.
For more on Sancho see: http://www.brycchancarey.com/sancho/index.htm
Other selected works in this field
The biography of Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua: his passage from slavery to
freedom in Africa and America (eds Robin Law and Paul Lovejoy) (Princeton, N.J.:
Markus Weiner Publishers, 2001)
YC.2003.a.6273
Bluett, Thomas, Some memoirs of the life of Job, the son of Solomon, the High
Priest of Boonda in Africa, etc. (London: Richard Ford, 1734)
583.c.41.(1.); 1419.b.42.; G.14722.
The memoirs of Job Jalla, properly Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, a high-ranking
Senegalese Muslim seized at the River Gambia, sold into slavery and shipped to
Maryland; the Royal African Company eventually arranged his return home.
Carretta, Vincent and Philip Gould (eds), Genius in bondage: literature of the
early Black Atlantic (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2001)
YC.2003.a.6384; m02/13028
Scholarly essays on various writings by black authors, in Britain and the US.
Edwards, Paul Geoffrey, Unreconciled strivings and ironic strategies: three AfroBritish authors of the Georgian era; Ignatius Sancho, Olaudah Equiano, Robert
Wedderburn (Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh, Centre of African Studies,
1992)
YC.1992.a.1336
7
Kitson, Peter and Debbie Lee, Slavery, abolition, and emancipation: writings in
the British Romantic Period (London: Pickering & Chatto, 1999)
YC.1999.b.5173
Volume 1 of this eight-volume work covers Black writers and contains facsimile
reprints of writing by the following authors: Ukawsaw Gronniosaw; Phillis
Wheatley; Julius Soubise; Ignatius Sancho; Ottobah Cugoano; James Harris;
Olaudah Equiano; Sierra Leonian settlers; John Jea; Robert Wedderburn; and
Mary Prince.
Potkay, Adam and Sandra Burr (eds), Black Atlantic writers of the eighteenth
century: living the New Exodus in England and the Americas (Basingstoke:
Macmillan, 1995)
YC.1995.a.2377; 95/27135
Sharpe, Jenny, Ghosts of slavery: a literary archaeology of black women's lives
(Minneapolis; London: University of Minnesota Press, 2003)
YC.2003.a.20009; m05/.13473
Sparks, Randy J., The two princes of Calabar: an eighteenth-century Atlantic
odyssey (Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, 2004)
YC.2005.a.13165; m04/17249
4. Selected contemporary texts and documents in
modern reprint and new editions
This section gives references for contemporary sources that have been
republished in the 20th or 21st centuries. (See also Caribbean Views
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/galleries/caribbeanviews/index.html and the
section on Black authors above.)
Microfilmed collections
Abolition & emancipation (Marlborough: Adam Matthew Publications Ltd.,
2002-)
pt. 1-4 Mic.A.20007
pt. 5 Mic.A.19940
pt. 6 Mic.A.19934
A large microfilmed collection of the papers relating to slavery and abolition,
including those of Thomas Clarkson held by the British Library, and of William
Wilberforce and Granville Sharp. The microfilmed papers are from collections held
by the Huntington Library, the Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool, the
Gloucestershire Record Office, the British Library and Duke University, and also
include the papers of William Lloyd Garrison, Zachary Macaulay, Harriet
Martineau, Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Smith, Iveson Brookes and Francis
Corbin.
A listing is available in hard copy:
Abolition and emancipation. A listing and guide to ... the microfilm collection
(Marlborough: Adam Matthew, 1996-2003)
YC.2000.a.5261; YC.2005.a.290
8
Wilberforce papers
Wilberforce, William, Papers of Samuel Wilberforce (1818-1873) (Marlborough:
Adam Matthew, 2002)
Mic.A.19869
Microfilm of Wilberforce’s papers housed in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
Wilberforce steered the bill to abolish the slave trade through Parliament.
Listings are available as follows:
Wilberforce: slavery, religion & politics. Series 1, The Wilberforce papers from the
Bodleian Library, Oxford: a listing and guide to series one, parts 1-3
(Marlborough : Adam Matthew, 2003-)
pt. 1 YC.2006.a.4336
Wilberforce: slavery, religion and politics. Series 2, Papers of William Wilberforce
(1759-1833) and related slavery and anti-slavery materials from Wilberforce
House, Hull: a listing and guide to the microfilm collection (Marlborough: Adam
Matthew, 2000)
YC.2003.a.20995
See also
Wilberforce, William, An appeal to the religion, justice, and humanity of the
inhabitants of the British Empire: in behalf of the Negro slaves in the West Indies
(London: J. Hatchard, 1823)
Mic.F.232
Collections of facsimile reprints
Recent collections of facsimile reprints of 17th- and 18th-century works on slavery
and abolition are:
Kitson, Peter and Debbie Lee, Slavery, abolition, and emancipation: writings in
the British Romantic Period (London: Pickering & Chatto, 1999)
YC.1999.b.5173
A work in 8 volumes covering the following: 1 Black writers; 2 The abolition
debate; 3 The emancipation debate; 4 Verse; 5 Drama; 6 Fiction; 7 Medicine and
the West Indian slave trade; 8 Theories of race.
