What can portraits tell us about why Britain was involved in the transatlantic slave trade?

Captain John Hawkins was the first known English person to transport and trade kidnapped African people, in the 1560s.

He reported that, on his first slave trading voyage, he violently captured 300 people in Sierra Leone. He transported them to Spain’s Caribbean colonies Colony A country or an area that is governed by people from another, more powerful, country. and traded them for animal hides (Britain did not yet have colonies in the Caribbean or the Americas).

Hawkins made two more voyages trading in enslaved people, alongside his cousin, Francis Drake. They were supported by Queen Elizabeth I. Her involvement became more official by the final voyage. The voyages showed that a trade between Britain, Africa and the Caribbean, selling kidnapped African people, could make large profits for British merchants Merchant A person who buys and sells goods in large quantities, especially one who imports and exports goods. and for the queen. This became known as the triangular trade Triangular trade Trade routes used to buy and sell people as slaves, forming a triangle across the Atlantic Ocean. Ships sailed between Europe, West Africa, and the Caribbean and the Americas. .

Hawkins and Drake were from Devon. In 2020, local people started petitions, demanding that places named after Hawkins and Drake be renamed.

In the 1580s, Queen Elizabeth I granted explorer Walter Ralegh a royal charter. This gave Ralegh her permission to find and colonise Colonise To take control of an area or a country that is not your own, especially using force, and send people from your own country to live there. new lands for her. (The charter ignored the rights of Indigenous Indigenous Coming from a particular place and having lived there for a long time before other people came there. peoples already living in these lands.)

Ralegh set up expeditions to the Americas. Although not all were successful, his first attempts eventually led to other British people establishing colonies Colony A country or an area that is governed by people from another, more powerful, country. in North America. They set up plantations Plantation A large area of land, especially in a hot country, where crops such as coffee, sugar and rubber are grown. , where enslaved people lived in terrible conditions and were forced to grow crops for their owners to sell such as sugar and tobacco.

Ralegh is also credited with introducing tobacco to England. Although this may not be true, Ralegh did smoke tobacco and helped to make it popular.

Elizabeth I was an early supporter of England’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade Transatlantic slave trade The buying and selling of African people as slaves between the 1500s and 1800s, using trade routes that crossed the Atlantic Ocean. . She gave permission for Captain John Hawkins’s ships to fly the royal flag on his second and third expeditions trading kidnapped African people. She also invested in the expeditions, giving Hawkins money and ships.

English merchants Merchant A person who buys and sells goods in large quantities, especially one who imports and exports goods. and government officials supported these expeditions too. In return, Hawkins gave them, and Elizabeth, a share of the profits.

Elizabeth I rewarded Hawkins by granting him a coat of arms. This is the crest that can be seen in the portrait. It includes an African man, tied up with ropes. It is thought to be the first image of an enslaved African person to be produced in England.

The royal family’s support helped the transatlantic slave trade Transatlantic slave trade The buying and selling of African people as slaves between the 1500s and 1800s, using trade routes that crossed the Atlantic Ocean. to grow. 

King Charles I reigned from 1625 to 1649. In 1632, he gave royal approval to a group of merchants Merchant A person who buys and sells goods in large quantities, especially one who imports and exports goods. which officially allowed them to transport enslaved African people from West Africa to the Caribbean.

King Charles II reigned from 1660 to 1685. During his reign, he gave his official support to English-owned companies that bought and sold kidnapped people from West Africa, including The Royal African Company. Charles invested money, lent them ships, and got a share of the profits.

By this time, English colonists Colonist A person who settles in an area that has become a colony (a country or an area governed by people from another, more powerful, country). had set up plantations Plantation A large area of land, especially in a hot country, where crops such as coffee, sugar and rubber are grown. in the Caribbean and the Americas, growing sugar and tobacco. Enslaved African people were sold to English plantation Plantation A large area of land, especially in a hot country, where crops such as coffee, sugar and rubber are grown. owners and forced to work on the plantations as slaves in brutal conditions. When they resisted or fought back, the plantation owners used violence to control them.

