Description
Book SynopsisThis volume re-inscribes slave-ownership in the history of nineteenth-century Britain, highlighting the crucial roles played by slave-owners and their immediate families in the formation of Victorian economy and society. It combines approaches from social, cultural, political and economic history to rethink the relationship between metropolitan Britain and colonial slavery.
Trade Review'This is an important book which contributes significantly to modern British history. It, and the data which underpin it, have the potential not only to re-construct our national memory but also to inform related projects in countries such as France and the Netherlands, studies of re-investment in Britain's 'informal' empire in the Americas, and demands from Caribbean states for reparations for the enduring suffering inflicted by the Atlantic slave trade.' Mandy Banton, Family and Community History
Table of Contents1. Introduction; 2. Possessing people: absentee slave-owners within British society; 3. Helping make Britain great: the commercial legacies of slave-ownership in Britain; 4. Redefining the West India interest: politics and the legacies of slave-ownership; 5. Reconfiguring race: the stories the slave-owners told; 6. Transforming capital: slavery, family, commerce and the making of the Hibbert family; Conclusion; Appendix 1. Making history in a prosopography; Appendix 2. Glossary of claimant categories; Appendix 3. A note on the database; Bibliography.
