Latest / The Atlantic Slave Trade: Empire Built on Human Suffering — Fexingo History
The 1787 Dolben Act: Britain's First Anti-Slave Trade Law
Long before Wilberforce, a forgotten bill limited the number of enslaved people per ship. In 1787, MP Sir William Dolben pushed through the Slave Carrying Bill after witnessing the horrors of the Middle Passage firsthand. This episode dives into the shocking conditions that led to the law: the case of the Zong massacre, the mass-suicide of enslaved people at 25 Ibo Landing, and the testimony of a ship's surgeon who watched his captives die in chains. We explore how the Dolben Act worked, its loopholes (it excluded Liverpool ships for months), and its unintended consequence: better…
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