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1562 - The Start of British Slave Trading

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1562 - The Start of British Slave Trading

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Sir John Hawkins begins the first English slave-trading voyage, transporting enslaved Africans to the Spanish Caribbean. This marks the beginning of England's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade.

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1660 - Navigation Acts and British Monopoly

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1660 - Navigation Acts and British Monopoly

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England enacts the Navigation Acts, consolidating the colonial system, which enforces British monopolies in colonies, including the importation of enslaved people, primarily for sugar production in the Caribbean​.

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The Royal African Company, chartered by King Charles II, is granted a monopoly over the English slave trade. The company transports around 150,000 enslaved Africans to the Americas by 1740, reinforcing Britain's role in the brutal trade​.

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Slavery is described as "the great pillar and support of the British plantation trade" due to its economic benefits to Britain, particularly in sugar production.

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In the landmark case of James Somerset, Lord Mansfield rules that slavery has no legal basis in England, effectively emancipating enslaved people on English soil, though not in British colonies​.

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The only known portrait of Dido Belle, showing her with her cousin and close companion, Lady Elizabeth Murray

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"Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761–1804) was raised as part of an aristocratic family in Georgian Britain. She was the illegitimate daughter of a young black woman named Maria Bell and a Royal Naval officer, Sir John Lindsay.

Dido spent much of her life at Kenwood House on Hampstead Heath in north London. She lived there with her great-uncle William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, the Lord Chief Justice. He presided over a number of court cases that examined the legality of the slave trade." Source

This shows how there were exceptions to the attitude towards the black people.

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1787 - Formation of the Abolition Society and the Royal stance

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1787 - Formation of the Abolition Society and the Royal stance

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The Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade is founded in Britain by Granville Sharp, Thomas Clarkson, and others, starting a national movement against the slave trade.

"At an early stage in his reign, or possibly prior to his accession to the throne, King George III penned an essay criticising the practice of slavery on moral grounds. However, these early views didn’t align with his later actions that pointed towards an anti-abolition stance. Professor Schwarz concludes that “on balance” it was likely that the king was “pro-slavery in outlook,” which informed the ideology of the royal institution at large." Source

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British Parliament passes the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, making it illegal to engage in the slave trade across the British Empire. Enforcement challenges remain, but this act is a major step toward ending the transatlantic slave trade.

"It is thought that around 2 million died in the horrors of the ‘middle passage’, the journey from the west African coast to the colonies in the Americas and the Caribbean. Many perished during the months held in dark cellars in coastal forts waiting for slave ships, or from the squalor and rampant diseases experienced on board, where those being transported were shackled and packed into the hold for the duration of the weeks-long voyage. Others chose to jump overboard for fear of what lay ahead, many succumbed to the brutality of the slave traders, and many died resisting enslavement. Around one in 10 ships experienced a revolt." Source

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1815 - Congress of Vienna Condemns Slave Trade

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1815 - Congress of Vienna Condemns Slave Trade

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Following the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna includes a condemnation of the slave trade, supported by Britain, though actual abolition in other European nations is slow.

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1823 - Founding of the Anti-Slavery Society

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1823 - Founding of the Anti-Slavery Society

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Led by figures like William Wilberforce, the Anti-Slavery Society forms, advocating for the total abolition of slavery in the British Empire​.

"For nearly two decades, Wilberforce found his calls for an end to the slave trade blocked by conservative elements in parliament. The main reason was that, for all of its obvious inhumanity, the commerce in human beings underpinned a system of Atlantic trade that had defined the 18th-century British empire.

Nelson’s sentiments were just one reflection of a more widely held ‘old-school’ defence of a profitable 18th-century British colonial system dependent on the slave trade. When Nelson wrote bitterly about the “damnable and cursed doctrine” of Wilberforce, he revealed a dislike for “meddling” humanitarians, a callous animosity towards enslaved people, and a desire to preserve the existing system – a system that, to some, seemed synonymous with British strength, and which had helped to build the navy that Nelson led into battle at Trafalgar." Source

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The British Parliament passes the Slavery Abolition Act, ending slavery in most of the British Empire. The act takes effect in 1834, with some exceptions and a six-year period of "apprenticeship" for former slaves, effectively delaying full freedom​.

"On one side was the Duke of Clarence, who would later become King William IV in 1830, and who was the uncle of the later Queen Victoria. Professor Schwarz explains that the Duke of Clarence was “encouraged” (via expensive gifts) by the influential Jamaica Assembly to maintain his “continued advocacy of their cause in the ongoing debate on abolition,” and hold fast with his position of “support for the continuance of the Atlantic slave trade.”" Source

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1840s - Economic Adjustments Post-Abolition

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1840s - Economic Adjustments Post-Abolition

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As former colonies adjust to a free labor system, Britain experiences economic and social changes due to the loss of its slave-based economy.

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1865 - Abolition of the Slavery Compensation Debt

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1865 - Abolition of the Slavery Compensation Debt

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Britain compensates former slave owners for their "losses" following abolition, a debt that burdens the British treasury until 2015. The enslaved receive no reparations, despite years of forced labor​.

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Except if it is stated otherwise, I used the following source for this project:

Mathieson William Law. British Slavery and Its Abolition, 1823-1838. London, Longmans, Green and Co.

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The British government ends the apprenticeship program, granting full freedom to all enslaved people in British colonies. Approximately 800,000 people gain freedom in Caribbean, African, and Canadian territories​.

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2007 - Bicentenary of Abolition Act and Apology

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2007 - Bicentenary of Abolition Act and Apology

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On the 200th anniversary of the 1807 Act, Britain formally commemorates the abolition of the slave trade, and the government issues a public apology for its role in the transatlantic slave trade​.

"Through the lens of black British history, it is possible to see that it shaped and reinforced ideas of racial superiority that enabled Britain to play a leading role in the transatlantic slave trade; to colonise the land of more than 400 million people; and to leave a legacy of racism that is pervasive in society today. [...] However, the empire also provides a deeper understanding of the black British community and the richness and complexities of its culture, the results of which can still be seen." Source