The Interest - Michael Taylor

  

 

The Interest : How The British Establishment Resisted the Abolition of Slavery

By Michael Taylor

Publisher's Description

For two hundred years, the abolition of slavery in Britain has been a cause for self-congratulation – but no longer.

In 1807, Parliament outlawed the slave trade in the British Empire, but for the next quarter of a century, despite heroic and bloody rebellions, more than 700,000 people in the British colonies remained in slavery. And when a renewed abolitionist campaign was mounted, making slave ownership the defining political and moral issue of the day, emancipation was fiercely resisted by the powerful ‘West India Interest’. Supported by nearly every leading figure of the British establishment – including Canning, Peel and Gladstone, The Times and Spectator – the Interest ensured that slavery survived until 1833 and that when abolition came at last, compensation was given not to the enslaved but to the slaveholders. Worth £340 billion in today’s money, this was the largest pay-out in British history before the banking rescue package of 2008, incurring a national debt that was only repaid in 2015 and entrenching the power of slaveholders and their families to shape modern Britain.

Drawing on major new research, this long-overdue and ground-breaking history shows that the triumph of abolition was also one of the darkest episodes in British history, revealing the lengths to which British leaders went to defend the indefensible in the name of profit.

Available Editions

EDITION	Hardcover
ISBN	9781847925718
PRICE	£20.00 (GBP)

Rating : 5 Stars

Review

 A meticulously researched look at the shocking story of the West Indian & British government self-interest that held up the process of emancipation for the slaves in the British colonies of the caribbean.

 

This is a fascinating insight into the history of abolition and despite the passage of nearly two hundred years this book left me angry and at times almost in tears of frustration as the British government and the West Indian 'Interest' resisted at every turn the freeing of the slaves.

 

Like most people in Britain I was aware of the slave trade but had no idea of the lengths that the interested parties went to to avoid the anti-slavery campaign coming to fruition.

 

This is a well written history that charts both the twists and turns of the politics at home as well as the stories of ill treatment and rebellion abroad.

 

This book fills in many gaps in my education that were ignored when at school in the 1970's and puts a number of English 'heroes' reputations in a new light.

 

A great read that covers a topic that is now at the forefront of everyone's minds with the Black Lives Matter campaign this summer

 

If you think you understand about the trials and tribulations of the abolitionists in the 19th century then I suggest you give this a try.