James Rogers and the Bristol slave trade*

Abstract

Abstract This article examines the business failure of James Rogers, a large Bristol slave trader, within the context of the operation of the late British slave trade in west Africa, on the Middle Passage, and in the Caribbean. Based on a large cache of surviving manuscripts, the article shows that the credit crisis of 1793 led to the demise of Rogers's mercantile career but also that his business collapse stemmed from over-extending his slave trading activities, from relatively poor profit levels, and from attempts to expand his trading portfolio in the eighteen months before the national financial crash.