Description:

Historic site, the corner of Great George Street. Nearby were the offices of Richard Farr who was an Alderman (assistant to the mayor) and slave trader.On the corner was the home of Henry Cruger, the New York-born merchant, who became mayor of Bristol in 1781 and later an Member of Parliament.Cruger married the daughter of the banker Samuel Peach of Tockington (part-owner of the slave ships Cape Coast and the Kingston , which in 1757 and 1759 respectively, sold a total of 631 Africans to American plantation owners).Whilst Cruger was an MP he campaigned against the immediate end to the slave trade, arguing that were this to happen, it should be done on a gradual basis, and that all merchants should be compensated for the loss of earnings.He later returned to America and became a New York senator.

With thanks to the authors of the Slave Trade Trail around Central Bristol, Madge Dresser, Caletta Jordan, Doreen Taylor.

Date: 2003

Copyright: Copyright BCC Museum