Slavery

Anti - Slavery 1807 / 2007

The legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade reverberate today in terms
of racism and discrimination, as well as the long term impact it has had in
both the development and underdevelopment of communities and countries
affected by the trade. There is much to be learned from this period of our
history, which can benefit society today, not least of which is how we can
effectively combat contemporary forms of slavery.

The breakthrough in 1807 was not achieved by an individual but by a mass

movement which brought together many different sections of society,
including Africans who, through rebellions, personal acts of resistance and
as anti-slavery campaigners in their own right, were pivotal in bringing an
end to the Transatlantic Slave Trade itself.

Many people think that slavery no longer exists. Yet at least 12 million people
live and work in contemporary forms of slavery which have been defined
and prohibited in international conventions. Join Anti-Slavery’s campaign
to revitalise the abolitionist spirit which created the momentum to end the
slave trade in 1807 and harness it to make the abolition of all forms of
slavery, in law and in practice, a priority for each and every government in
the world.

www.antislavery.org
Port Glasgow’s
Keep Your Heritage Alive
www.downriver.org.uk Forgotten History
slavery.indd 1 13/03/2007 21:05:56
 The Voyage of The Hannover
Britains most obvious involvement in the
Slave trade was through the so-called
“Triangle Trade”, slaves from Africa, traded
in the Americas. From an early date,
ships from Liverpool, London and Bristol
had traded with the colonies in this way,
though Scottish merchants had prefered to
deal directly with the Americas directly.
But by the 1720’s the potential economic
rewards from dabbling in the such trade
were often too much too ignore. As a result
numerous Glasgow merchants embarked
on a triangular slave shipping process,
which was explicitly linked with both the
tobacco and sugar trades. British goods
such as weapons and cloth, were taken
from Scotland to the coast of Africa where
they were exchanged with African traders
for slaves. From there these slaves would
be transported to the Americas and traded
for sugar or tobacco that was taken home
and processed before being sold in the
export market.
The best documented example of this
type of trade taking place in Scotland is
that of the ship Hannover and her sister
vessel the Loyalty. Glasgow had for some
slavery.indd 2
time harboured the notion of becoming
involved in the triangle trade, envious
of the profits made by ports such as
Liverpool. Yet, it was not until 1719
that these two Port Glasgow built ships
were sent to trade in slaves on the coast
of West Africa. The ships had been paid
for by merchants from Glasgow, most
notable among them being the Bogle
family, who were active merchants in
both Greenock and Port Glasgow. For
their initial investment of almost £1,000,
the investors expected to make a six-
fold profit when selling their sugar to
the Glasgow refineries. It was a lucrative
business and, if successful, would have
shaped the industrial future of the Clyde,
seeing it playing a major role in the slave
trade. Yet the venture was to prove an
unmitigated disaster, which had the
beneficial effect of steering Clyde based
merchants away from slaving and towards
direct trade with the colonies.
The Loyalty was first to leave, and its
voyage was to prove a disaster. After
a few months at sea, the ship limped
home after being attacked by three
pirate vessels of the coast of Guinea,
losing most of her crew and cargo in
the process. In late December 1719
The Hannover of Port Glasgow set sail
from Greenock for its destination of the
Guinea Coast of Africa. In her hold were
60 tons of goods to be used in exchange
for enslaved Africans. This trip was to
follow the tested principles of triangular
trade. Goods that were of interest to
African tribal leaders were transferred
from London to Port Glasgow before
being taken to Africa to be exchanged
for human cargo. Once “fully slaved” the
vessel was to cross the Atlantic and swap
slaves for sugar with plantation owners
who were hungry for fresh blood to work
on their land. However, the voyage was
to be continually dogged by difficulties,
while a mutiny staged off the coast of
Africa almost put an end to the whole
venture.
After a series of delays and incidents, the
Hanover acquired 134 enslaved Africans,
mainly at Old Calabar, now in eastern
Nigeria. On 31 October 1720, the ship
finally arrived at Barbados with 87 ‘sheep’
on board. Almost 50 had lost their lives
as a result of being entombed in horrific
conditions for up to nine months. The
problems were to continue in Barbados.
The condition of the slaves was poor and a
severe drought meant that labour was not
in demand. after selling only three slaves
for a low price of £21 each, the Hannover
set sail for St. Kitts. The market was no
better there and the drought meant that
many planters required a reduction in
price and were forced to delay payment
until the next harvest which had been
postponed until the new year. Realising
the abject failure of the venture, the
‘supercargo’ Alexander Horsburgh ordered
Captain Garrets to return to the Clyde
with the Hannover and its tiny cargo of
sugar while he remained on the island
to secure the next crop. Eventually, in
October 1721, Horsburgh returned to Port
Glasgow and was immediately arrested
and charged. The venture had proved
an economic disaster and was to act as a
deterrent to future projects. This was an
ill-fated journey that ultimately ended in
disaster but it shows clearly that those who
spearheaded Greenock and Port Glasgow’s
main industries did not shy away from the
murky world of slavery, and had things
ended in a profit, it may have been the
first of many such journeys.
13/03/2007 21:05:19

