In 18th-century Liverpool, the docks bustled with ships and merchants chasing wealth, but much of that fortune was built on the lives and suffering of thousands of enslaved Africans who were treated as mere cargo. One of the men who rose to prominence through this trade was William Gregson. Over the course of his career, he financed and co-owned dozens of voyages that carried tens of thousands of African men, women, and children into slavery. Records show that around 58,000 people were forced onto his ships, and at least 9,000 of them died before ever reaching the Americas.
William Gregson was born in 1721 and spent most of his life in Liverpool, a city that had become the beating heart of Britain’s slave trade. At the time, more than half of all British slaving voyages left from Liverpool, creating fortunes for men who invested in ships, insurance, and plantations. Gregson, who began his working life as a rope maker, would later rise to become one of the most prolific slave traders in Britain, with at least 152 voyages recorded in his name.
Gregson’s ships followed the brutal triangular trade route. They left Liverpool filled with textiles, weapons, alcohol, and manufactured goods. These were exchanged along the coast of West Africa for captives, many of them taken from the Bight of Biafra, in today’s Gulf of Guinea. Over half of the Africans Gregson transported came from this region. His ships then carried them across the Atlantic to colonies in the Caribbean and Spanish America, where they were sold. In return, the ships brought back sugar, cotton, and spices to Britain.
Across his career, Gregson’s vessels carried approximately 58,200 Africans. Of that number, 9,148 died before reaching land. Disease, starvation, violence, and despair claimed them. Their deaths were not treated as tragedy but as expected “losses” written into business calculations.
More than 40 percent of the people Gregson transported ended up in Jamaica, where they would endure grueling work on sugar plantations.
By the early 1780s, Gregson’s name was tied not only to countless slave voyages but also to one of the darkest scandals in Britain’s history: the Zong massacre.
In 1781, the Zong, a ship owned by a syndicate led by Gregson, set sail for Jamaica. The ship was dangerously overloaded, carrying more than 400 captives. Poor navigation and lack of planning turned the voyage into a disaster. Supplies began to run out, and disease spread on board. Instead of trying to save lives, the crew made a calculated choice. They threw more than 130 men, women, and children into the sea. This act was not about survival. It was about money.
The ship’s owners, including Gregson, later filed an insurance claim for the “lost cargo.” In their eyes, the captives were property. They argued that the enslaved Africans had been discarded to save the ship and thus should be treated as cargo, entitling them to compensation of £30 for each life lost.
The case went to court, where the insurers initially lost. On appeal, however, the judge, Lord Mansfield ruled that the case was one of property law, not murder. He famously declared that the case of slaves was the same as if horses had been thrown overboard.
Although the owners won their claim, the massacre became a turning point in the abolition movement. Abolitionists such as Olaudah Equiano and Granville Sharp publicized the atrocity, showing the British public the inhumanity of the trade. The Zong massacre became a symbol of the cruelty and greed of merchants like Gregson, and it stirred public opinion against slavery
Lord Mayor of Liverpool
Gregson’s success as a merchant gave him political influence. In 1762, he was elected Lord Mayor of Liverpool, the city that had become Britain’s preeminent slave-trading port. His son John Gregson, who also engaged in the trade, would later hold the same office in 1784.
Gregson was not unusual in this regard. At least twenty-five men who served as Lord Mayor of Liverpool were slave traders. Far from being shamed, these men were celebrated for the wealth they brought to the city. Their fortunes built fine houses, warehouses, and civic institutions.
The city council itself actively defended the trade. In 1787, as the abolition movement gained momentum, Liverpool’s leaders petitioned Parliament to oppose regulation of the slave trade, they viewed the abolition campaign as a direct threat to their livelihood and the city’s prosperity.
For men like Gregson, this stance was natural. They did not see themselves as villains but as patriots contributing to national prosperity. Their defense of slavery was rooted in profit and justified by law.
By the 1780s, Gregson was living in Everton, then a fashionable suburb of Liverpool. His residence, Everton House, was described as a sumptuous villa. He lived in comfort and privilege while thousands of Africans perished on his ships.
By the time he retired, Gregson had been involved in the slave trade for half a century. He had also branched out into banking and insurance, further embedding himself in Liverpool’s economic elite. He died in 1800, leaving behind wealth, property, and a legacy of human suffering.
Source:
https://www.lancaster.gov.uk/assets/attach/13394/Biographies-of-individuals-involved-in-the-Zong.pdf
https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/london-stories/zong-massacre-trial/
