The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery, established from the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership project (est. 2009), is the UK’s foremost public history centre for research on the history of slavery and its aftermath, broadening public knowledge and deepening discussions in Britain and the Caribbean. The Centre has provided a tremendous public service by making all of its data, analysis and expertise freely accessible to millions of people in Britain and even internationally. Our work has been featured in television documentaries and in museums, media coverage, workshops, libraries, and other public spaces. Our team members have served as advisors on film, radio, and television broadcasts on histories of British slavery.
To keep this work going we need your assistance with funding to help cover our operational costs.
The Centre’s major contribution to date has been its pioneering database on British slave-ownership. This database has been the foundation for a new understanding of the extent of slavery’s impact on the development of modern Britain. It is a free and publicly accessible resource used by well over one million visitors from senior academics to genealogical investigators, students, and members of the public curious about their history. The database is complemented by public engagement activities and exciting work toward our expansive new project that merges the research on British slave-owners with data on Caribbean estates and the lives of enslaved persons in the British islands.
“The Legacies of British Slave-ownership initiative at UCL has had a profound impact on Tate’s efforts to account for the legacies of slave-ownership both in relation to the national collection and the institution’s history.” Professor Emily Pringle, Head of Research, Tate.
“[LBS] created an online, fully accessible database of British slave-owners in the Caribbean and has transformed our understanding of how and with what consequences slavery derived capital seeped back into British society.” Dr. Ian MacKinnon and Dr Andrew Mackillop.
“I’m overwhelmed. This is such a treasure of information! I never thought I’d be able to find out this much detail. Thank you so much! It means the world to me.” An email from one of our many correspondents whose connection to enslaved people in the Caribbean has been illuminated by LBS’s work.
Centre projects and research and administrative staff costs have previously been funded by generous research grants from the ESRC/AHRC. We continue to have the support of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University, and private donors.
As we move into an exciting new phase in our life, we are now looking to our dedicated supporters, to consider making a donation, at any level, to support our important work. Your donation will support crucial needs like support for the people doing this work, as well as provide funding for our important efforts in documenting the histories and legacies of slavery in the Caribbean as well as Britain.
To find out more about how you can support the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery please click here, or contact the Office of the Vice-President (Advancement)
1774 - 1832
Head driver on Great Valley estate in Hanover, Jamaica. Executed by hanging following Sam Sharpe's War.
The Buff Bay plantation was a sugar estate next to the Buff Bay River, south of Charlestown in Jamaica. By 1839, the estate was 840 acres.
