Description
When colonial slavery was abolished in 1833 the British government paid GBP20 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.
This book is a comprehensive analysis of the extent and importance of absentee slave-ownership and its impact on British society.
About the Author
Nicholas Draper is Research Associate at the Department of History, University College London.
Reviews
Review of the hardback: 'The Price of Emancipation is a 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
Review of the hardback: '... an important contribution to our understanding of why compensation was introduced, and how it was funded and administered.' The Black and Asian Studies Association Newsletter
Review of the hardback: '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
Awards
Winner of Royal Historical Society Whitfield Prize 2009.
Book Information
ISBN 9780521115254
Author Nicholas Draper
Format Hardback
Page Count 416
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 790g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 160mm * 25mm
This book is a comprehensive analysis of the extent and importance of absentee slave-ownership and its impact on British society.
About the Author
Nicholas Draper is Research Associate at the Department of History, University College London.
Reviews
Review of the hardback: 'The Price of Emancipation is a 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
Review of the hardback: '... an important contribution to our understanding of why compensation was introduced, and how it was funded and administered.' The Black and Asian Studies Association Newsletter
Review of the hardback: '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
Awards
Winner of Royal Historical Society Whitfield Prize 2009.
Book Information
ISBN 9780521115254
Author Nicholas Draper
Format Hardback
Page Count 416
Imprint Cambridge University Press
Publisher Cambridge University Press
Weight(grams) 790g
Dimensions(mm) 235mm * 160mm * 25mm
