Legacies of the Slave Trade

When colonial slavery was abolished in 1833 the British government paid £20 million to slave-owners as compensation for the loss of their "property". In today's terms that figure equates to around £16.5 billion. The enslaved received nothing.

Legacies of British slave ownership

Legacies of British Slave-Ownership is the umbrella for two projects based at University College London (UCL):

  • The Legacies of British Slave-Ownership
  • The Structure and Significance of British Caribbean Slave-Ownership 1763 to 1833.

UCL has produced a searchable and freely accessible database of all slave-owners in the British Caribbean at the time slavery ended. The starting point for this work was the records of the Slave Compensation Commission, which distributed the compensation to slave-owners.

The UCL database concerns slave-owners. Registers of the enslaved are held by the National Archives. Further information is also available from The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database.

Ending slavery
  • The Road to Abolition

    Learn about the formation of the Committee for Effecting the Abolition of the African Slave Trade.

  • Notable Legal Cases

    Read about some of the notable legal cases concerning slavery and the slave trade.

  • Slavery After 1807

    Find out what happened following the Abolition Act in 1807.

  • Women Against Slavery

    Find out about women abolitionists and listen to our podcasts about women's involvement in the anti-slavery campaign.

  • 1834: The End of Slavery?

    Slavery continued in some territories run by the East India Company as not all parts of the British Empire came under the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act.

  • Legacies of the Slave Trade

    When slavery was abolished, slave owners were compensated, the enslaved received nothing. Here we link to registers of both owners and the enslaved.

  • Legacies of Slavery and Abolition in Listed Places

    The National Heritage List for England includes our research into places with a connection to the slave trade and the campaign for its abolition.

Next steps

Search UCL's Legacies of British Slave-Ownership database