BRITAIN'S -SLAVE TRADE- BRACKET : MASTER PRECIS

 

ACCORDING to the poll you cited, 44% of Britons thought that the royal family, '' whose ancestors monopolised the early slave trade through the Royal African Company '', should pay reparations.

There were six members of the royal family among the initial 200 subscribers to shares of the company in 1672, with James, Duke of York [ later King James II of England and VII of Scotland ] as the largest shareholder.

However, most of the shareholders were London merchants, including 15 past or future lord mayors of the City of London and 25 past or future sheriffs of London.

John Locke, who expounded the principle of  self-ownership and the corollary right to own property,  invested Pound 400 sterling in the initial share issue and another Pound 200 three years later.

The World Students Society thanks :

Robert Dimand,

Professor of Economics,

Brock University,

St Catharines, Canada.