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Report reveals Merchant Venturers’ connections to slave trafficking
Almost a quarter of a million enslaved people were trafficked on voyages in which Bristol’s Society of Merchant Adventurers invested, a new independent report reveals.
Dr Richard Stone of the University of Bristol says in his report that the Merchant Venturers “benefitted considerably from the slavery economy” including through the value of its land in Clifton and Hotwells, and the right to collect wharfage duty on all goods imported into Bristol.
A third of Society members were involved in the transatlantic traffic in enslaved Africans at its peak, with 11 of its members receiving compensation equivalent to £149m in today’s money when slavery was abolished in 1833.
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The report was commissioned and funded by the Society of Merchant Venturers, but Stone has made it clear that the Society “exercised no control or influence” over his findings.
According to Stone, the Merchant Venturers showed a “slightly surprising lack of action in the abolition debates” taking place in Bristol and across the country from the 1790s, with the senior lecturer in early modern history discovering that “several of the most prominent Merchant Venturers were also abolitionists, and indeed leaders of the abolition movement in the city”.
But Stone also writes that “through pro-slavery lobbying, the Society protected the interests of those of its members who were either enslavers or traffickers of enslaved people”.
242,332 enslaved people were trafficked on voyages funded by Merchant Venturers, with as many as 44,213 of these people not surviving the journey – image: Plymouth Chapter of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Eight of the eleven men who managed more than 40 voyages from Bristol were members of the Merchant Venturers, with the most prolific of these slave trafficking agents being James Laroche, who managed 132 voyages between 1728 and 1769.
Despite his infamy, the report says that Edward Colston, who became a member of the Society of Merchant Venturers in 1683, “was not a particularly active member of the Society, principally living at Mortlake in Surrey, and attending just two meetings”.
The current leader of the Merchant Venturers, Michael Bothamley said that reading Stone’s report made him feel physically sick.
“It made me feel sick and it made me want to cry,” Bothamley told Bristol24/7.
“My personal apology is as powerful as it can be. The story that this report discloses is so utterly appalling.”
Merchant Venturers master Michael Bothamley (left) with St Paul’s Carnival chair Levi Roots (centre) and media consultant Lucio Mesquita (right) – photo: Society of Merchant Venturers
Bothamley said: “There are Bristolians, our fellow citizens, who are descendants of enslaved Africans, and who have come to our building and asked questions about our history which we have not been able to answer.
“That’s not acceptable at any level so having this horrible detail, particularly in a cold academic document, is truly shocking.
“While our organisation didn’t actually itself engage in trafficking or the owning of enslaved people, the organisation had some responsibility for bringing the trade to our city and individual members participated and were among the leaders of the trade.
“We need to know that, we need to acknowledge it and the really important thing is how we respond to it.”
A demonstration took place outside the Clifton headquarters of the Merchant Venturers the day before the beginning of the Colston 4 trial in December 2021 – photo: Rob Browne
In a letter to the Bristol Legacy Foundation made of community leaders from Afrikan heritage communities, Bothamley said that on behalf of the Society, he is “deeply sorry for the historic part this organisation played in the unimaginable suffering that resulted from this abhorrent trade in human lives”.
He wrote: “We are determined to acknowledge our history and to respond appropriately. We believe this must include helping to repair the damage done by the historic transatlantic trafficking of enslaved Africans as well as the ongoing disadvantage caused by modern racism.”
Bothamley said that the Merchant Venturers will continue to support the Bristol Legacy Foundation and work on the concept of “repair through service”.
Talking to Bristol24/7, Bothamley said that the Society will not disband, adding: “This was never about us. What we have been doing has been easy.
“The grace and generosity of Black Bristolians, in particular community leaders and the descendants of enslaved Africans in engaging with us, wholeheartedly and open-heartedly, has just been extraordinary and wonderful…
“Repairing fractured relationships is a great phase. That’s something which communities have to do within themselves but as a city, it’s also a really important thing for us to do.”
Bristol Legacy Foundation member Ruth Pitter said: “This report fundamentally conveys the narrative about the massacre and enslavement of many of our ancestors and the profits that a number of Merchants made from these atrocious crimes.
“Now the report is out, and the SMV themselves have chosen to come clean about their history, they must listen to African Caribbean heritage people in the city who have for so long been denied repair. The SMV must be genuinely committed to measures for ensuring this.”
Main photo: Martin Booth
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