Families that made their wealth from the slave trade

[Sugar Ray]

"The fortune of many an old respectable family came from it. Slavery is as the heart of the wealth of London" - Geraint Smith,

Britain's slave trade was by todays standard a billion pound industry and resulted in making many British families exceptionally rich, enabling them to build their country estates

Slavery lined the pockets of the aristocracy and the City of London. The National Gallery in London was founded on it, Lloyd's of London, Barclays Bank, Barings and the Bank of England were immersed in.

My point is that these families and institutions were the equivelent to todays illegal human trafficers and should be accountable ie Donate money to the black ghettos that are spread across US & Africa

We talk about corrupt African states being a problem to Africa's development but it is us that has shafted them and always will

[dot.hawkes]

you would have to include most of the gentry of lancashire in that, especially around lancaster and Liverpool, as they were more in the 'triangle' than any london family.

[noxlumos]

hi, lovely sort of poetry though the idea has, you really can't do that. None of the people alive today were remotely instrumental in the slave trade and even though their families were, you can't just forcibly take money and or land from people on that basis. If you started that then everyone on the planet would "owe" someone for some ancient harm done to their ancestors.The slave trade was disgusting and what we should do is learn from it and make sure that every man woman and child on the planet is treated equally irrespective of race, creed or colour and we must never allow supremacists of any type to dictate to us that one man is not as worthy as another.

By the way Sugar Ray, my ancestors were deprived of spuds in the Great Irish Famine so can I have your house please? :)

[lindapinda]

Interesting question?..And a thoughtful reply there nox! I tend to agree with you!! Where can the line be established?

[waimarie]

More than one fortune and elevation to the peerage was made by someone laying on their back. What do you suggest their descendants make donations to ???

[sense4all]

Can we please have back the paper mills, extensive land and property holdings that my husbands family had forcibly removed during the Russian revolution? No! How about the property taken from when the communists swept into power in Berlin and Warsaw after the family had scattered across Europe to find a safe haven. Oh well, it's a lovely idea - but I shan't hold my breath. Onwards and upwards.Come to think of it in the 1600's my family were burned out of their Highland farm by the English troops ..... As usual an erudite reply by Noxie, I agree with his POV.

[Ethel]

Sugar Ray - your heart is in the right place but you are naive.

It is well documented and recorded that Africans were enslaved for the building of the pyramids - the British did not invent slavery.

Also African chiefs were implicit in slavery, selling their own people into slavery all over the world, even the Britains.

The European slave traffickers were frightened of the African landscape and relied on the complicity of the Chiefs. Many Americans of African descent were distraught to find that far from being forcibly hunted down by the white man, their ancestor was sold by the greedy Chief.

As despicable and shameful as slavery is, British capitalists and wealthy industrialists played a huge part in the abolition of slavery throughout the westernised world, and for that we should be proud. These campaigners faced loss of business as well as derision, but stood by their principals.

It is time to look forward, to make a better world for everybody, not dwell on the past looking for blame.

[Sugar Ray]

Thanks for your comments - I guess it is pointless to dwell, but it is hard when you see some of the black slums in some downtown US cities and then walk round London and its fine houses, knowing the history.

Maybe it would be a nice if a Trust was set up to assist these communities - doubt it would as it wouldn't be in the interests of rich families and institutions.

I don't see why this isn't feasible - didn't the Swiss Banks compensate Jewish families over the Nazi loot.

[sense4all]

Hey there Sugar, I have seen slums all over the world (except South America, still on my to do list) and I really can relate to what you are saying. It really gets up my nose that they have now started to gentrify Haarlem in New York (by pushing the locals out ), the place is going to be ruined before long. I think that socio - economic deprivation has to be attacked head on world wide. We have our fair share of children living on or under the breadline in the U.K.,no matter how deceptive the London Squares look. I have seen some pitiful sights in China, South Africa, Hong Kong,and in Eastern Europe too. Some of the Southern U.S. States have imense disparity between the haves and the have nots!

With regards to Swiss Banks, there was a very informative documentary shown here within the last couple of years, They are sitting on millions if not billions of unclaimed money and belongings( ownership can be difficult to prove). I was particularly interested in this programme as Mr Senses extended family were having trouble with one at the time( .... some missing paintings). Even the daily interest on the dosh would be a life changer for a lot of folks worldwide. The chances of that happening are non - existant. Banks are businesses , sad but true!

I do admire your will to redress the issue - but through out history,one persons downfall has been another persons business opportunity.

[Octavius]

...and what have the Romans ever done for us...?

[raysparx]

Trouble is Sugar Ray, it's still going on, it will never stop as long as there is money to be made,

also you didn't mention the Welsh they were quite heavily involved in the slave trade at one point.

even the way British employers are exploiting some groups now is a disgrace!

[lady_p_gold]

And how many of us are that careful when we buy carpets that may be made by very young children in horrendous conditions, how many of us check where our trainers are made .. or how much pesticide is in our cotton and whether the workers are suffering from exposure to it - and do you Sugar Ray .. pay a premium for organic cotton or free range chickens (as they are sort of like our slaves in a way) ...... I do see your point but I think unless you look at the bigger picture you can see that in our own small way we are all contributing to someone's misfortune without really knowing, and a lot of people probably lived from the money slaves brought in without really being aware or thinking it through .. just another angle ....

[maxximus]

noxlumos there isn't a palestinian alive that would disagree with you.

[Lynn_M]

Donate money to the black ghettos? Yeah, so they can blow the whole lot on drugs.