Exhibition - Bexley: The Slavery Connection
| August 6, 2008 11:00 am | to | August 28, 2008 5:00 pm |
The exhibition will return to Danson House in August 2008.
A touring exhibition to commemorate the end of Britain’s part in the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Bexley Heritage Trust is proud to have created a new local history exhibition funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. The touring exhibition, which commemorates the end of Britain’s part in the Transatlantic Slave Trade, will be displayed throughout the London Borough of Bexley for 2 years.
This is the first exhibition of its kind and includes ground-breaking research by Cliff Pereira. The first venue where the exhibition could be viewed by the public was Danson House in Welling, in October 2007, to celebrate Black History Month. This is particularly poignant as the historic house, built by Sir John Boyd in 1766, and the surrounding estate (now Danson Park) are a result of Bexley’s biggest connection to the Transatlantic Slave Trade. In fact, the new exhibition explores in detail Boyd and his part as plantation and slave owner and his role in the Grant, Oswald and Co who brought and transported thousands of enslaved Africans from Africa to the Americas.
This is a unique exhibition relevant to all of Bexley’s residents, which shows the impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on the borough in which they live. The exhibition acknowledges those who were involved with the trade as well as those who campaigned against it. It covers connections with local people and well-know places in Bexley such as Sir John Hawkins the first British slave trader at East Wickham; Bexley’s first recorded African inhabitant Peter Probee at Footscray in 1666; links with Erith port; the slave trader John Sargent at May Place in Crayford; the Malcolm family at Lamorbey in Sidcup; the Williamson family and an African coachman named Scipio at East Wickham; the female abolition campaigner Sarah Bowditch-Lee who is buried at St John’s Church in Erith; the fight for European abolition by Viscount Castlereagh who lived at North Cray; the African Prince George Pepple who was schooled at Hall Place and Nicolas Vansittart who campaigned to resettle freed Africans from the Americas in Africa.
The exhibition also discusses the impact and legacies of the slave trade including racism. Bexley Heritage Trust are really enthusiastic about taking this exhibition around the borough and hope that it will help to dispel misunderstandings to this often neglected but integral part of British, African and the West Indian history.
For more information about the exhibition, to organise a group visit, location of future venues or if you would like to host the exhibition in 2008 or 2009 please contact Anne-Marie Gill on: 01322 526574 or email am.gill@bexleyheritagetrust.org.uk