In the first of our Last Friday lectures of 2026, Steve Richardson gave a insight into the involvement of Dorset’s ports and people in the trade in enslaved people in the 18th century.
London, Liverpool and Bristol are well known for their involvement in the trading of enslaved people, but many smaller British ports were also engaged in this trade. Some of Dorset’s ports saw slaving voyages, with one such voyage taking place in 1758 by a ship called Molly sailing from Poole. This voyage lasted for more than half a year, delivering a number of slaves to a port in America, and then returning to Britain with a cargo of valuable commodities. Molly made several voyages over the decade of the 1750s and using Lloyd’s Lists for the period it is possible to piece together some of Molly’s journeys. But Molly was just one ship making a handful of voyages out of a total of more than 12,000 voyages by British flagged ships. What was Molly’s fate, how was it procured and how did Molly’s voyages fit into the wider “triangular trade?”
The story map of Steve’s talk can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/4py77adn
Steve, who has taught Geography in Skipton, Vancouver, Lyme Regis, Bristol and Blandford, has more recently has been researching Dorset’s maritime heritage. His earlier talk: “A Ship, a Gate, and a Country Estate” opened a window into some of Dorset’s imperial connections.
