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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Chris Osuh Community affairs correspondent

Letters found on eBay cast light on UK families who benefited from slavery

Al Nasir eBay Malik Al Nasir Slavery John Gladstone John Smith William Gladstone University of Cambridge
Small handwriting on paper with wax seal
A detail from one of the letters to Sandbach Tinne, now in the University of Cambridge archive. Photograph: Malik Al Nasir

A bundle of letters discovered for sale on eBay by a man researching his roots has cast new light on the lives of prominent British families who amassed a fortune from slavery.

Documents detailing the affairs of 19th-century families linked to Sandbach, Tinne and Company, a business that dealt in enslaved people, cotton, sugar and coffee, were being traded online by collectors of rare stamps and postmarks.

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