Gallery and trail to expose history of slave trade

A gallery exploring London's role within the trade will be opened at the Museum in Docklands and the route of a heritage trail is being drawn up to link key sites.

Both will be launched on 10 November - the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade by Parliament.

Developed with £506,500 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the exhibition will be London's first permanent gallery on the subject.

"We are exposing London's role in the slave trade," said co-curator Tom Wareham. "People tend to think of Liverpool and Bristol as the main slave ports but London was much bigger than Bristol. It was the fourth biggest slave port in the world.

"The city's involvement was important not just to its development as a commercial and financial centre but also to Britain's industrial revolution.

"All the profits from the plantations filtered out into organisations like banks and insurance companies, so many people were living off the proceeds of slavery.

"It's all of our history in London but a history people don't know about."

The exhibition starts with a focus on London's African community before the transatlantic slave trade began and ends with a reflection on the industry's legacy, which survives today.

The museum building is itself a vital relic of the era. Number 1 Warehouse on West India Quay was erected by sugar merchants and plantation owners at the end of the 18th century.

In recognition of its central role in slavery, the Museum in Docklands and the Barbados Museum and Historical Society have applied to have the building and surrounding area designated a Unesco World Heritage Site.

Meanwhile, the trail, which will have its own website, will link locations including the Bank of England, Parliament and Holy Trinity Church in Clapham, whose worshippers helped lead the abolitionists' campaign.

Also on the route will be the White Raven Tavern in Tower Hamlets, where the 18th-century anti-slavery group the Sons of Africa met, and Blackwall Stairs in Greenwich, from where former slaves sailed to found Freetown in Sierra Leone.

At 3.30pm on Thursday, Slavery Remembrance Day, a guided walk will take place around West India Quay.

www.museumindocklands.org.uk