Plaque Texts
John Cass 1661 - 1718
Cass Plaque text
Louis-François Roubiliac, Sir John Cass, 1751
The City of London profited from enslaving Africans. In 1660, its merchants and the Stuart royal family set up the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading to Africa to exploit its west coast by trading in gold and enslaving Africans. They transported an estimated 150,000 African people into slavery. As company assistant (1705–1708), Cass was an active administrator in these atrocities. During his time, five company ships reported uprisings as the enslaved fought for their freedom.
Co-authored by Rachael Minott
William Beckford 1709 - 1770
Beckford plaque text
John Francis Moore, Alderman William Beckford, 1772
British politician and twice Lord Mayor of the City of London – Beckford derived his wealth from generations of enslavement on his plantations in Jamaica. On his death, he held 1,356 e nslaved Africans who together with his plantations and estates in Jamaica accounted for the overwhelming majority of his fortune. His son and heir, at the time of abolition (1833- 1834), received the equivalent of millions of pounds in compensation for loss of his ‘chattels’. The enslaved were not compensated.