Royal African Company of England

Manuscript volume containing transcripts of documents relating to the Royal African Company, 1742, namely a copy of a petition to the King in Council for a charter to enable the Company to fit out a naval force to attack Spanish settlements and shipping in America, dated 26 Mar 1742; copy of a report made on the petition by a committee of the Privy Council, dated 22 Jul 1742; copy reports to the committee by the Attorney and Solicitor General; a copy memorial of the Company in reply to certain questions in the various reports, dated 6 Dec 1742.

The Royal African Company was founded in 1672 and held the English monopoly in slave trading until 1698, when all Englishmen received the right to trade in slaves. The Royal African Company continued slaving until 1731, when it abandoned slaving in favour of traffic in ivory and gold dust.

Single item.

Access to this collection is unrestricted for the purpose of private study and personal research within the supervised environment and restrictions of the Library's Palaeography Room. Uncatalogued material may not be seen. Please contact the University Archivist for details.

Part of the Goldsmith's Library of Economic Literature, initially collected by Herbert Somerton Foxwell and presented by the Goldsmith's Company to the University of London in 1903.

Collection level description.

Manuscript folio.

Compiled by Sarah Smith as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.

The Public Record Office, London, holds records, letter books and correspondence, 1672-1750 (Ref: T70, C113/34); Rhodes House Library, Oxford University, has the charter, letters from factors to agents, and correspondence, 1670-1729 (Ref: MSS Rawlinson b516, c745-47).

Copies may be made, subject to the condition of the original. Copying must be undertaken by the Palaeography Room staff, who will need a minimum of 24 hours to process requests.

This manuscript contains the bookplate of Sir William Lee (1688-1754), and later formed part of the collection of John Fiot Lee (1783-1866). It was sold at Sotheby's on 7 Apr 1876.

University of London MS 72 contains an account of gold guineas imported from Africa by the Royal African Company, 1755, and MS 217 comprises a report on the trade and value to the Company of their establishment at Sierra Leone, [1725].