First edition of life of runaway slave who became leading slavery abolitionist goes up for auction

A rare first edition of one of the earliest accounts of 18th-century slavery, written by the first known Black Briton to have voted in England, will go under the hammer in the New Year. Charles Ignatius Sancho’s 1782 two-volume book The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, an African is one of the earliest accounts of … Read more

Black Lives Matter: Monument of Waterloo hero and slave trader Thomas Picton will STAND

A monument in Carmarthen dedicated to a hero of the Battle of Waterloo also known as the ‘Tyrant of Trinidad’ will not be removed or renamed as part of a Welsh government probe into ‘offensive’ statues. The memorial to Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton has stood in Picton Terrace in the south-western town since 1888. A campaign … Read more

National Trust accused of ‘bias’ over team investigating ties of properties to slave trade

National Trust is accused of recruiting ‘biased’ team of colonial academics to probe its properties links to empire and the slave trade Colonial Countryside projects looks into links of 11 trust properties to slave trade The project involves nine historians working with 100 primary school children  However, the National Trust has come under fire for … Read more

Campaigners call for Tory MP to pay reparations over slave deaths at his ancestor’s plantation

Independent MP William Wilberforce wrote the Slave Trade Act in 1807 which abolished the industry across the British Empire. It was enacted in 1833 The transatlantic slave trade was launched by Portuguese traders with the construction of sub-Saharan Africa’s first permanent slave trading post at Elmina in 1492. But it soon passed into Dutch then … Read more

Boohoo boss Mahmud Kamani’s pain over slave labour storm

When Mahmud Kamani faces adversity, he drives to a run-down suburb of Manchester, peers up at the one-bedroom flat that he once called home and reflects on his rags-to-riches journey from market trader to billionaire boss of the Boohoo fashion empire. In recent months, the 56-year-old has had good cause to make such a journey. … Read more

TfL is urged to rename Maryland station because of alleged links to the slave trade

TfL is urged to rename Maryland station because of ‘links to local slave owner with plantations in America’ despite doubts about name’s origin Newham councillors called for review of Maryland station amid alleged slave link But academics argued the name’s origin is from Old English word for boundary If approved, the name change could lead … Read more

Wales identifies 200 statues, roads and buildings with ‘links to the slave trade’

More than 200 statues, streets and buildings in Wales named after historic Britons have been identified as having connections to the slave trade, according to a Welsh government-ordered audit. The review was ordered by First Minister Mark Drakeford following the death of George Floyd in the US and the toppling of the statue of Edward … Read more

Racism exists in UK because Britons don’t ‘wholly understand’ slave trade history, says academic 

Racism and discrimination exist in UK because Britons don’t ‘wholly understand’ nation’s slave trade history, says National Trust academic National Trust published report on links between slavery and Trust properties  Rita McLean is chair of a group examining how to act upon the findings  In 2007 Ms McLean said: ‘A lot of the problems in society … Read more

Remains of wealthy man and slave fleeing eruption of Vesuvius are uncovered in Pompeii

What happened?   Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year AD 79, burying the cities of Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae under ashes and rock fragments, and the city of Herculaneum under a mudflow.   Mount Vesuvius, on the west coast of Italy, is the only active volcano in continental Europe and is thought to be one of the … Read more

University of Cambridge statue may be removed over slave trade links

Statue at University of Cambridge of 17th century royal adviser who helped its library buy their first books could be removed over his links to slave trade Tobias Rustat, adviser to Charles II, was first benefactor of Cambridge University library in 1667  He gave library an endowment of £1,000 – about £240,000 in today’s money  … Read more