Lincoln, Saint or Sinner

[MaddieM]

People of African origin have been part of English history since Roman times. In the last quarter of the 18th century England was home to a black population of between 10-15,000 people – mostly in major ports but also in market towns and villages across the country. Many worked as domestic servants both paid and unpaid – and it was often unclear whether they were free or not. The habit of giving slaves Roman names accounts for the large number of Scipios, Plinys and Caesars buried in churchyards across the country. Anglicised names are rare and African names rarer still. Notices for runaway slaves were a common feature of local newspapers during this period. Not all were slaves or servants. Black people worked as sailors, tradespeople of all kinds and in some cases as businessmen or musicians. Black writers played a role in the anti-slavery movement in England and famous activists like Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano were pivotal to the movement in speaking and writing from their personal experience of the horrors of the trade.

No, I don't think the UK was any less guilty of prejudice - show me a country that isn't. But the workers of the cotton trade in the UK, bearing in mind that their whole livelihood depended on this product, were the ones who were most vehemently against slavery at any cost, even to themselves. On 31 December 1862, a meeting of cotton workers at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, despite their increasing hardship, resolved to support the Union in its fight against slavery.