For vol. 1., see the Black writers’ section above. Vol. 2 contains extracts from the
works of James Ramsay; Thomas Clarkson; John Newton; Alexander
Falconbridge; William Wilberforce; William Fox; Edmund Burke; Samuel Taylor
Coleridge; William Beckford; Raymond Harris; Bryan Edwards; and J.B. Holroyd.
Kenneth Morgan (ed.), The British transatlantic slave trade (London: Pickering &
Chatto, 2003).
vol. 1. The operation of the slave trade in Africa (ed. Robin Law). Reproduces the
work of John Hawkins, John Matthews, John Adams and Gomer Williams.
vol. 2. The Royal African Company (ed. Kenneth Morgan). Various works on the
Royal African Company, which played a major role in the British trade on the
African coast, 1672–c.1750.
Vol. 3. The abolitionist struggle: opponents of the slave trade (ed. John Oldfield).
Works by Robert Boucher Nickolls, Thomas Cooper, William Roscoe, James Field
Stanfield, Thomas Cochrane, Thomas Clarkson and William Fox.
vol. 4. The abolitionist struggle: promoters of the slave trade (ed. David Ryden).
Works by ‘A. Planter’, Gilbert Francklin, William Knox, Capt. Macarty, Mercator
and the Committee of the Honourable House of the Jamaican Assembly.
vol. 1 YC.2003.a.9722
vol. 2 YC.2003.a.9721
9
vol. 3 2702.f.669
vol. 4 m05/.21782
Pinfold, John (ed.), The slave trade debate: contemporary writings for and
against (Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2007)
Reprints and new editions of individual works
Barbot, Jean. Barbot on Guinea : the writings of Jean Barbot on West Africa,
1678-1712 (eds P.E.H. Hair, Adam Jones and Robin Law) (London: Hakluyt
Society, 1992)
ST 461/2/175-176
A major text on West Africa, with information on the slave trade but also on many
aspects of African society, first published in English in 1732.
Clarkson, Thomas, The history of the rise, progress, and accomplishment of the
abolition of the African slave trade by the British Parliament (Whitefish, MT:
Kessinger Publishing, 2005)
m06/.28181
First published in 1808
Clarkson, Thomas, An essay on the slavery and commerce of the human species
particularly the African (United States: Kessinger, 2004?)
m06/.28650
First published in 1786
Clarkson was a major figure in the abolition movement, and carried out his own
research (at some personal risk) into the conditions faced by slaves on the slave
ships. These are his two best-known works.
Corry, Joseph, Observations upon the windward coast of Africa, the religion,
character, customs, &c. of the natives ...etc. (1968)
X.800/2984.
Report of a journey made to West Africa in 1805–6, with discussion of the
potential for reform of slavery and the slave trade.
Crow, Hugh, The memoirs of Captain Hugh Crow: the life and times of a slave
trade captain (Oxford: Bodleian Library, 2007)
Hugh Crow was the captain of the last legal British slaving voyage, on board
Kitty’s Amelia, 1807. The book contains information about experiences on the
African coast and in the Caribbean; the author also argues in favour of the slave
trade.
The first edition is:
Crow, Hugh, Memoirs of the late Captain Hugh Crow, of Liverpool; comprising a
narrative of his life, together with descriptive sketches of the western coast of
Africa; particularly of Bonny ... To which are added, anecdotes and observations
illustrative of the Negro character (London: Brown & Green, 1830)
1202.k.20.; W2/7359; Mic. PB MICC 106605
Falconbridge, A. M. Narrative of two voyages to the River Sierra Leone during the
years 1791-1792-1793, ed. Christopher Fyfe / (Liverpool: Liverpool University
Press, 2000.)
Includes: The journal of Isaac Dubois - An account of the slave trade on the coast
of Africa, Alexander Falconbridge.
YC.2000.a.3743
10
This book brings together the ground-breaking abolitionist tract of Alexander
Falconbridge, first published in 1788, with the pro-slavery arguments of his wife,
Anna Maria. Falconbridge had been a doctor on slave ships before becoming an
abolitionist.
