We are aware of at least one local property owner who gained his capital from slavery, but there will be many more. Henry Thornton had land in Dominica, and when he died in 1773 his estates there were to be sold to clear the encumbrances on his several houses and garden at 'Bishops Hill the younger'. We are currently investigating this.
The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership has been established at UCL, and offers a searchable database at www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/project/details/
John Woolman was an American anti-slavery campaigner who died here in York, and is commemorated on a plaque in Cromwell Road.
