Cotton Traders

Faustus launching their ‘Cotton Lords’ EP in London.
The songs are based on contemporary poems, found by Exeter University lecturer Dr Simon Rennie, that tell the story of the Lancashire cotton famine. An episode in history that’s largely forgotten.
By the 1860s slavery was banned in Britain, but the UK continued to profit from slave-grown cotton exported from America.
When, during the civil war, Union forces blockaded Confederate exports to Britain, the Lancashire cotton industry was crippled. Taking hundreds of thousands of mill workers, their families & those in related industries into poverty & starvation. Indeed, it’s thought up to 20% of Britain’s population were directly affected.
It’s a fascinating, & today ethically complicated, story.
But it also makes for some great songs!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBEjAQPKdec