Legacies of British Slave-ownership: One day workshop, Bham 9th Oct 2010

Gas Hall Conference Room, BMAG
The event was attended by around 50 people.
The day began with an outline of the project by Catherine Hall.
Key findings: slave compensation totalled £20 million and involved 30% of state expenditure.
Over 25,000 individual payments were made. 4% of the claimants were based in the W.Mids.
55% of these claims were for less than £500. Exceptions include John Gladstone (ancestor of PM Gladstone) who was awarded £1,100.
45% of all claimants were women, who had been left annuities in wills
2,500 claimants got over £500 and were absentee owners, living in the UK & Ireland
Many claims were contested (by multiple claimants) for periods of up to 30 years. In such cases the claims were paid to courts for the courts to adjudicate.

Catherine Hall presented a case-study outline of the Caribbean-British links within the various branches of the Barrett family, over a period of at least 300 years

Keith McClelland gave an overview of the records in terms of areas, genders, extent of 'property' etc. He indicated areas of research to come, eg.
- Commercial links
- Cultural links
- Imperial legacies
- Military links
- MPs/Politics
- Physical legacies

Nick Draper focussed on the records in relation to the W.Mids, highlighting the Hodgsons of Shropshire, the Flowers of Lichfield etc.

After a coffee break Malcolm Dick outlined the work he had done on Slavery & Anti-slavery in the Midlands. He indicated the contradictory stances that existed within and among those wih slave links. He also considered abolition in relation to motives, origins and activties.

Andy Green focussed on Race and Empire in Post-emancipation Bham, largely in relation to George Dawson.

After lunch David Callaghan gave a very comprehensive outline of Scawdi's 'History Detectives' project.

The open discussion sessions were surprisingly useful, giving opportunities for participants to talk about personal areas of interest/discuss common issues & priorities for the future.

I'm looking forward to the launch of the records online.