The Slave Compensation Act spreadsheet (copy)
*The Slave Compensation Act 1837 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom, signed into law on December 23, 1837.
Together with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, it authorized the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt to compensate slave owners in the British colonies of approximately £20 million for the freeing of slaves.
Based on a government census of August 1834, more than 40,000 awards to slave owners were issued. Since some payments were converted into 3.5% government annuities, they lasted until 2015. Most were sold, and the money was sent abroad for investment. The University College London set up a project called Legacies of British Slave-ownership, which aims to list the individuals who received compensation. They estimate that somewhere between 1% to 2.5% of Britain's wealth can be identified as having had links to slavery, ranging in their level of connection.
University College London has been pursuing the case with The Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership at the university. Since 2018, numerous Freedom of Information Act requests have been sent to the British government and Bank of England for the names of those who were paid with the bonds, of which all were denied.
