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The City of London Slave Trade Trail

Click here for a map of the trail

Mincing Lane

This unassuming street is a suitable place to start the walk, as it was home to some of the protagonists involved in both the slave trade and its abolition.

Britain's slave trade actually began in Mincing Lane 450 years ago, when resident, John Hawkins, planned the first English slaving trips to Africa, encouraged by Queen Elizabeth I.

Two centuries later, the most prominent slave trader in London, Humphrey Morice, owner of 8 slave ships, bought a house here with the profits from his slaving business.

The counting-house of John Sargent, a partner in an African slave factory on Bance Island was sited in this street. Slaves were brought to Bance by local African chieftains and exchanged there for goods from London, before being transported in chains across the Atlantic.

At one time, Francis Baring, whose Barings Bank was set up to finance slave trading voyages, owned a house in the street.

Mincing Lane's slave trading history comes full circle in the 17th century, when the Sharp family bought a house here. The lawyer, Granville Sharp, became interested in the plight of slaves in 1756, when he helped Jonathan Strong, who had been assaulted by his master. Sharp represented Strong at a landmark court case, which resulted in the slave's freedom. Later, Sharp was a founder member of the committee fighting for abolition of the slave trade.

St Dunstan-in-the-East Church

John Hawkins married Katherine Gonson, the daughter of Benjamin Gonson, Queen Elizabeth's Treasurer to the Navy, in this, now ruined, Church. The marriage cemented the relationship of two families from Mincing Lane, who would become partners in the new slave trade.

The Custom House

Before leaving London for Africa, a slave ship's cargo would be taxed at the Custom House on Lower Thames Street. Imported sugar from the plantations would be unloaded at Sugar Quay nearby, then taxed here, before being taken for barter at the Royal Exchange. Thomas Clarkson, the abolitionist, began his research on the cruelty of life on board slave ships at the Custom House. He would travel the length and breadth of the country to inform the public of the iniquities of the trade.

Philpot Lane

Richard Oswald, who lived at Number 17 Philpot Lane, was the main partner in the consortium, Grant, Oswald & Co., that owned the Bance Island slave factory in Africa.

St Mary Woolnoth Church

John Newton, a former slave captain, became Rector here in 1780. Best known for his hymn, Amazing Grace, Newton later repented his former life and preached in favour of abolition of the trade. William Wilberforce was a member of the congregation and would have been influenced by Newton's sermons against the slave trade.

The Bank of England

The Bank of England, incorporated in 1694, was set up to finance England's trade, including the lucrative slave trade, which was feeding England's burgeoning economy. One of the Bank's earliest governors was Humphrey Morice from Mincing Lane.

The Royal Exchange

The Royal Exchange was the hub of the British slave trade. Here, slave merchants would buy and sell goods, such as metal ware, cloth and guns, to fill the slave ships heading for Africa. It was also home to insurance brokers, underwriting slave ships and their human cargo. Today's Royal Exchange, now a luxury shopping mall, replaced the 17th Century building designed by City Surveyor, Edward Jerman, which burned down in 1838.

Change Alley

Originally named Exchange Alley, this narrow warren of interconnecting lanes, now dusty and deserted, was once the bustling home to numerous businesses, including some famous coffee-houses:

Jonathan's Coffee-house was the forerunner of the Stock Exchange. In 1697, some of the rowdier stockbrokers were ejected from the Royal Exchange and set up shop in Jonathan’s Coffee-house, where they traded stock in such companies as the slave-trading Royal African and South Sea Companies.

Garraway's Coffee-house was also sited in Change Alley and was the scene of frenzied activity in the summer of 1720 when the South Sea Bubble burst and numerous clients lost money in the South Sea Company, including Sir Isaac Newton.

Jamaica Coffee-house, St Michael's Alley

The Jamaica Wine House stands on the spot of the original Jamaica Coffee-house (itself built on the site of the first coffee-house in England), where merchants and ship's captains involved in the slave trade to Jamaica would congregate to exchange letters and information from the colony's sugar plantations. Slaves would be advertised for sale here, as well as notices posted about runaway slaves.

South Sea House

The headquarters of the South Sea Company was in Threadneedle Street. In 1713 the South Sea Company was granted the exclusive right, or "asiento", following the Treaty of Utrecht, to trade slaves in Spain's American colonies.

Bishopsgate

The London Tavern, situated in this street, was the meeting place for the anti-abolition West India Committee, set up to counter the propaganda being produced by abolitionists.

African House

The headquarters of the Royal Africa Company was sited in Leadenhall Street. In 1660 King Charles II granted a charter to the "Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa", with his brother, the Duke of York, at its head. The Company was to trade "negroes, slaves, goods, wares, merchandise". Initially, its slaves were branded DY (Duke of York) and later, when it became the Royal Africa Company, branded RAC, the possible origin of the word, "race".

Lloyd's of London

Lloyd's insurance business developed from a coffee-house set up by Edward Lloyd in Lombard Street in 1688. Lloyd's Coffee-house was a favourite meeting place for the marine underwriters insuring slave ships, who eventually rented their own premises in the Royal Exchange. John Julius Angerstein was a founder of this new Lloyds of London. Angerstein himself owned a share in a slave plantation in Grenada. Lloyds moved to its present home in Lime Street in 1958.

George Yard

On 22 May 1787 a group of men assembled at 2 George Yard, a Quaker bookshop and printer's. The men formed themselves into "The Committee for Effecting the Abolition of the African Slave Trade". Among them were a number of Quakers, the lawyer Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson. This first English pressure group worked hard for 20 years, finally giving William Wilberforce the impetus to persuade Parliament that the trade should be abolished. The Act abolishing the British slave trade was passed in 1807, but slavery in British territories would continue for thirty more years..

George Yard was the beginning of the end for the slave trade and is therefore, fittingly, the end of the City Slave Trade Trail.