ABOLITION & EMANCIPATION

Part 3: Slavery Collections from the Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool

The Merseyside Maritime Museum holds one of Britain's finest collections relating to the Atlantic Slave Trade, combining official records, documenting all ships leaving Liverpool, with private papers.  We have divided these over Parts 2 and 3 of the project. 

Part 3 completes our coverage of the Liverpool Register of Merchant Ships, with volumes for 1824-1855.

Gordon Read, former Curator, described these registers as "perhaps the single most important collection held by the Museum."  They are a key source for anyone studying the Slave Trade as each volume provides the name and occupation of owners, names of masters, a technical description of the vessel, its type, and notes on vessels taken as prizes. Looking at both sets of Registers from 1788 to 1855, we can quantify the slave trade and compare it with other trade in the period.