The Slave Trade, c. 1830–1893: British Foreign Office Confidential Print Coming Soon Overview

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.