In 2019, the Church Commissioners hired forensic accountants to look through the church's archives for evidence of slavery trade links, as well as to administer the church's 10 billion-pound $12.3 billion investment fund. They spent two years poring over centuries-old ledgers, and what they found is shaming, the church said.
The investment fund has its roots in Queen Anne's Bounty, established in 1704 to help poor clergy. It invested heavily in the South Sea Company, which held a monopoly on transporting enslaved people from Africa to Spanish-controlled ports in the Americas. The company transported 34,000 people on at least 96 voyages between 1714 and 1739.
The church at the time knew what it was involved in, according to the commissioners' report.
It said that investors in the South Sea Company would have known that it was trading in enslaved people.
The fund received donations from individuals enriched by the slave trade, including Edward Colston, a British slave trader whose statue was toppled by anti-racism protesters in his home city of Bristol in 2020.
The ledgers that recorded the profits of human bondage are now on display, along with documents showing how views of slavery within the church ranged from justification to opposition.
Some Anglicans wanted to convert slaves to Christianity, while others saw that as a slippery slope that could lead to demands for freedom. The exhibition contains a version of the Bible intended for slaves, with all references to freedom from bondage removed. That meant a cut of 90% of the Old Testament and half of the New Testament.
The exhibition contains tracts justifying slavery in religious terms, and others using faith to argue for abolition, including a 1680 book by Anglican clergyman Morgan Godwyn, who claimed that those who endorsed the slave trade were making a deal with the devil.
A speech from 1789 by leading abolitionist William Wilberforce was given to Parliament from 1789. He said that he would campaign for 18 more years before Britain outlawed slave trade. There is a letter from a trader who says I have sent a boy slave on board, to John Newton, the captain of a slave ship. Newton later resigned, became an abolitionist and wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. In the late 18th century, more and more people were being given publicity about the horrors of the slave trade and the inhumanity of it, and it helped to spark a movement for abolition, Mandelbrote said.
Britain outlawed slave trade in 1807 but did not legislate to emancipate slaves in its territories until 1833.
When the commissioners report was published Jan. 10, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby promised to take action to address our shameful past. A 100 million pound $123 million fund will be used to support projects aimed at improving opportunities for communities adversely impacted by historic slavery. Some campaigners want institutions that benefitted from slavery to pay compensation to descendants of the enslaved, but the commitment doesn't meet the demands of some of the enslaved.
The Church Commissioners chief executive Gareth Mostyn said that this isn't about paying compensation to individuals, and it's not just about the money. He said the new fund is part of the church's journey of repentance. He said that no amount of money will be enough to repair the damage done through the trans-Atlantic slave trade. We hope that our response will be a means of investing in a better future for all. Enslavement: Voices from the Archives runs until March 31. Admission is free.