Britain's Slave Traders

Essential, forensic analysis from a global authority. I wish I had been given this book at school – Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland
In this vital and necessary book, William Pettigrew challenges the cultural amnesia and omissive history around Brtain’s involvement in the trafficking of enslaved Africans. His astute analysis reveals how the wealth, technologies and rationalisations generated by the slave trade created the very institutions, structures and identities that still define Britishness today – Suzannah Lipscomb, author of The King Is Dead
Ambitious, original, and extensively researched, William Pettigrew’s Britain’s Slave Traders is an important book and a timely addition to the current debate on national identity and cultural memory – Amanda Foreman, author of World on Fire
No place to hide. William Pettigrew’s compelling narrative reveals how slave trading shaped British society, economy, and government, through and through. Look behind the merchant traders at those who invested in slave trading, and you find that every section of British society was involved – Clare Jackson, author of Devil-Land
An important and illuminating book, based on remarkable research, but also one written with great clarity and pace – Jonathan Healey, author of The Blood in Winter

William A. Pettigrew is a professor of history at King’s College London. Since 2021 he has led the most comprehensive research and analysis ever undertaken into Britain’s involvement with the transatlantic traffic in enslaved African people. A prize-winning historian, Pettigrew is also series consultant on the BBC 2 TV series Finding Britain’s Slave Traders, which is based on his team’s findings and will be broadcast in autumn 2026.

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