The Slave Trade, c. 1830–1893: British Foreign Office Confidential Print Coming Soon Overview
Slavery, abolitionism, power, and morality in the nineteenth century
Our duty–our vocation–is not to enslave, but to set free.Viscount Palmerston,
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Register InterestExplore the role of foreign policy and diplomacy in British anti-slavery efforts
Britain’s role in the history of slavery is long and complex. After decades of abolitionist campaigning, the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1807 ended Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic trade in enslaved people. It also marked the beginning of a new chapter of international anti-slavery diplomacy in the nineteenth century. This included the formation of a Royal Navy squadron to police the West African coast and intercept ships of other nations still engaged in the slave trade. There was also a concerted diplomatic endeavour to push other states and rulers—in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and the Americas—towards abolition.
Comprising over 31,000 images from Foreign Office files at The National Archives (UK), this collection includes diplomatic correspondence and reports sent between London and British officials, agents, and naval officers working across the world. It offers unrivalled insights into official attitudes towards slavery and the formation of policies relating to formerly enslaved people. It highlights the confluence, and contradictions, of political strategy, military strength, and moral mission, in the high imperial era.
This collection will be of interest to historians of slavery, abolition, empire, and diplomacy. It will also appeal to those situated within the fields of political science and economics.
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The Slave Trade, c. 1830–1893: British Foreign Office Confidential Print...
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Highlights
Licensed to access Slavery in Portuguese Possessions
This document includes a report produced by F. Elton (pp. 376–377) in 1875. It examined the continuation of slavery in Portuguese East Africa, despite its official abolition there. Elton argued that, although classified as libertos (freed people), many formerly enslaved people continued to experience conditions similar to slavery, including forced labour, limited freedom, and little or no payment. Elton also highlighted the continued existence of slave trading and harsh punishments, criticising the Portuguese colonial government for failing to enforce abolition due to inadequate resources and poor administration. He concluded that legal reforms were insufficient without effective government action.
Licensed to access Treaties with African Rulers
To eradicate the slave trade at its source, British naval officers negotiated anti-slavery treaties with African leaders. This document, produced in August 1876, records treaties signed between Commodore Sir William Hewett and rulers based along the Congo River. The agreements aimed to abolish slave trading and to encourage commerce with British traders in products such as palm oil. There was also a push for increased Christian missionary activity and to end the practice of human sacrifice during celebrations hosted by African rulers.
Licensed to access Suppression of the Red Sea Slave Trade
The Red Sea slave trade was one of the longest-running maritime trafficking networks in history. Dating from 1881, this letter from Captain Malcolm to Sir Alexander Milne argued that suppression of the Red Sea slave trade was both a humanitarian duty and a means of strengthening Britain's imperial strategy. Malcolm stressed the importance of controlling key Red Sea ports to protect Britain's route to India, warning against French imperial expansion and the potential closure of the Suez Canal. The document illustrates how anti-slavery policy was linked to Britain's geopolitical ambitions in northeast Africa.
Licensed to access Home for Freed Women Slaves in Cairo
This source (pp. 154–156), dating from 1886, is a British government report on anti-slavery efforts in Egypt. It describes the work of the committee that managed the Home for Freed Women Slaves. This provided shelter, care, and employment support for women and girls who had escaped slavery. The report stated that, since 1885, 168 residents were received and highlighted the continued support sought by former residents as evidence of the organisation’s success. The report also addressed financial challenges and appealed for British donations, reflecting abolitionist objectives and colonial perspectives of the period.
Insights
- Britain's role in the history of slavery is complex, with abolition developing through decades of legislative reform. The Slave Trade Act of 1788 (Dolben's Act) regulated conditions aboard slave ships by limiting the number of enslaved Africans transported and introducing basic health requirements. The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, passed in 1807, prohibited the trade of enslaved people across the British empire. The Slave Trade Act of 1824 imposed stricter penalties for illegal trading, but slavery itself was not abolished across most of the empire until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. This came into effect in 1834, although formerly enslaved people remained in an apprenticeship system until full freedom was granted in 1838.
- The global anti-slavery campaign was coordinated by the Slave Trade Department of the British Foreign Office, making anti-slavery enforcement a central pillar of British nineteenth-century foreign policy. This collection contains selected correspondence and official papers issued and received by the Foreign Office. The material includes correspondence between British commissioners, ministers, and agents based in foreign countries; foreign ministers based in Britain; foreign officials stationed across Africa; and reports from naval officers and Vice-Admiralty courts. The collection also offers detailed information regarding the capture of slave ships, the emancipation of enslaved people, and related legal proceedings. It likewise includes a range of documents that spotlight anti-slavery movements, as well as annual reports, international conventions, legislation, and treaties related to the slave trade.
- The collection includes reports and correspondence from the Mixed Commission Courts. Sierra Leone became a British Crown colony in 1808, with Freetown serving as the centre of British anti-slave-trade operations in West Africa. From 1819 to the 1870s, Mixed Commission Courts in Freetown, as well as those in Havana (Cuba) and in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), adjudicated upon captured slave vessels and cases involving the liberation of enslaved Africans. These multinational courts represented significant international cooperation and contributed to the development of international law and human rights.
- The West Africa Squadron was established by the Royal Navy to enforce the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. Operating from 1818 to the 1860s, the squadron patrolled over 2,000 miles of the West African coast to capture slave ships involved in the transatlantic trade. Costing between 1–2% of the British government’s annual expenditure, this campaign was a significant military and financial commitment. The Admiralty pursued increasingly coercive strategies, including blockades of established slave trading ports and rivers on the West African coast.
- This collection highlights the complex meaning of “freedom” after abolition. At the time, those rescued from slave ships were referred to as “Liberated Africans”, reflecting the terminology employed by Britain’s Liberated African Department that was established in Freetown. Today, this term is considered problematic because many people remained subject to colonial control through apprenticeships, indentured labour schemes, and military service. The terms “recaptives” or “recaptured Africans” are now preferred, reflecting the recognition that emancipation did not end exploitation or restrictions upon freedom. The collection therefore reveals the tension between Britain's humanitarian ideals and its continued exercise of colonial authority.
- This collection contains a vast amount of information on anti-slavery efforts and international conventions. For example, sources relating to the Anti-Slavery Conference that was held in Brussels from 1889–1890 feature prominently. Organised by King Leopold II of Belgium, the conference brought together 17 world powers and resulted in the Brussels Conference Act (1890). This aimed to strengthen international cooperation regarding the slave trade and resulted in agreements aimed at suppressing the trafficking of enslaved people, as well as the regulation of arms sales and trade practices linked to slavery. It likewise bolstered the ability of European powers to intervene in African territories and addressed the movement of African liquor. Although presented as a humanitarian initiative, the conference nevertheless evidenced the increasing synergy between anti-slavery campaigns and European imperial expansion in Africa.
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