New research has revealed that workhouses in England and Wales were closely linked to the transatlantic slave trade, with many funded and administered by individuals who profited from slavery. The study, published in the journal Antipode, introduces the concept of a 'workhouse-plantation nexus', highlighting how ideas and methods were shared between workhouses and plantations.
Andrew Williams of Cardiff University, one of the authors, said: 'We can't tell the story of British welfare without acknowledging its deep entanglement with empire and slavery.' The research focuses on one of Britain's first workhouses, established in Bristol in 1696, which received substantial financial support from prominent slavers including Edward Colston, whose statue was toppled in 2020.
In Liverpool, poor relief lodgings were procured from individuals like Bryan Blundell, a tobacco merchant and slave shipowner. Workhouses directly supported the slave economy by producing textiles for plantations and oakum for sealing slave ships. Inmates were also transported to colonies as indentured labour, boosting planters' profits.
The study challenges comparisons between workhouse conditions and slavery. Williams stated: 'There has been a false equivalence made between the horrors of chattel slavery and the harsh conditions endured by paupers in the British workhouse.' He warned against using such comparisons to dismiss white privilege or the need for slavery reparations.
The research involved combing historical records from the National Archives and ports of Bristol, Liverpool and London to identify workhouse administrators and their links to colonial ventures.
