Tag Archives: speke hall

Britain’s Participation in the Transatlantic Slave Trade

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As those of you who follow this blog will know, I am from the city of Liverpool.

 

 

I have long had an interest in the history of Liverpool and am a regular visitor to the city’s museum’s, including the International Slavery Museum, https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/international-slavery-museum.

 

Liverpool played a significant role in the transatlantic slave trade and much of the city’s wealth was derived from slavery. For example, the beautiful Speke Hall was partly constructed as a consequence of money made from slavery, https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/liverpool-lancashire/speke-hall/speke-halls-colonial-connections.

 

It is sobering to walk around Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum and to learn of Britain’s role in the slave trade. However, Britain can be proud of the fact that it was one of the first countries to outlaw participation in the slave trade in 1807, and ban slavery in the British Empire in 1833.

 

History Reclaimed has a fascinating video on the Royal Navy’s role in trying to prevent other nations such as Spain and Portugal from continuing to engage in slavery, https://historyreclaimed.co.uk/the-royal-navys-campaign-against-the-slave-trade/.

 

Am I in favour of the UK paying compensation due to our participation in slavery? The answer is no. Slavery was (and remains abhorrent). People are not property and each individual is uniquely valuable in his or her own right. However, Britain’s participation in the Transatlantic slave trade ended in 1807 and in it’s empire in 1833. I am highly sceptical that countries with large populations originally derived from enslaved people can blame their countries ills on the actions of British people long since dead.

 

I am also sceptical as to how such compensation would work and the ethics underpinning any proposed scheme. Should the British person living on a deprived estate pay his taxes to the descendants of slaves some of whom will undoubtedly be far wealthier than he is? If the answer is yes, should black British people be compensated by their white friends and fellow citizens?

 

There is a strong moral argument for helping to alleviate poverty in the developing world, including in Britain’s former colonies. However, to tie such aid to slavery has the potential to raise racial and international tensions and would not, in my view be helpful in fostering good relations between communities.

 

We should also be wary of putting the sins of our ancestors on the generations living today. British people alive in the 21st century had no role in slavery and it is frankly wrong to expect them to pay compensation for wrongs perpetrated long before they where born.

The Hall

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The cold rain does fall.
I recall
We stood in the shelter
Of the old hall.

Helter skelter
The years whirl by.
Now I
Sit alone
In my home
Thinking on the cold rain
And the old hall that will remain
When I also make my way
Into those woods where we were wont to play.

—

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speke_Hall

The Dungeon (Liverpool local history)

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An interesting piece on the history of the Dungeon, an area of Liverpool close to where my mum lives. I must confess that the name dungeon conjured up for me visions of dank prison cells, however the Dungeon was, in fact a major salt refinery and a place of considerable historical interest, http://www.roydenhistory.co.uk/mrlhp/local/salt/dungeon.htm.

Speke Hall

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I do recall
many a trip to Speke Hall.
The trees have seen it all
kingdoms rise and fall.
The old house stands
guardian of the land.
Now the airport has come.
and planes run
where once the squire walked
and talked
or perhaps shot
game for the pot.
Old books
one can not touch.
A family’s past preserved
behind rope.
Would the squire choke
at the sight
of the National Trust shop
where jam can be bought by the pot?
Do the dead
shake their head
as I gaze on their four poster bed?
The past conserved
In stones and words
As featherless birds
fly
Through troubled skies.

—

The construction of Speke Hall was started in 1530 and ended in 1598. It is one of my favourite haunts and is situated a few miles from my mother’s home in Liverpool. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speke_Hall).

Speke Hall

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Standing by the old house listening to the rain. The scents of the garden and the ancient wood beyond delight my senses. The smell of autumn fills the air. The woodland floor strewn with acorns. My grandfather and I walking together, the feel of acorns clutched in a child’s hand. Opening the fruit the kernel exposed to little exploring fingers. Leaves crunching, grandfather close and near.

My aunt standing close, we two sheltering from the rain. Grandfather departed many moons past. My aunt followed several years ago. They are part of something now beyond my comprehension, a small speck in nature’s unfathomable plan.

Great metal birds shriek overhead drowning out the singing of their feathered cousins. Oh how times change. In centuries past the hall dominated the village of Speke. Villagers and hall joined by threads tying one to the other. The domestics toiling to keep the house in good order, it’s owners and their guests maintained in comfort and well fed. Like a well regulated clock the hall ran smoothly, estate workers and domestics knew their place, all was right with the world. Or was it? Where the masters and mistresses of yesteryear tyrants exploiting the local poor? The truth lies no doubt somewhere in the middle. At best the domestics of the past had a sense of pride in maintaining the local squire while he (or she) in turn felt a sense of obligation to their employees. At worst domestic service entailed getting up at an ungodly hour to sweep the grate and light a fresh fire so that the hall would be warm for when the family arose later in the day.

 

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/speke-hall/

 

Was it a semi-feudal paradise with kindly m