British Companies Apologise for Ties to Slavery
London (CNN Business) Two major British companies have acknowledged their historic ties to the slave trade and pledged new financial support to black and minority ethnic communities.
Lloyd’s of London, the world’s oldest insurance market, and pub chain Greene King said in statements late Wednesday that they would take steps to make their businesses more racially inclusive and provide financial support to black and minority ethnic groups.
“In particular, we are sorry for the role played by the Lloyd’s market in the eighteenth and nineteenth Century slave trade. This was an appalling and shameful period of English history, as well as our own, and we condemn the indefensible wrongdoing that occurred.
Lloyd’s of London
The companies are highlighted in a University College London database exploring the legacies of British slave ownership. Companies with links to Lloyds Banking Group (LYG), Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Barclays (BCS) are also mentioned.
Britain enslaved 3.1 million Africans between 1640 and 1807, transporting them to colonies around the world, according to Historic England, a public body. The database shows that the family of Simon Fraser, a founding subscriber of Lloyd’s of London, owned slaves on an estate in what is now Guyana.
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