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Several months ago the Prime Minister rejected a petition to “Give African descendants free access to slavery records” arguing that the original versions of these records are available for anyone to go and see, free of charge, at The National Archives’ reading rooms in Kew.

In response, Arthur Torrington, secretary of the Equiano Society and the Windrush Foundation wrote a letter to the government stating; “Free online access may be regarded as a form of reparation for the cruelty and injustice by the British in the era of African enslavement. Saying that the government considered that free access “would incur significant cost” highlights the disregard for the hurt felt by our ancestors and their descendants at the hands of the British. Your statement ignores the many billions of pounds (£) earned by British traders/traffickers who relied on the forced labour of African prisoners. This country’s wealth was built on that labour. “

The website requires users to register with its American parent company that owns the data but after that access is free.

The direct link to the 'Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834' database is;

http://content.ancestry.co.uk/iexec/?htx=List&dbid=1129&offerid=0%3a78