BRISTOL & LIVERPOOL: A TALE OF TWO CITIES
They both served the nation well, in peace and in war.Problematical is that both ports are tainted with the legacy of slavery.In Bristol’s case this was all too apparent in June 2020 when a Black Lives Matter (BLM) protest removed the statue of Sir Edward Colston, a 17th century merchant and slave trader.
The statue was seen as an anachronism in a city increasingly troubled by its slavery connections and although Colston’s life predated his statue by 150 years, it was seen as a stark reminder of human suffering in an imperial past.Bristol was the first slave-trading port in the UK. Engaging in the ‘Africa Trade’ as was colloquially known, the government-financed body Royal Africa Company (RAC) monopolised the abduction or purchase of African men, women and children to be transported to America and the Caribbean.Colston, also a Tory MP and High Anglican Church official was also deputy governor of the RAC; its chartered ships were specifically built and insured as slave ships with Lloyds of London and its unfortunate captives savagely branded with the letters RAC from a customary red-hot iron.So there is no way that Colston could deny any knowledge of what he would have called his ‘investments’ – approximately 84,000 captives were transported to the Caribbean and America, in which estimates of numbers died are around one quarter of total.Quite obviously the prospect of free labour to a plantation owner was very lucrative – free of course after the initial sales price was made – but to Colston and similar traders, the transaction was even cheaper.It is acknowledged that the RAC made more Bristol voyages and shipped more slaves than any other until 1807 when the whole sordid business was declared illegal in Britain.
(1)Before this time of abolition however, Colston had amassed a fortune, but having never married perhaps he was undergoing what we could call in modern parlance, a guilt trip – a desire to make amends.So he became a philanthropist, giving away large sums of money to finance schools, hospitals and almshouses all in the Bristol area. He has his own stained glass windows in churches and the Cathedral.Eventually passing away in 1721 leaving a legacy to Bristol and Bristolians, many are even today grateful and respectful of Colston’s good works, whilst others just view it as blood money and especially resent the endless street names, halls and places of worship which received his surname.Having said that, his legacy is institutionalised enough to warrant having a ‘Colston Day’ in November each year.
There are parades and church services; the parades some might say are also an anachronism, for The Bristolian, a local alternative website criticises local businessmen dressed in top hats as ‘sad old white men with a forgetful conscience’ (2) – their choice of 17th century clothing presumably being a tribute to Colston.I can well agree with the Bristolian. Most people think of a day dedicated to someone like Martin Luther King, his MLK day commemorated for social justice.However, given that Colston too, has his ‘own day’ there isn’t much else to say except that he was a ruthless, self-interested businessman.Some people who had seen his statue before its untimely removal commented that he had a sneering look; to me it seemed as though he had a contemplative look, the type a rich man has whilst thinking money, but this is only subjective.Anyway, as mentioned it has split the whole city of Bristol, but not so much that the city hall is ignoring the dissent. Already, Colston Hall – the main concert arena – has been re-named Bristol Beacon; a local movement promoting his name and great benevolence, the Colston Society, has decided to disband completely, and many Colston-prefixed thoroughfares are petitioning the council for a name-change.
The statue, by the way, was dumped in a dock which cost the rate-payers £5k to retrieve and store in a museum.Some will find this a waste of £5k whilst others will think it money well spent.Clearly, Bristol is a divided city on this subject. But to my own mind, venerating Colston for his philanthropy is akin to saying Hitler was a great guy for reducing German unemployment.In Liverpool, numbers of slaves transported were three times higher that Bristol’s 0.5 million.Although late in the business, non-regulation was a boon to investors pouring money into the city and at its peak, the Custom House was the largest single source of revenue to the Exchequer; one slaving company built larger ships to carry more captives; the entire Canning Dock was used to solely build and fit out slaving ships whilst an army of shipwrights, sailmakers and tradesmen were in full employment.In any financial venture there are always surges of capital input; we could compare 17th slave-trading investment to the dot.com boom in the year 2000.There were high expectations of a fast return; but of course, the dot.com boom did not have such evil intentions and consequences.
