enslaved

Although Britain ended the slave trade in 1807, slavery continued across the Empire for another quarter-century. Abolition is often praised, but formerly enslaved people were often pushed into low-paid work or unpaid “apprenticeships”.

Barbados was one of England’s most popular colonies, with a rich economy based on sugar and slavery. Yet it was also the only colony to support the abolition of the slave trade.

Barbadian Rev Canon Dr Rosemarie Mallett, Area Bishop of Croydon, will act as Bishop of Southwark until a permanent successor is appointed.

When the British first settled in Barbados in 1627, it was uninhabited. Enslaved Africans worked the sugar plantations established on the island, which initially dominated the Caribbean sugar industry.

On Friday, 1st August, Anglophone Caribbean nations commemorate Emancipation Day, marking the 1834 abolition of slavery in the British Empire and the 1838 abolition of apprenticeship. This system forced formerly enslaved people to continue to work uncompensated for their former masters.