New evidence has emerged detailing the involvement of Church of England (C of E) clergy in financing the transatlantic slave trade. Historians working on the newly digitised Register of British Slave Traders have uncovered that 45 C of E clergymen invested in the Royal African Company (RAC), which was responsible for trafficking a significant number of enslaved Africans.
These investments helped fund hundreds of slaving voyages and contributed to a 1720 relaunch of the RAC. Among the investors was Henry Brydges, who later became a canon at St Paul's Cathedral, purchasing half of his £10,000 shareholding on the day he became the Archdeacon of Rochester.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Mullally, recently visited Ghana, where she recommitted the Church of England to its "journey of repentance" for its role in slavery. This follows the 2023 launch of Project Spire, a £100m impact investment fund by the church commissioners, aimed at communities affected by slavery's legacies.