Manchester University Press
3 Slavery and Welsh industry before and after emancipation
Abstract
A ‘Four Nations’ approach to the role of slavery in the formation of the United Kingdom in the 18th and 19th centuries reveals striking differences in the extent of slave-ownership and distinct patterns in the significance of slavery as a whole. This chapter by Chris Evans first shows how distinctly under-represented Wales is among slave-owners at the end of slavery, and argues that North and South Wales must be seen as distinct analytical units in this narrow context. However, it is also argued that the importance of slavery to Wales cannot be captured by 19th century slave-ownership data alone, and that in commodities key to its limited industrialisation, notably copper and wool, Wales was indeed linked to the slave trade and the institution of slavery itself in the key period of the late 18th century, and that such linkages – to Cuban copper mining, for example – continued after Emancipation.
Abstract
A ‘Four Nations’ approach to the role of slavery in the formation of the United Kingdom in the 18th and 19th centuries reveals striking differences in the extent of slave-ownership and distinct patterns in the significance of slavery as a whole. This chapter by Chris Evans first shows how distinctly under-represented Wales is among slave-owners at the end of slavery, and argues that North and South Wales must be seen as distinct analytical units in this narrow context. However, it is also argued that the importance of slavery to Wales cannot be captured by 19th century slave-ownership data alone, and that in commodities key to its limited industrialisation, notably copper and wool, Wales was indeed linked to the slave trade and the institution of slavery itself in the key period of the late 18th century, and that such linkages – to Cuban copper mining, for example – continued after Emancipation.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of tables vii
- A note on the front cover viii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Preface xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Formations of capital: beyond ‘merchants and planters’
- 1 The scope of accumulation and the reach of moral perception 19
- 2 Slavery, the slave trade and economic growth 36
- 3 Slavery and Welsh industry before and after emancipation 60
-
Slavery and Welsh industry before and after emancipation
- 4 From slavery to indenture 77
- 5 Re-examining the labour matrix in the British Caribbean 1750 to 1850 98
- 6 After emancipation 113
-
Part III The imperial state
- 7 Imperial complicity 131
- 8 Concepts of liberty 149
-
Part IV Public histories, family histories
- 9 Family history 175
- 10 Writing Sugar in the Blood 184
- 11 Legacy and lineage 193
-
Part V Reparations, restitution and the historian
- 12 The Mauritius Truth and Justice Commission 207
- 13 Jamaica and the debate over reparation for slavery 223
- Index 251
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Contents v
- List of tables vii
- A note on the front cover viii
- Notes on contributors ix
- Preface xiii
- Introduction 1
-
Part I Formations of capital: beyond ‘merchants and planters’
- 1 The scope of accumulation and the reach of moral perception 19
- 2 Slavery, the slave trade and economic growth 36
- 3 Slavery and Welsh industry before and after emancipation 60
-
Slavery and Welsh industry before and after emancipation
- 4 From slavery to indenture 77
- 5 Re-examining the labour matrix in the British Caribbean 1750 to 1850 98
- 6 After emancipation 113
-
Part III The imperial state
- 7 Imperial complicity 131
- 8 Concepts of liberty 149
-
Part IV Public histories, family histories
- 9 Family history 175
- 10 Writing Sugar in the Blood 184
- 11 Legacy and lineage 193
-
Part V Reparations, restitution and the historian
- 12 The Mauritius Truth and Justice Commission 207
- 13 Jamaica and the debate over reparation for slavery 223
- Index 251