Newton, John, The journal of a slave trader ... 1750-1754. With Newton's
thoughts upon the African slave trade. (Ed. Bernard Martin and Mark Spurrell)
London: Epworth Press, 1962)
10634.p.25.
Newton was a slave trader who, after a dramatic conversion experience,
eventually became a vocal abolitionist as well as an evangelical clergyman (and
author of the hymn ‘Amazing Grace’). Thoughts upon the African Slave Trade was
first published in 1788.
Park, Mungo, Travels in the interior districts of Africa, ed Bernard Waites (Ware:
Wordsworth, 2002)
H.2002/3350
Park’s Travels, detailing journeys into the African interior in 1795–7, have been
republished many times. He is a significant figure in that he was virtually alone
among British travellers to West Africa to reach inland areas, thus providing an
eye-witness account of societies for which there are few other records at this
period. His account is important for the history of enslavement because he
describes accompanying a slave caravan from the interior to the coast in 1797.
5. Original research in the British Library’s
collections
Early printed books
The British Library’s original editions of the titles listed in the ‘Reprints’ section,
and many more, will be found in the Early Printed Books section. For an extensive
bibliography see
Hogg, Peter C., The African slave trade and its suppression. A classified and
annotated bibliography of books, pamphlets and periodical articles (London:
Frank Cass, 1973)
HLR 382.44; X.520/7894.
Early printed books in the British Library are catalogued in the integrated
catalogue – see http://catalogue.bl.uk/. Titles up to 1800, held in the British
Library and elsewhere, are catalogued in the English Short Title Catalogue
http://estc.bl.uk/.
For more on the Early Printed Books collections see
http://www.bl.uk/collections/early.html.
Works of particular interest, of which no recent republication has been
located, include
Coltman, Elizabeth, Immediate, not Gradual Abolition; or, an Inquiry into the
shortest, safest, and most effectual means of getting rid of West Indian slavery
(London: J. Hatchard & Son, 1824).
906.k.14.(12.)
11
Moore, Francis, Travels into the Inland Parts of Africa, containing a description of
the several nations for the space of six hundred miles up the ... Gambia ...
(London, 1738.)
978.h.5.
Moore was an agent for the Royal African Company. This is the journal of his
observations, and also reflects his interest in geography and the source of the R.
Gambia. He accompanied Job Jalla (Ayuba Suleiman Dallo) on part of his return
journey to Africa (see Black writers’ section), and material on Jalla is included
here.
Sharp, Granville, A representation of the injustice and dangerous tendency of
admitting the least claim of private property in the persons of men, in England,
etc. (London, 1769)
884.k.26.(2.); 518.i.16.(2.)
Sharp was a major abolitionist figure, and this is one of his many works.
Snelgrave, William, A new account of some parts of Guinea, and the slave trade
(London: J. J. & P. Knapton, 1734)
979.k.22.; 279.e.26.
Snelgrave was a ship’s captain trading to West Africa, visiting Ouidah and
Dahomey, in the 1710s and 1720s. In his book he argues in justification of the
slave trade. An extract of his book is available on Caribbean Views
http://www.collectbritain.co.uk/collections/caribbean/.
Manuscript and archival sources in the British Library
Manuscript Collections
The British Library holds papers central to the debates on slavery and abolition,
and the passage of anti-slavery legislation through Parliament. These include:
Add. MSS 41262–41267. Papers of the anti-slavery campaigner Thomas Clarkson
(1760-1846).
Add. MS 21254. Minute-books of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave
Trade, founded in 1787 to mobilise public opinion in support of Wilberforce’s
parliamentary campaign against the slave trade.
Add. MS 27811. Letter-book of the London Corresponding Society, one of the
radical societies which sprang up in the wake of the French Revolution to press
for political reform in England. In one of the letters in this volume, the founder of
the L.C.S., the shoemaker Thomas Hardy (1752–1832), specifically links political
reform with the question of slavery, declaring that ‘our views of the Rights of Man
are not confined solely to this small Island but are extended to the whole human
race, black or white, high or low, rich or poor’.
Add. MS 27621. A volume of notes, papers and drafts of articles by the antislavery campaigner James Ramsay (1733–1789). (DNB: ‘The abolition of the
British slave trade in 1807 probably owed more to James Ramsay’s personal
integrity, ethical arguments and constructive proposals than to any other
influence.’) One article in the volume includes a brief reference to Ignatius
Sancho, ‘a Negroe Author Sancho, whose productions are not destitute of merit,
and have been lately published in two volumes’ (f. 196v).
