BRITAIN AND THE SLAVE TRADE
BEFORE ROMAN TIMES
1554-1555
1700s
1600s
Chattel slavery, where a person
is the property of another, was
accepted in the British Isles.
Admiral Sir John Hawkins
pioneered the slave trade,
capturing & selling Africans for
labour in the Caribbean.
It was the height of fashion for
rich ladies in Britain to have a
black child servant.
UK criminals were
transported to the
colonies as punishment to work for free.
1086
17TH & 18TH CENTURIES
17TH - 19TH CENTURIES
According to the domesday
book, over 10% of England's
population were slaves.
British traders shipped 3 million
men, women & children as slaves
to the Americas for considerable
profit.
Workhouses in Britain
employed poor people under
forced labour conditions.
1807
William Wilberforce’s act
prohibited the passage of
slaves in the British Empire.
1833
Slavery was finally abolished
throughout the British Empire
by the Slavery Abolition Act.
Britain signed over 50 treaties
with African rulers to stop the
supply of slaves from their lands.
1893
Human trafficking is the illegal
smuggling and trading of
people for forced labour or
sexual exploitation.
It takes another 60 years of
diplomacy and navy patrolling
to finally put an end to the
Atlantic slave trade.
WHAT IS MODERN SLAVERY?
2015
“WE SHOULD LEARN THE LESSONS OF THE PAST,
The Modern Slavery Act comes into force
requiring large businesses to report on
their actions in eliminating and preventing
modern slavery in their supply chains.
BE MOVED BY THE ACCOUNTS OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT
EMERGING UNBOWED FROM SLAVERY, AND BE
INSPIRED BY THE IMPASSIONED SPEECHES OF
2017...?
THE ANTI-SLAVERY CAMPAIGNERS.”
WILLIAM HAGUE
2014
2016
The Modern Day Slavery Bill
introduces a maximum sentence
of life imprisonment for human
trafficking.
The Global Slavery Index estimates
there are 45.8 million people in
modern slavery accross the globe.
Theresa May, the UK’s prime
minister, vows to defeat this crime &
dedicates £33m to the fight.
RESPONSIBLE
TRADE WORLDWIDE