New BBC Series Finding Britain's Slave Traders with David Olusoga

A new two-part BBC history commission for BBC Two and iPlayer, Finding Britain's Slave Traders with David Olusoga, is set to explore the individuals, institutions and organisations who financed Britain’s trade in enslaved Africans from its first tentative steps in the 16th century to abolition of the trade in 1807.

Based on exclusive access to the findings of a new academic research project, led by Professor William Pettigrew, this two-part series follows the work of the research team who, over five years, built a new database; the Register of British Slave Traders. The database will be made publicly available when the series is broadcast.

Using the Register - the most comprehensive picture yet of Britain’s role in the Transatlantic slave trade - the series uncovers the stories of some of the 13,000 individuals and hundreds of institutions, whose role in the slave trade was uncovered by Professor Pettigrew and his team.

The series paints a forensic portrait of the traders and investors and the vast and complex system of investment and profits they created. It shows where they lived, how much money they made and uncovers links between modern British institutions and the trade in enslaved people.

Starting with the early origins of the trade in the Tudor period it goes on to tell the story of the monopoly slave trading companies set up by the Stuart monarchy during the 17th Century.

At the end of the royal monopoly a new and rival set of companies and investors emerged in cities such as Bristol and Liverpool. Free to operate how and where they chose, these independent traders enormously expanded the British slave trade.

Twelve years ago, in the series Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners, David Olusoga explored the compensation paid to Britain’s slave owners when slavery in the British Empire was abolished in 1833. This new series uncovers the identities and the back stories of the slave traders – the thousands of individuals and organisations who engaged in the trade in human beings.

Both poignant and illuminating the series reflects on this uncomfortable but essential chapter in our history.

Simon Young, Head of Commissioning, History, says: “It has been an honour to work with David Olusoga, and with Professor Pettigrew and his team, to shed more light on this little known but vitally important part of British history, revealing how it originated, how it evolved, and how it was sewn into the nation’s economic fabric.”

Professor David Olusoga says: “This new series is a follow-up to a series we made over a decade ago; Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners. Both series have been built on the very latest academic research that allows us to reveal new details from our expanding understanding of slavery and the slave trade. Like the previous series Finding Britain’s Slave Traders presents the granular details and human stories that lie at the centre of this vast and complicated history.”

Francis Welch, Series Director at Voltage TV says: “This new research has built a paper trail that led us to some of the most-famous names in British history and into the heart of some of the country’s best-known institutions. It was a journey that took us from archives and libraries across Britain to former slave fortresses in West Africa.”

Finding Britain's Slave Traders with David Olusoga, a 2 x 60’, for BBC Two and iPlayer, is a Hillgate Films and Voltage TV co-production. It was commissioned by Jack Bootle, Head of Commissioning, Specialist Factual and the Commissioning Editor is Simon Young, Head of History. The Series Director is Francis Welch. The Executive Producers are David Olusoga and Sanjay Singhal.

More details on when the show will air will be announced soon.

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