BLACK LEGACIES- ONE SQUARE MILE

There is evidence of the African presence in London, England, from Roman times to the present day.

This Walk has come about as a result of the extensive research conducted by the University College London (https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/) on the Legacies of Slave-Ownership. This added to my obsession with discovering more about the substantial Black history that literally ran throughout the streets of London.

Commencing at the Mark Street Gardens (closest tube, Old Street) and end at the Bank tube Station, you will be introduced to places of interest as they relate to Black Legacies within the City of London.

Examples of some of the points of interest of:

• John Gladstone (father of Prime Minster William Ewart Gladstone) and his relationship to C H Arbuthnot (7 Wilson St) Latham, the Private Banking Firm Their joint collaboration in the arranging of a ‘certain class of Bangalees labourers to his sugar plantations in British Guiana.’
• The evolution of the Coffee Shops within the city and their many ‘dark’ associations (Lloyd’s Coffee Shop, Lombard Street)
• Properties associated by the following Enslaved African Owners; Maria ‘Bourda’ Ingledew (1782-1849) 41 Enslaved Africans…Compensation £273K James Smith (1787-1870) 399 Enslaved Africans…Compensation £4.2M Gavin Fullerton (1787-1876) 1256 Enslaved Africans…Compensation £5M
• The home of the former Chancellor of the Exchequer and Chairman of Lloyd’s of London, Sir Thomas Baring,
• The Gilt of Cain, a 2008 tribute to commemorate the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade in 1807.
• The church of John Newton (1725-1807), author of Amazing Grace.

John Gladstone (1764-1851) Received £11 million in Compensation for 2,039 Enslaved Africans