History Features

Benjamin and Arthur Heywood were merchants in Liverpool who owned many slave ships and profited greatly from the “triangular trade”.

The brother both married heiresses of the Ogdens, a wealthy and established family who helped speed their rise to positions of prominence in the burgeoning town.

They progressed from what was then impassively called the “Africa Trade” into banking. The Heywood Bank became Martins Bank, which was later incorporated into Barclays.

Heywood's Bank

Researching family history has become something of a national pastime and I find myself in the extremely fortunate position of being able to trace my father’s side right back to the de Eywoods of Heywood (a small town North of Manchester), who were alive in 1100.

I know where I come from. The descendents of slaves who were kidnapped from places like Benin, Angola and the Gold Coast by my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather are not so lucky. My ancestors put paid to their heritage, and whilst there’s nothing I can do to change that, I can find out about it, and I can acknowledge the part that my ancestors played in the Trade.

Change

I’m shocked that this isn’t something I have always known about my family history, but then I think that, in a way, this reflects how Britain as a nation has dealt with the issue of our involvement in slaving. This year’s bicentenary, I hope, signals a change in the way that we discuss our significant role in the Slave Trade.

You can’t turn on the TV or radio or open a newspaper at the moment without being confronted with something about slavery or abolition, and, while I think there is a danger that the horrors could be eclipsed by a desire to congratulate ourselves at having been the first nation to abolish the Slave Trade, it has opened up an important dialogue that I hope will extend long after 2007.

I will continue to research and write about my family and the Slave Trade. If there are any ideas you have found interesting or relevant stories you would like to share, I would be very grateful if you could contact me via gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk.

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