Benjamin Spencer
Benjamin Spencer, merchant of London, was owner of one of the best documented slaving voyages, by the Cannon Hall arriving in Antigua in 1756. This voyage does not appear in TASTDB, but records in the Barnsley Archives have supported local history projects on the voyage, and on the iron manufacturing interests of the family, who lived at Cannon Hall. The probate of Benjamin Spencer’s will shows him as late of All Hallows Barking but at Cannon Hall in the parish of Cawthorn in the county of Yorkshire.
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First name: Benjamin
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Last name: Spencer
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Primary cohort: London
Sex: Male
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Geographic experiences
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Internal migrant: Yes
Foreign born: No
Supplier to slave trade voyages: Don't know
Creditor to slave trade voyages: Don't know
Philanthropy: Don't know
Plantation owner: No
Sources: Barnsley Archive[s] and Local Studies Department, SpSt/60549/244 Title: Letter from Daniel Warner in Antigua to Benjamin Spencer Description: 'By my snow Africa from Gambia Mr. Quinsac favoured me with the consignment of 25 slaves on acc of Benjamin Spencer & Company seven of which died in the passage ....' The sale of the slaves in Antigua was spoiled by the arrival of two French Guinea vessels with 850 slaves. Some days afterwards Quinsac arrived in Spencer's sloop Cannon Hall with a parcel of slaves, for which there was no market. Warner advised Quinsac to send them to South Carolina in Warner's snow Africa. Quinsac was very ill when he landed and the sloop Cannon Hall was in a miserable condition. Date: 14 Mar 1756 https://antislavery.ac.uk/items/show/399; mg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-254256
Other Individuals
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Birth
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Death
Date: 1759
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Burial
Date: 14/06/1759
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Was slave trading profitable: No
Will
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Town/City: City of London (Middlesex)
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Will of Benjamin Spencer merchant of London made 08/04/1757. He left monetary legacies totalling £640 to relatives and friends, and his residual estate to the children of his three sisters, except his nephews Walter Stanhope and John Shuttleworth (to whom he had given specific legacies of £40 each)
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