More than 1,000 women invested in companies at heart of Britain’s slave trade

Several 18th-century paintings depict affluent white women with young enslaved servants, who often wore a single pearl earring. Composite: Guardian/Palesa Monareng

More than 1,000 women invested in the slave trade, challenging the conventional notion that they were passive beneficiaries and largely fought for its abolition.

Researchers found women bought, sold and brokered shares in the Royal African Company, South Sea Company, and other separate ventures, and used profits from the trafficking of enslaved Africans to secure financial independence and provide for their families.