Bank of England Linked to Transatlantic Slave Trade

The Bank of England and Britain's broader financial system were deeply implicated in the enslavement and transatlantic trafficking of millions of African people over centuries, according to new research. Historians compiling the Register of British Slave Traders have uncovered evidence indicating that the financial system's involvement in enslavement was more extensive than previously understood or acknowledged. This research highlights that dozens of individuals who were directors and founding subscribers of the Bank of England also held significant investments in the transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans.

The Bank of England, which has been government-owned since its nationalisation by Clement Attlee's Labour administration in 1946, served as a central hub for financiers whose wealth was derived from or invested in the slave trade. The findings suggest a systemic embedding of slave-trade wealth within the very foundations of Britain's financial infrastructure. This involvement was not peripheral but rather integral to the operations and growth of key financial institutions during the era of colonial expansion and the Atlantic slave economy.

The Register of British Slave Traders project aims to document the individuals and entities involved in this brutal trade, providing a more granular understanding of its economic underpinnings. The research underscores that the profits generated from the forced labour and sale of enslaved people were reinvested and circulated within the British economy, contributing to the development of its financial markets and institutions. This historical entanglement challenges narratives that have often downplayed or overlooked the direct role of financial bodies in perpetuating slavery.

This new wave of research builds upon previous scholarship that has begun to trace the financial legacies of slavery, but it specifically targets the central role of the Bank of England and its associated financiers. The implications of these findings extend to understanding the historical accumulation of wealth in Britain and the long-term impact on economic disparities. The project's detailed documentation of slave traders and their financial activities provides a verifiable basis for these conclusions, moving beyond general assertions to specific instances of financial participation in human trafficking.