Egerton MS 1162. A volume of papers on the African slave trade, collected by
William Wilberforce, with his bookplate. The papers include detailed estimates of
the numbers of slaves transported each year, and a manuscript map (ff 31–3) of
12
part of the South African coast, showing ‘The Slaves Town’ and various other
landmarks.
Add. MSS 46443–46444. Memoirs of James Stephen (1758–1832), anti-slavery
campaigner.
Add. MS 38416. Papers of Lord Liverpool, mostly relating to the slave trade,
1786-1804.
Add. MS 59305A. Papers of Lord Grenville relating to the bill against the slave
trade, 1807. Includes (ff 59–66) a memorandum on the feasibility of getting the
bill through Parliament, arguing that ‘the proper independent force of the
Abolition party is not great enough to carry the measure’ without the active
support of the government. Also letters from some of the bill’s supporters in the
House of Lords, including the Bishop of Peterborough, who writes that although
he cannot attend the debate ‘yet I do not entertain the least doubt in my own
mind that it will pass both Houses with a very considerable Majority, which I
sincerely pray God it may’.
Add. MS 40605. Papers of Robert Peel, including (f. 1) a note of a conversation
with Wilberforce, March 18 1807, in which he ‘denied ever having disavowed the
wish that freedom should ultimately be communicated to the slaves. He had
deprecated the discussion of it at present, because he looked to the gradual
improvement of their minds and the diffusion of their domestic Charities which
would render them more fit than they now were for Emancipation.’
Add. MS 35129. Correspondence of Arthur Young, including (ff 426-8) printed
pamphlets relating to William Wilberforce’s election as MP for Yorkshire, May
1807. Wilberforce was returned at the head of the poll, and these pamphlets
illustrate the strength of public support for him after the passing of the bill
against the slave trade.
Add. MSS 51318–52252. Holland House papers, including papers of Charles
James Fox, who was active in the Parliamentary abolition campaign.
Manuscripts concerning the British slave trade in Africa and the
Caribbean include, for example,
Add. MS 33976. Maps and views of various parts of W Coast of Africa, including
Forts Nassau and Elmina (?1639)
Add. MS 30567. Patent by Elizabeth I to allow merchants to trade on west coast
of Africa
Add. MS 43841. Slave trader's accompt book, compiled on board the schooner
'Mongovo George'…of Liverpool…1785-1787. Included are records of the
following:-(1) Barters, mostly of groups of slaves, and exchanges of goods, with other ships' captains, 8 July 1785-7 Feb. 1786. ff.
2-5;-(2) Purchases of individual slaves by barter on the west coast of Africa,
places named being Cape Lopez (f. 7), Mayumba (f. 10) and Loango (f. 21),
22 June 1785-2 Jan. 1786. ff. 7-22;-(3) Sales of slaves, apparently in
North America, 2 Oct. 1786-8 Apr. 1787. ff. 23-3 3 b…
Add. MS 14034. Papers on the African trade, 1775-7 and on the Royal African
Company, 1707/8 The papers relate to the West Indies, America, Africa, and the
Canaries and include drawings of the ground-plans of all the forts, batteries, and
magazines in Barbados, with their names and number of guns.
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Other records covering slavery and slave trade can be found by searching
the Manuscripts Catalogue http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/manuscripts/ For more
on the British Library’s Manuscript Collections see
http://www.bl.uk/collections/manuscripts.html
See also Pearson, J.D., A guide to manuscripts and documents in the British Isles
relating to Africa, vol. 1 (London: Mansell, 1993)
HLR 960.016; OIS 960.016; MSS 960; 2725.e.2552; m01/24979
Records of the East India Company / India Office
The East India Company leased Fort Cormantine (Ghana) between 1657 and
1662. The records of this short period, during which the Company had a minor
interest in enslaved people, are described in Margaret Makepeace, “English
traders on the Guinea coast, 1657–1668: an analysis of the East India Company
archive”, History in Africa, 16, 1989.
For more on these records see http://www.bl.uk/collections/orientaloffice.html
Map Collections
The British Library Map Collections include a large collection of maps from the
period of the slave trade, as well as other sources including drawings.
Some examples are:
A new map of Africa, 1770 [includes forts and settlements]
Maps 63510 (159)
Homem, Diogo, The Queen Mary Atlas (London: The Folio Society, 2005) Maps
Ref. B.5.
This is a facsimile of Add. MS 5415A, a Tudor atlas that includes trading posts
and forts along the West African coast.
Cabo Corso Castle on the Gold Coast of Africa. H. Greenhill delin, 1682.
([London?], [1682?])
C.22.bb.10
Views of Cape Coast Castle and other forts from which the slave trade was
conducted.
For more on the British Library’s Map Library see
http://www.bl.uk/collections/maps.html
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