Reference Number: L0455/2
Date: 5 February 1813
Provenance: Presented to Lloyd’s by the Bank of England, 1987

Description: Printed Ship and Goods ‘SG’ Policy for the ship ‘Kingsmill’ to sail from Demerara to Liverpool, the master was McClune and it was underwritten in Liverpool. The broker was John Gladstone and Grant. Gladstone was a major owner of enslaved peoples and plantations in Jamaica and British Guiana and a West Indian merchant. The goods underwritten on this policy were 95 bales of cotton valued at £2280 on the account of Hamer’s Heirs. L0455/7 and L0455/8 are similar policies for the same journey and ship in 1812. Gladstone was also a slave trader and in 1803 is listed as part-owner of the then slave ship ‘Kingsmill’ which sailed from Liverpool to Bonny and to the Bahamas with 439 enslaved Africans of which 395 survived the Middle Passage (See Slave Voyages Ref.: 82169). There was a John McClune who was slave trading out of Liverpool in five voyages 1803-1807.

Notes: See the research on Gladstone and his company: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/8961. For more information on ship and voyage policies see the Underwriting Souls exhibition “insuring the Guipuzcoa”.