London Merchants, the English Civil War and the Barbados Sugar Boom Origins
In partnership with the Wilberforce Institute, the lecture will begin at 4.30pm, directly after the Museum closes, and all will take place in Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull, HU1 1N.
Dr Michael Bennett from the Department of History at the University of Sheffield, takes us back to the history of slavery and sugar in the English colonies, as he discusses 'London Merchants, the English Civil War, and the Origins of the Barbados Sugar Boom, 1642-60'.
Dr Bennett, who lectures in Early Modern British History, is writing the first systematic study of the English merchants who financed the development of sugar plantations and African slavery on the Caribbean island of Barbados in the mid-seventeenth century. He was also lead researcher on the Bank of England's project into its historic links to slavery, which resulted in the Slavery & the Bank exhibition (April 2022 - February 2024).