George Case was a British slave trader, businessman, and politician who played a key role in Liverpool’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade. He was responsible for at least 109 slave voyages, transporting thousands of enslaved Africans to the Caribbean. Case was also the co-owner of the infamous slave ship Zong, whose crew perpetrated the mass murder of more than 130 enslaved Africans at sea in an attempt to claim insurance money. This event, later known as the Zong Massacre, caused a public outcry and strengthened the abolitionist movement in Britain.
Case was one of Britain’s most notorious slave traders, operating during a time when Liverpool was the epicenter of the British slave trade. He was responsible for over a hundred voyages, with more than 40% of the enslaved people he transported taken from the Bight of Biafra, a region in West Africa. The majority of his captives were sold in Jamaica, where they were forced into brutal labour on sugar and cotton plantations.
Case followed the typical triangular trade route: his ships picked up enslaved africans, transported them across the Atlantic, and returned to Britain with sugar, cotton, and other commodities. Like many slavers, he profited immensely from this human suffering. He married the daughter of his business partner, William Gregson, another major slave trader, and was involved in Liverpool’s political and business elite.
One of the most infamous incidents in the history of the transatlantic slave trade took place in 1781 aboard the slave ship Zong. The ship, owned by a syndicate that included George Case and William Gregson, departed from Accra on August 18, 1781, with 442 enslaved Africans—more than twice the number it could safely transport.
After a series of navigational errors, the ship missed its destination, Jamaica, and ended up deep at sea with dwindling water supplies. Disease and overcrowding had already killed about 62 enslaved Africans. To avoid financial loss, the crew decided to throw about half of the remaining slaves overboard, calculating that their deaths would allow the ship’s owners to claim compensation from insurers under “general average” rules—a maritime law principle that requires all parties involved in a voyage to share losses if part of the ship or cargo is sacrificed to save the rest.
On 29 November, 54 enslaved africans made up of women and children were thrown through cabin windows into the sea. On 1 December, 42 male slaves were thrown overboard and 36 more followed in the next few days. Another 10, in a display of resistance at the inhumanity of the slavers, chose to commit suicide by jumping into the sea. Having heard the screams of the victims as they were thrown into the water, one of the captives requested that the remaining Africans be denied all food and drink rather than being thrown into the sea; the crew ignored this request. When Zong finally arrived in Black River, Jamaica, only 208 enslaved Africans remained alive. A total of 142 had been murdered, while another 92 had died from disease and neglect before reaching Jamaica.
Upon arrival, the ship’s owners, including Case, filed an insurance claim for £30 per enslaved person murdered, arguing that the killings were necessary to preserve the rest of the “cargo.” The insurers refused to pay, leading to the now infamous court case Gregson v. Gilbert in 1783.
At trial, the slavers argued that the enslaved africans “perished just as a cargo of goods perished.” Initially, the court ruled in favor of the slave ship’s owners, stating that the insurance company must compensate them for the lost slaves. However, upon appeal, Lord Chief Justice Mansfield overturned the decision, citing new evidence that the crew’s navigational errors had caused the crisis.
Despite the legal battle, no one was ever prosecuted for the mass murder aboard Zong. Abolitionists, including Olaudah Equiano and Granville Sharp, tried to bring criminal charges against the ship’s crew but were unsuccessful. Nevertheless, the case shocked the British public and fueled the growing abolitionist movement.
In response to the widespread outrage, Parliament took its first steps toward regulating the slave trade. The Slave Trade Act of 1788 introduced restrictions on the number of enslaved people ships could carry. Though it did not abolish the trade, it laid the groundwork for later efforts. The abolitionist movement gained momentum, culminating in the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, which outlawed the transatlantic slave trade, and the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833, which ended slavery in most British territories.
However, as part of the 1833 law, British plantation owners—including those who had built their wealth on atrocities like the Zong massacre—were compensated for their “loss of property” to the tune of £20 million, a sum so massive that the UK only finished paying off the debt in 2015. Enslaved Africans, of course, received nothing.
Despite his involvement in the Zong massacre, Case remained a powerful figure in Liverpool. He served as mayor in 1781—the very year the massacre took place—and later chaired the finance committee of the Liverpool Council for 38 years. In 1833, the same year the Slavery Abolition Act was passed, he became the council’s treasurer.
Case died in 1836 at the age of 89 at Walton Priory, a wealthy and respected man. He was buried at Prescot Parish Church, where his grave is marked by an ornate brass memorial. His wealth, generated from the suffering of thousands of enslaved Africans, was passed down to his family.
Source:
https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/artifact/george-case-mayor-of-liverpool
https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/zong-massacre-trial/
https://journals.openedition.org/1718/1808