Queen Anne reigned from 1702 to 1714. She carried on the royal support for the slave trade. In 1712 she announced that she had secured an exclusive contract for Britain to sell enslaved people to Spain’s colonies Colony A country or an area that is governed by people from another, more powerful, country. . She used her power to make sure that she would profit personally from this deal, alongside the aristocrats, politicians and merchants Merchant A person who buys and sells goods in large quantities, especially one who imports and exports goods. who were also involved.

Edward Colston was a manager in the Royal African Company in the 1680s. During his time there, the company traded more than 84,000 enslaved African people. 19,000 of them died while they were being transported across the Atlantic Ocean. The trade made Colston very rich.

When he became an MP, Colston campaigned to keep the trade in enslaved people legal and profitable for traders.

Colston gave money to build schools, hospitals, poor houses and churches in Bristol, his hometown. He left half his wealth to charities in his will – about £71,000 (over £16 million today).

The writing at the bottom of this portrait describes Colston as ‘The brightest example of Christian liberality’ and goes on to list details of his charitable donations.

A statue of Colston was put up in Bristol over 150 years after his death. In 2020, during a Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter A movement formed to campaign against racism and violence, especially police violence, against black people. protest, the statue was pulled down and thrown into the harbour. It was later retrieved and collected by Bristol Museums to put on display to support education and discussion.

Thomas Guy was a bookseller who put money into the South Sea Company, which was formed in 1711. His money helped to pay for the company’s trade in kidnapped African people. Over nine years, the company transported 15,901 African people across the Atlantic. In this time, Guy’s money grew, making him the equivalent of hundreds of millions of pounds in today’s money.

Guy used some of his fortune to build Guy’s Hospital, for the poor, in London. This was the largest gift to charity of the early 1700s. Soon after his death, a statue of Guy was put up in front of the hospital.

This portrait appears to show Guy helping a poor, sick man, with Guy’s hospital in the background.

In 2021, the hospital leadership decided to move the statue to a less noticeable place, because of his connection to slavery.

William Ansah Sessarakoo was born and grew up in West Africa, part of a powerful family. In the 1740s, his father, known as John Corrantee to European traders, sent him to be educated in England (possibly so that he could do business with English traders). Corrantee was an African merchant Merchant A person who buys and sells goods in large quantities, especially one who imports and exports goods. who sold kidnapped African people to European traders.

On his way to England, Sessarakoo was captured, sold and enslaved in Barbados. When his father found out, he refused to trade with British traders until Sessarakoo was rescued. The Royal African Company paid for Sessarakoo’s freedom.

Sessarakoo came to England and became a celebrity. He was invited to visit some of the highest members of society. Newspapers and magazines reported his appearances at fashionable events. The Royal African Company used his story and this portrait to demonstrate that they treated enslaved people well. This was far from the truth.

The portrait shows Sessarakoo dressed in fine clothes, typical of the type worn by wealthy, respected men in Britain at the time.

William Beckford grew up in England in the 1700s. His family owned sugar plantations Plantation A large area of land, especially in a hot country, where crops such as coffee, sugar and rubber are grown. in Jamaica in the Caribbean. The work of enslaved people on the plantations made the family a fortune. The workers were paid nothing. When they rebelled, they were tortured and killed.

In the 1780s Beckford inherited Inherit To receive money and/or property from somebody when they die. the plantations and wealth and became one of the richest men in England. He never visited Jamaica.

Beckford built an enormous house and filled it with expensive art. Many of the paintings he bought are now in the National Gallery in London.

He became an MP and spoke out against the abolition Abolition The ending of a law, a system or an institution. of the transatlantic slave trade Transatlantic slave trade The buying and selling of African people as slaves between the 1500s and 1800s, using trade routes that crossed the Atlantic Ocean. .

When slavery was eventually abolished Abolition The ending of a law, a system or an institution. , he received a payment from the government as compensation for the enslaved workers he had lost. No compensation was paid to the people who had been enslaved and brutalised.

