Description:

Lords Committee of Council reports, 1789.

The Lords Committee of Council was a Parliamentary Committee.
The title of the reports reads: Report of the Lords Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters concerning the present state of the Trade to Africa and particularly the Trade in Slaves …

Evidence of James Arnold of Bristol, surgeon on slaving voyages, regarding conditions on slave ships for crews.

Date: 1789

Copyright: Copyright BCC Record Office

Description:

Lords Committee of Council reports, 1789.

The Lords Committee of Council was a Parliamentary Committee.
The title of the reports reads: Report of the Lords Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters concerning the present state of the Trade to Africa and particularly the Trade in Slaves …

Evidence of James Arnold of Bristol, surgeon on slaving voyages, regarding conditions on slave ships for crews.

Date: 1789

Copyright: Copyright BCC Record Office

Description:

Lords Committee of Council reports, 1789.

The Lords Committee of Council was a Parliamentary Committee.
The title of the reports reads: Report of the Lords Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters concerning the present state of the Trade to Africa and particularly the Trade in Slaves …

Evidence of Alexander Falconbridge regarding conditions on slave ships.

Falconbridge was a surgeon on 4 slaving voyages from Bristol. He agreed to help Thomas Clarkson on his visit to Bristol.

Clarkson was the driving force behind the campaign to end slavery, which began from a concern with the harsh conditions suffered by ordinary seamen on slaving voyages. He wrote and spoke about the need for abolition, and in researching his subject he came to Bristol in 1787.

Date: 1789

Copyright: Copyright BCC Record Office

Description:

Lords Committee of Council reports, 1789.

The Lords Committee of Council was a Parliamentary Committee.
The title of the reports reads: Report of the Lords Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters concerning the present state of the Trade to Africa and particularly the Trade in Slaves …

Memorial presented by the delegates from Bristol, led by members of the Society of Merchant Venturers. They here argued that the trade to Africa was an important part of British trade and that other European nations would take it over if the British withdrew, to the damage of the British economy.

Date: 1789

Copyright: Copyright BCC Record Office

Description:

Lords Committee of Council reports, 1789.

The Lords Committee of Council was a Parliamentary Committee.
The title of the reports reads: Report of the Lords Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters concerning the present state of the Trade to Africa and particularly the Trade in Slaves …

Evidence of Sydenham Teaste of Bristol on other trade with Africa.

Sydenham Teaste built a number of ships for the African trade. In 1764 he co-owned the slave ship The Duke of York and in 1786 refitted the slave ship the Hector .

Date: 1789

Copyright: Copyright BCC Record Office

Description:

Lords Committee of Council reports, 1789.

The Lords Committee of Council was a Parliamentary Committee.
The title of the reports reads: Report of the Lords Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters concerning the present state of the Trade to Africa and particularly the Trade in Slaves …

Map of Africa showing routes of caravans of Arab traders.

Small numbers of enslaved Africans were sold from the east coast of Africa to other areas, including the Persian Gulf and India for hundreds of years. (The Persian Gulf is today the area including Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman and the United Arab Emirates).

The numbers of enslaved Africans sold to these areas increased in the late 18th century. This was because French merchants bought slaves from East Africa for the growing sugar plantations on the French owned islands in the Indian Ocean. Brazilian merchants also began buying slaves from the same area for the sugar plantations in Brazil, after 1800.

Then, trade to the Persian Gulf and India increased rapidly. By the early 19th century about 30,000 people were being sold into slavery from this eastern area of Africa. They were being bought and sold through the main centre of the trade on the island of Zanzibar (off the east coast of Africa, of what is now the country of Tanzania)

Date: 1789

Copyright: Copyright BCC Record Office

Description:

Lords Committee of Council reports, 1789.

The Lords Committee of Council was a Parliamentary Committee.
The title of the reports reads: Report of the Lords Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters concerning the present state of the Trade to Africa and particularly the Trade in Slaves …

Answers from the trustees of the Relief Fund (the Society of Merchant Venturers) about the health of sailors.

The Society of Merchant Venturers is a Bristol-based organisation, which was formed in 1552 as an elite body of merchants involved in overseas trade. The Society still exists today.

Date: 1789

Copyright: Copyright BCC Record Office

Description:

Lords Committee of Council reports, 1789.

The Lords Committee of Council was a Parliamentary Committee.
The title of the reports reads: Report of the Lords Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters concerning the present state of the Trade to Africa and particularly the Trade in Slaves …

An account of the shipping and trade of Bristol for 1787 showing the importance of the slave trade.

Date: 1789

Copyright: Copyright BCC Record Office

Description:

Lords Committee of Council reports, 1789.

The Lords Committee of Council was a Parliamentary Committee.
The title of the reports reads: Report of the Lords Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters concerning the present state of the Trade to Africa and particularly the Trade in Slaves …

List of disabled sailors admitted into the hospital in Bristol funded by the sailors’ insurance fund and run by the Society of Merchant Venturers.

Date: 1789

Copyright: Copyright BCC Record Office

Description:

Lords Committee of Council reports, 1789.

The Lords Committee of Council was a Parliamentary Committee.
The title of the reports reads: Report of the Lords Committee of Council appointed for the consideration of all matters concerning the present state of the Trade to Africa and particularly the Trade in Slaves …

This table gives the response to questions asked about deaths of sailors in the slave trade. The collector and comptroller of the port of Bristol answered for Bristol.

Date: 1789

Copyright: Copyright BCC Record Office