Close to home

All the recent news and protests about current events today got me thinking about the past.

In lockdown, we've spent quite a lot of time walking in nearby Warriston Cemetery and there are no end of graves noting that their occupants either lived or died abroad in the 19th century. Knowing that Scotland did, of course, benefit from the slave trade and the wealth from plantations, I wondered whether there was a way to see if there was a direct connection to this ugly bit of history. Turns out it's pretty easy online - UCL has even pinpointed addresses related to slave owners. This little map extract shows three nearby streets where slave owners lived early in the 19th century.

Here's hoping for a better future.

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/