Digging deep into the history of our charity

As a 900-year-old charity, City Bridge Foundation has experienced the best and the worst of London’s history. Now, extensive research is being undertaken with the UK’s leading authority, Professor Will Pettigrew from Lancaster University, to understand to what extent the charity itself was involved in the trade of enslaved African people.

City Bridge Foundation’s acting MD, Simon Latham, explained the impetus for the research project. ​“It is critical for us as a charity committed to equity and social justice to deeply understand the shoulders the charity is standing on, in terms of both governance and wealth. Without doubt, there was hardly an organisation, be it political, religious, financial, or commercial, that, at that time, didn’t profit in some way, and it’s important we understand our role in that.”

Professor Pettigrew is delving deep into The London Archives, researching the tenancies of the Bridge House Estates properties (Bridge House Estates is the historical name behind our charity, now known as the City Bridge Foundation). 

“I have always taken great interest in examining historical documents to understand how things worked in the past, but in this case there is a profound discomfort about the individuals and what they were participating in,” he says.

“As I uncover the people involved in the trade of enslaved African people, not just for this project, but as part of a much broader project to tell the true history of Britain’s deep involvement, I can’t lose sight of the fact that this process humanises the very people who dehumanised others. While we are unearthing the names and biographies of the traders, the millions of people they transported remain – for the most part — anonymous.”

Professor Pettigrew is, in particular, looking at tenants who rented Bridge House Estates properties, painstakingly checking off tenants in the Bridgemaster’s account books – documents scribed on vellum and bound in leather – against a list of known investors in the transatlantic trade of enslaved African people that he and his colleagues have compiled.

“This project is not just about compiling a list of names but finding out more about who was involved in this trade – their life stories, their political and religious affiliations, and their cultural interests,” says the professor.

“There is still a tendency in this country to want to simplify our connections with this trade as a very large or very small. My job is to draw out the precise nature of those connections,” says Professor Pettigrew.

“It’s true that this business of trafficking people touched many aspects of British life – culture, politics, and law, as well as trade and commerce – but it’s not the case that all of our wealth derives from that business.”

The professor’s interest in this topic was first piqued as an Oxford undergraduate, when he noted an over-emphasis on the American colonies and a lack of focus on Britain’s role as the country that transported most of the enslaved people to what became the United States.

His work – and the work of other historians — was largely unsung outside academia until the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020 – iconified in this country by the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston, a Royal African Company director – prompted countries such as the UK to confront, albeit reluctantly, the darker elements of their history.

“It played a very important part in broadening people’s understanding about these connections, and injected some urgency and intensity into research that had previously been in the background,” says Professor Pettigrew.

“For the best part of 20 years I’d been researching the Royal African Company, and few even knew what it was, but when Colston’s statue was pushed off its plinth, suddenly everyone had heard of it.”

The role of Bridge House Estates in the trade of enslaved African people is clarified somewhat by the fact that, until relatively recently, the charity was legally restricted to investing in property, meaning its financial links to the trade are limited to having leased residential or business premises to those concerned in it.

His research so far covers 1650 to 1700 and will ultimately extend to 1807, when the trade in Britain was abolished. He will reveal the tenants involved in the slave trade across the 17th and 18th centuries, and it is expected that the research will be finalised by the end of the year.

While trusts and foundations tend to be receptive to confronting with openness and honesty the less savoury elements of their past, others, particularly in the financial sector, are less keen.

“I’ve always found it to be a difficult yet positive experience for organisations to engage with this history – for everyone from stakeholders to customers, trustees, and employees,” says the professor. ​“It’s usually something that can be quite uncomfortable initially but can also become quite galvanising.”

Once complete, Professor Pettigrew will present his report to the charity’s board, before a consultation is held with staff on what the Charity’s response should be.