The Clyde has always been famous for
ships. But it is less famous for what
travelled in them. In the case of Port
Glasgow, a port established by the
wealthy merchants from Glasgow in the
1600’s, the early ships were built for trade
with the new world, and most notably for
the transportation of tobacco. With the
Union of 1707 and the development of
colonial trade, Scotland was to embark
on a period of economic boom. Central
to this was the role played by the Clyde
Port Glasgow’s Tobacco Trade
and its exploitation for Atlantic trade by
the so-called Tobacco Lords of Glasgow.
Glasgow’s successful exploits in the
tobacco trade in particular relied heavily
on the development of Port Glasgow.
Access to the Clyde estuary was a major
problem for the city’s merchants. Time
and money was continually lost through
the need to load and unload down
river. Several attempts to deepen the
navigable channel proved fruitless and
harbour dues at other ports often ate
into profits. The solution, when it came,
was a masterstroke. In 1668, the town
council purchased land on the south bank
of the Clyde estuary and there built the
Port of Glasgow. From this point on the
existence of Port Glasgow was absolutely
vital to the economic growth of Glasgow.
slavery.indd 3
Both Greenock and Port Glasgow’s colonial trade was inescapably linked
with the growing demand for slaves in the developing world. But although
slaves were never auctioned in either of the two towns or in Glasgow for
that matter, many merchants with local connections owned slaves or traded
directly in them. One notable example is that of James Watt senior, the
father of the famous James Watt. It is shown in his own surviving papers
Over the next 50 years, Glasgow merchants that he actively bought and sold slaves in 1740-41 and 1762. In most of
operating ships out of Port Glasgow financed
trading missions to the area, and by 1740,
his papers the slaves appear mainly as commodities like the wood and the
they were dominating the trade, responsible sugar that were also traded.
for much of the tobacco being imported into
Britain. Surprisingly, only a small proportion of
Glasgow’s merchants were regularly involved
in the tobacco trade with the big three
syndicates headed by William Cunninghame,
Alexander Speirs and John Glassford. These
merchants owned shares in the sugar houses,
ropeworks and other industries which
dominated Port Glasgow and Greenock. On
a less triumphant note, they also had their
hand in the murky slave trade that stood side
by side with colonial enterprise.
In particular, they all had large stakes in
plantation in Virginia, all of which were
fuelled by slave labour. Other Port merchants
traded with the West Indies and many owned
sugar and rum plantations which relied on
slave labour. Occasionally slaves from the
Americas were brought back to Scotland to
work as servants. It is hard to say how regular
an occurrence this was. What we do know is Another similarly uncomfortable connection relates to Jamie Montgomery,
that while slaves may not have been directly a slave from Beith in Ayrshire, who in 1756 escaped from his master. Such
traded in Port Glasgow, they played an escapes were not uncommon, and many of the large estates on the west of
important, and often conveniently forgotten
part in the towns history, with almost every Scotland played home to slaves who acted as household servants. However,
merchant and business being inextricably on this occasion, Jamie’s master was so enraged, that he dragged the slave
linked with the trade at some point. behind horses for over 25 miles, all the way back to Port Glasgow to have
him shackled aboard a ship and sent back to Grenada. Jamie attempted
to use the legal system to escape his captivity, appealing to the Court of
Session in Edinburgh. Sadly he was to die in the tollbooth in Edinburgh
before the case was ever heard.
