London Merchants, the English Civil War and the Barbados Sugar Boom Origins

London Merchants, the English Civil War, and the Origins of the Barbados Sugar Boom, 1642-60 by Dr Michael Bennett

We are delighted to host Dr Michael Bennett as part of the Wilberforce Institute's Public Lecture programme, in association with Hull Museums.

The historical evolution of the international framework of what is called today human trafficking is littered with imposture. In his presentation, Prof Allain will examine two episodes in the 1920s which speak to the dissimulation which transpired within the League of Nations which allowed it to first capture the anti-trafficking framework; then change its very nature.

This paper will explore the financing of the Barbados sugar boom in the 1640s and 1650s, focusing in particular on merchant involvement in the Barbadian land market and the various factors which encouraged capital investment into the colony. It will argue that political and economic uncertainty in 1640s England associated with the Civil War shaped the investment decisions of London merchants, influencing the pattern and timing of the transition to sugar production and African slavery in Barbados. By providing a transatlantic study of the sugar boom that highlights the reciprocal relationship between colony and metropole, this paper encourages historians of the seventeenth-century Caribbean to engage with the history of early modern England, and also seeks to integrate Barbados into the historiography of the English Civil War.

Dr Michael Bennett is a Lecturer in Early Modern British History at the University of Sheffield. His current book project provides the first systematic study of the English merchants who financed the development of sugar plantations and African slavery on the Caribbean island of Barbados in the mid-seventeenth century. He was also lead researcher on the Bank of England's project into its historic links to slavery, which resulted in the Slavery & the Bank exhibition (April 2022 - February 2024).

This year we are teaming up with Hull Museums to offer attendees at our public lectures the opportunity to visit Wilberforce House Museum next door before they join us for the lecture. As a result all our lectures will begin at 4.30pm, directly after the Museum closes, and all will take place at our home in Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull, HU1 1NE. We are very grateful for the financial support Hull Museums is providing to the Wilberforce Institute’s public lecture programme, and hope that some of you will take the opportunity to have a look round their exhibitions and displays in advance of the lectures. Please join us for refreshments from 4.15pm onwards, and if you can, stay afterwards for a glass of wine and a chance to talk with our speaker.

There are a limited number of tickets available to attend in person. If you can’t make it in person, you can still enjoy the lectures by streaming online – please select the ticket according to your preference when you make your booking.

Host or Publisher The Wilberforce Institute