The Price of Emancipation: Slave-Ownership, Compensation and British Society at the End of Slavery

by Nicholas Draper

Overview

When colonial slavery was abolished in 1833 the British government paid £20 million to slave-owners as compensation: the enslaved received nothing. Drawing on the records of the Commissioners of Slave Compensation, which represent a complete census of slave-ownership, this book provides a comprehensive analysis of the extent and importance of absentee slave-ownership and its impact on British society. Moving away from the historiographical tradition of isolated case studies, it reveals the extent of slave-ownership among metropolitan elites, and identifies concentrations of both rentier and mercantile slave-holders, tracing their influence in local and national politics, in business and in institutions such as the Church. In analysing this permeation of British society by slave-owners and their success in securing compensation from the state, the book challenges conventional narratives of abolitionist Britain and provides a fresh perspective of British society and politics on the eve of the Victorian era.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781107696563
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/18/2013
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Economic History - Second Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	416
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Nicholas Draper is Research Associate at the Department of History, University College London.

Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The absentee slave-owner: representations and identities; 2. The debate over compensation; 3. The distribution of slave compensation; 4. The structure of slave ownership; 5. The large-scale rentier owners; 6. 'Widows and orphans': small-scale British slave-owners; 7. Merchants, bankers and agents in the compensation process; 8. Conclusion; Appendix.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"... well-researched and argued book, and a major contribution to the study of British history and West Indian slavery in the first half of the nineteenth century." -Stanley Engerman, Journal of Economic History

"...well-researched and insightful book..." -Christopher Clark, American Historical Review

"....Draper's book is a vital reminder not only of the importance of slavery to British social history through the 1830's but also of the impact of slave emancipation as a force for political innovation and reform in British society during the age of abolition." -David Richardson, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"Draper’s book is insightful, engaging, and finely nuanced." -Kevin Grant, Journal of Modern History

"Nicholas Draper's award-winning book is well researched, heavily annotated, and handsomely illustrated." -John David Smith, Canadian Journal of History

'Draper has written an outstandingly good and important work.' -H-LatAm

Editorial Reviews

"… well-researched and argued book, and a major contribution to the study of British history and West Indian slavery in the first half of the nineteenth century."
Stanley Engerman, Journal of Economic History

"… well-researched and insightful book …"
Christopher Clark, American Historical Review

"… Draper's book is a vital reminder not only of the importance of slavery to British social history through the 1830's but also of the impact of slave emancipation as a force for political innovation and reform in British society during the age of abolition."
David Richardson, The Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"Draper’s book is insightful, engaging, and finely nuanced."
Kevin Grant, Journal of Modern History

"Nicholas Draper's award-winning book is well researched, heavily annotated, and handsomely illustrated."
John David Smith, Canadian Journal of History

"Draper has written an outstandingly good and important work."
H-LatAm

"… a valuable contribution to emancipation studies, and most appropriate for upper-level undergraduate or graduate-level courses."
Scott Hancock, The New West Indian Guide

From the Publisher