In Greater Manchester
- How money from slavery made Greater Manchester
- The importance of cotton in north west England
- The Lancashire cotton famine
- Smoking, drinking and the British sweet tooth
- Black presence in Britain and north west England
- Resistance and campaigns for abolition
- The bicentenary of British abolition
Global
Africa, the arrival of Europeans and the transatlantic slave trade
The Island of Monserrat from the Road before the Town
Thomas Hearne (1744-1817), 1775-1776
Watercolour and bodycolour over pen and ink on paper
Object number D.1994.10
Purchased, 1994
See this object at The Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester This object may not always be on display. Please check with the venue before visiting.
View images © The Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester
This watercolour view of Montserrat was taken from a ship anchored off the main town of Plymouth. Montserrat is one of the Leeward Islands in the West Indies, which were British sugar colonies in the 1700s, sustained by the institution of slave labour and the power of the Royal Navy. The fort at Plymouth is clearly visible, as is another on the right at Old Fort Point.
The eleven windmills, visible on estates around the island, were for processing sugar cane. This apparently innocent tropical scene belies the slave economy that underpinned sugar cultivation, which was an extremely labour intensive crop.
This information was provided by curators from The Whitworth Art Gallery.