C of E paid poor 18th-century clergy with ‘abominable’ slave trade funds

The archbishop of Canterbury said the ‘abominable trade took men, women and children created in God’s image and stripped them of their dignity and freedom’. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The Church of England used money made from the “abominable” slave trade to help pay the incomes of poor clergy in the 18th century. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, said he was “deeply sorry for the links with transatlantic chattel slavery”.

The Church Commissioners, who manage the C of E’s £9bn-plus endowment fund, ordered research into the fund’s origins. A four-page interim report published on Thursday said the funds partly originated in Queen Anne’s Bounty, which was founded in 1704.