"On August 7, 1823, 19 enslaved people in Barbados became the property of the British crown after their enslavers died without legal heirs. These individuals had names, families and histories that stretched across years of shared survival under slavery. They included Quow and his son, Caesar; Orange and her son, October; and Abel and Lubbah and their children, Thomas, Kitty and Becky."
"Less than two weeks later, all but two were sold at a public auction in Bridgetown. The receiver general, an officer charged with managing payments on behalf of the crown, offered the enslaved Africans to the highest bidders in the king's name. At least 13 planters attended. They purchased individuals, not families. Mothers were separated from their children. Fathers lost sons. Abel and Lubbah saw their three children purchased by different enslavers. Betsey watched her 9-year-old daughter, Medorah, taken away."
The British crown actively owned, managed and profited from enslaved people in the Americas, treating them as property. In Barbados in 1823, 19 enslaved people became crown property and most were sold at auction, with proceeds deposited into the royal treasury. Crown officials, including the receiver general, organized sales and enforced legal mechanisms that separated families and prioritized revenue. Mothers were separated from children, fathers lost sons, and siblings and households were split across different enslavers. Some enslaved people fled to avoid sale. The crown's financial interests and administrative structures directly sustained slavery and sanctioned its cruelties.
Read at Smithsonian Magazine
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