This portrait was painted by Joshua Reynolds, the leading portrait artist of his day.

British army officer Thomas Picton was in charge of the Caribbean island of Trinidad from the late 1790s.

At this time enslaved people were forced to work on British plantations Plantation A large area of land, especially in a hot country, where crops such as coffee, sugar and rubber are grown. there. Picton commanded a small army and used brutal violence to keep control. This included torturing and killing enslaved people.

He also bought plantations in Trinidad and traded in enslaved people which made him very rich.

Picton was put on trial in Britain for authorising the torture of a teenager named Louisa Calderón in Trinidad. He was let off when he argued that torture was legal in Trinidad.

This portrait shows Picton as a high-ranking army officer.

In 2020 the city council voted to remove a statue of Picton from the Heroes of Wales collection in Cardiff City Hall.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an English poet, who became famous for the poetry she wrote in the 1850s.

She had a comfortable upbringing in a wealthy family. Her family’s wealth came from the work of enslaved people on the plantations Plantation A large area of land, especially in a hot country, where crops such as coffee, sugar and rubber are grown. they owned in Jamaica.

Barrett Browning believed her family was cursed by profiting from slavery. She wrote about her view that slavery was wrong, and she supported the abolition Abolition The ending of a law, a system or an institution. of the slave trade.

When slavery was eventually abolished Abolition The ending of a law, a system or an institution. , Barrett Browning’s father received £7800 compensation (hundreds of thousands of pounds in today’s money) for the 397 enslaved people who worked his plantations. She believed that it was right that he should receive money, because those people were his ‘property’. No money was paid to the people who had been enslaved and brutalised.

This portrait was painted to hang alongside a portrait of her husband, the poet Robert Browning in the private home of someone who admired them.

Edward Colston was a manager in the Royal African Company in the 1680s. During his time there, the company traded more than 84,000 enslaved African people. 19,000 of them died while they were being transported across the Atlantic Ocean. The trade made Colston very rich.

When he became an MP, Colston campaigned to keep the trade in enslaved people legal and profitable for traders.

Colston gave money to build schools, hospitals, poor houses and churches in Bristol, his hometown. He left half his wealth to charities in his will – about £71,000 (over £16 million today).

The writing at the bottom of this portrait describes Colston as ‘The brightest example of Christian liberality’ and goes on to list details of his charitable donations.

A statue of Colston was put up in Bristol over 150 years after his death. In 2020, during a Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter A movement formed to campaign against racism and violence, especially police violence, against black people. protest, the statue was pulled down and thrown into the harbour. It was later retrieved and collected by Bristol Museums to put on display to support education and discussion.

Thomas Guy was a bookseller who put money into the South Sea Company, which was formed in 1711. His money helped to pay for the company’s trade in kidnapped African people. Over nine years, the company transported 15,901 African people across the Atlantic. In this time, Guy’s money grew, making him the equivalent of hundreds of millions of pounds in today’s money.

Guy used some of his fortune to build Guy’s Hospital, for the poor, in London. This was the largest gift to charity of the early 1700s. Soon after his death, a statue of Guy was put up in front of the hospital.

This portrait appears to show Guy helping a poor, sick man, with Guy’s hospital in the background.

In 2021, the hospital leadership decided to move the statue to a less noticeable place, because of his connection to slavery.

British army officer Thomas Picton was in charge of the Caribbean island of Trinidad from the late 1790s.

At this time enslaved people were forced to work on British plantations Plantation A large area of land, especially in a hot country, where crops such as coffee, sugar and rubber are grown. there. Picton commanded a small army and used brutal violence to keep control. This included torturing and killing enslaved people.

He also bought plantations in Trinidad and traded in enslaved people which made him very rich.

Picton was put on trial in Britain for authorising the torture of a teenager named Louisa Calderón in Trinidad. He was let off when he argued that torture was legal in Trinidad.

This portrait shows Picton as a high-ranking army officer.

In 2020 the city council voted to remove a statue of Picton from the Heroes of Wales collection in Cardiff City Hall.