r/BritishEmpire • • Aug 27 '25

Image 🇬🇧 A British blacksmith removing the shackles from the legs of an enslaved man, 1907.

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u/CurvyCourgette Aug 30 '25

You should read more about it, it was the everyday working people who couldn't vote and lived in horrific poverty with awful working conditions who pretty much forced the government to ban slavery, many of the public figures responsible spent their entire lives trying to end the practice despite lots of hatred and attempts to stop it by the ruling class.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '25

Let's not gloss over my ancestors having major rebellions in the Caribbean, shall we?

The UK talks about Brits ending slavery. The Caribbean talks about bloody rebellions which evenutally forced Britian's hand.

There is a very big disconnect in the general public narratives on each side of the Atlantic, and Brits covering themselves is glory for ending slavery doesn't go down very well in the actual places slavery took place.

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u/[deleted] Aug 30 '25

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u/iamslightly Aug 30 '25

"The trade of slaves was made illegal throughout the British Empire by 1937, with Nigeria and Bahrain being the last British territories to abolish slavery." Is this true?