Although Colston appears the main villain in Bristol, Liverpool had many which included the Parr banking family (also slave-ship owners), the Gregson family (owners of the ship Zong, of which will be discussed) and Jonas Bold (also a banker and slave-ship owner).Other players were Sir William Gladstone who owned slaves in Guyana and Jamaica, plus Sir Robert Johnson who was a pioneering slave-ship owner in Liverpool financing the brig Liverpool Merchant.But arguably, the strange case of the Liverpool ship Zong changed public attitudes and hastened abolition in Britain.The Zong set sail in 1783 from West Africa with a cargo of 140 slaves for Jamaica.
Due to a navigational error the ship sailed well past Jamaica only to discover she was rapidly running out of fresh water.In the most callous decision ever, the captain ordered that a number of slaves including women and children – chosen probably because they were least ‘marketable’ – to be thrown over the side in order to conserve water supplies.Yes, that’s right – all innocent women and children, and with no land for hundreds of miles, we can only imagine their fate as also with the next batch of slaves who were slung overboard the following day.The idea was that as well as saving water for the captain and crew, the murdered slaves could be claimed as ‘lost cargo’ through the insurers and subsequently compensated for.But unfortunately for them the incident was reported.
Two years later the captain and crew were arrested and arraigned in court at King’s Bench, London on charges of insurance fraud.The trial was especially difficult and although the verdict awarded compensation to the shipowners, a further investigation saw the captain and crew tried for mass murder.Ultimately, all were acquitted but one positive aspect was that public attention was now galvanised into petitioning Parliament for slavery abolition.Which did happen some years later.So returning to the BLM demos of 2020, why was it that a baying mob removed the statue of Colston in Bristol, yet in Liverpool’s BLM march the only apparent damage caused was paint thrown on the Penny Lane street sign? – James Penny being a 17th century slave-trader.Well, to look at the lofty, paternalistic Colston statue it almost invited removal from opponents.
It was an intimidating presence and city council had plenty of opportunity to remove it legally, but as we have seen there was, and still is, a large group of Colston aficionados in Bristol.In Liverpool there are statues from Britain’s imperial past, but there are also plenty of modern statues.So it would be disingenuous to say that statues of Ken Dodd, Billy Fury, the Beatles, etc, – people who make us laugh, sing and dance – are the reasons no other statue was singled out by the BLM.Some might say however, that the ethos of Liverpool is more community-minded; but the real reason is that Liverpool acknowledged its ‘shameful role’ (as printed by LCC) in slavery.This happened back in 1999.
The decision to post an official apology was proposed by the Lord Mayor, together with a junior Liberal councillor, Myrna Juarez, herself a descendant of African slaves.Of course, there still is a long way to go for reconciliation but the apology was sincere and profound. And it was publicised. So Liverpool is confronting its history rather than denying it.For example, the slavery exhibition at the Albert Dock is rated one of the best in the country.By contrast, and unless I have missed a news update, it appears that Bristol has yet to apologise.
For in 2019 the latest development prior to the BLM toppling of Colston was that Bristol University has ‘hired a slavery history professor to see whether it needs to apologise (3)( my italics).I think we’ll hold our breath on that one.Let’s also not forget about the thousands of white British people who were transported to the Americas.
Revisionist history seems to be a buzz-word of late, but many homeless people, felons, debtors and political dissenters were loaded on slave ships too.Finally, it may be hard to believe but it was only in 2015, according to the UK Treasury, British taxpayers finished ‘paying off’ the 17th debt which our own government incurred to compensate slave owners due to abolition.Sir William Gladstone received £90k in 1830 (£9mn at today’s rate) to compensate for freed slaves.This is just one example of many.But not one penny was paid to those enslaved and brutalised by people like him – it makes you think, doesn’t it?
REFERENCES:
(1) Royal Africa Company: shipped more enslaved women, men and children to the Americas than any other institution (Legacy of Slavery Working Party Recommendations)Jesus College, Cambridge -retrieved 05.07.2020 (accessed 28.02.2021)
(2) thebristolian.net: Colston Day Cancellation Shocker (Nov 2020) – accessed 28.02.2021.
(3) http://www.telegraph.uk. Bristol University hires slavery history professor…. (30.10.2019) accessed 01.03.2021.