All the 18th century ports of Dorset were involved with the slave trade, with ships from Poole, Weymouth and Lyme Regis making the vast journeys across the Atlantic from Africa to the West Indies.
The Burridge family of Lyme used many ports for their ships, including London and Liverpool, but some of their African voyages left from Lyme Regis. For example, in 1713 their ship John Frigate set off from Lyme on a mammoth voyage, calling at Ireland, Barbados, America, returning to Africa and then back to Barbados with 91 enslaved people. The ship stayed in the Caribbean for several months, before returning to Lyme after a voyage, which lasted three years.
Enslaved people were only part of these voyages, with trade goods including cloth, copper and iron being taken out to Africa, and sugar coming back from the West Indies.
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- Floor slab memorial to the Burridge family in St. Michael’s Church, Lyme Regis, firstly to Robert Burridge who died in 1675, and his wife who died in 1688. Their son John Burridge, who died in 1733, was MP for the town in 1688, and mayor of Lyme three times. Like all his family he was involved in the slave trade at Lyme.
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- An early 19th century impression of the hold of a slave ship
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- Plan of a Liverpool slave ship with enslaved people in, drawn for the campaign to abolish slavery in the early 19th century.
