Slave Trade Connections in Chester Diocese

In this video, Ben sheds light on how industries linked to slavery—such as sugar, cotton, and tobacco—shaped local economies and communities, and how individuals connected to this legacy are memorialised in churches and cathedrals across the region.

He explains: "Liverpool was a key port in the trade and home to many slave traders and plantation owners.

"It was once part of the diocese of Chester which was also a slave port, though on a much smaller scale. Chester merchants were probably involved in the trade through Liverpool also. And some major Liverpool slave traders settled in the city and in Cheshire."

Ben uses the example of Edward Wilson, whose memorial is on the walls of Chester Cathedral. He was once part of a major slave trading syndicate and an owner of the notorious slave ship, the Zong.

He explains that owners of enslaved people and plantations lived in the diocese and probably worshipped in its churches:

"Like Stapleton Cotton, by Count Combermere his forebears who lived at Combermere Abbey and whose memorial is in a nearby parish church. And when you think about the various industries connected to the slave trade and slave plantations, it's clear the links go further still. Building ships for the trade here in Chester. Refining sugar, spinning and weaving cotton and selling tobacco from plantations. The local salt traded to Africa through Liverpool for people. Ordinary people, church and chapel alike would have been caught up in these industries or consumed their products or would have helped build the great houses paid for in part by wealth from slavery or worked in them and on their estates. There's much more to learn about this history, but there's enough to know we as a diocese need to take it seriously." 

Dr Ben Fulford is Deputy Head of Humanities, Cultures and Environment, Associate Professor of Christian Theology

Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Chester