13/03/2007 21:06:16
 Send Back The Money
Abolition (an abolitionists song)
By the late 1700’s, a growing number of people were calling for Britain Send back the Money! send it back!
to end its involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. Politicians and ‘Tis dark polluted gold;
merchants and the working classes were all becoming uncomfortable ‘Twas wrung from human flesh and bones,
with the harsh realities of slaving, an industry which sat so at odds By agonies untold:
with Britain’s largely christian values, and the nations move towards There’s not a mite in all the sum
becoming a shining light of civilisation in Europe. All over the country,
But what is stained with blood;
abolitionist movements lobbied for an end to the trade, and called
upon people to boycott sugar and tobacco produced by slaves. Finally There’s not a mite in all the sum
on the 25th March 1807, after a valiant campaign by the MP William But what is cursed of God.
Wilberforce, the government finally passed legislation ending Britain’s Send back the Money! send it back!
involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. British captains who were Partake not in their sin
caught continuing the trade were fined £100 for every slave found on Who buy and sell, and trade in Men,
board. However, this law did not stop the British slave trade. If slave-
Accursed gains to win:
ships were in danger of being captured by the British navy, captains
often reduced the fines they had to pay by ordering the slaves to be There’s not a mite in all the sum
thrown into the sea. An honest man may claim;
There’s not a mite but what can tell
Furthermore, while the trade in slaves was outlawed, the use of slave Of fraud, deceit, and shame.
labour was not. Thus many of the sugar and tobacco plantations in the
Americas and West Indies continued to be driven by the work of slaves. Send back the money! send it back!
Thus there continued to be a strong Abolition movement in Britain. ‘Twill strike the fatal blow,
In the 1840’s, former slave Frederick Douglas, visited Greenock and That soon or late must yet be struck
Port Glasgow, giving a number of lectures to locals on the need for Unto the Negro’s wo:
the equal freedom of all men. In Glasgow, Jane Smeal, daughter of There’s not a mite in all the sum
a wealthy Quaker tea merchant with shares in Port Glasgow ships,
But what will prove to be
established the Glasgow Ladies Emancipation society. This organisation
became a cornerstone of the abolitionist cause during the 1840’s and As iron in the soul of him
she is regarded by many as one of the key figures in the female anti- Who has enslaved the free.
slavery movement
Send back the money! send it back!
Tempt not the Negro’s God
Others looked for a more natural evolution of trade through more
To blast and wither Scotland’s Church
subtle tactics. An excellent example of the more humane methods of
With his avenging rod:
trade is that of the Greenock–born Laird Macgregor. Macgregor devoted
himself largely to the development of legitimate trade with West There’s not a mite in all the sum
Africa and especially to the opening up of the countries now forming But cries to Heav’n aloud
the British protectorates of Nigeria. One of his principal reasons for so For wrath on all who shield the men
doing was his belief that this method was the best means of stopping That trade in Negro’s blood.
the slave trade and raising the social condition of the Africans.
Clearly then not all merchants were out to make money from slavery. Then send the money back again!
Inverclyde’s early Industrial rising by no means depended on slavery And send without delay;
but like in every other emerging commercial centre, it is undeniably It may not, must not, cannot bear
linked to it, and we should never forget this.
The light of British day.

slavery.indd 4 13/03/2007 21:06:43