Welcome back to Book Break!
Today, I am taking a deep dive into the darkest history of East London, all inspired by this
fantastic book that I've just read, Blood and Sugar by Laura Shepherd-Robinson.
So undoubtedly, the darkest part of London's history has to be its involvement in the slave
trade.
For hundreds of years, British merchants bought and sold people, particularly from West Africa,
to be traded and kept as slaves.
An unbelievably cruel industry, the profits of which financed many of London's key institutions
still standing today.
For example, the Bank of England.
So, I have climbed up this little hill I'm not sure I'm supposed to be on, to show you
this view.
But there's not really much to see left today.
This used to be Deptford Dockyard, which was one of the key ports for the slaving ships
coming in to East London.
So, as I said, I've just finished this historical fiction thriller, Blood and Sugar, which is
set in Deptford in 1781.
And it follows Harry Corsham, investigating the murder of his abolitionist friend, who
believed just before he was killed that he might have found the key to ending slavery.
And it's definitely painted Deptford in a whole new light for me.
It's hard to look around now without picturing Laura Shepherd-Robinson's rather grim descriptions
of corpses hanging out above the water, and the constant smell of death in the air.
So I'm going to talk a lot more in a minute about what I've learned about slavery here
in London.
But first, let's go and look at something a little more positive.
So up there is the Wall of the Ancestors, which features sculptures of prominent local
characters.
And the one up there is Olaudah Equiano, a former slave who was a pioneer in the abolitionist
movement.
His bestselling memoir, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, is widely
considered to have contributed to the passing of the British Slave Trade Act in 1807, which
abolished slavery on English soil.
So now, I'm going to go and meet Laura Shepherd-Robinson at the Museum of London Docklands, to talk
to her more about Deptford and the slave trade.
And I'm going to get there on that boat.
So this is the Museum of London Docklands, and if you haven't been here, I seriously
recommend it as a way to learn about the amazing history of the River Thames, all the way from
1600 up to present day.
And this is where I'm going to meet Laura, to learn a little bit about how she researched
this book.
What are some of the most important parts of this exhibition?
There are so many aspects of the slave trade that are brought home with the physical objects
that are here.
Whether it's the shackles and the manacles that were actually worn by the slaves, or
the sugar cones themselves and the implements that we used to make sugar.
Was it quite grim doing the research for this?
Yeah, some of it, some of it's absolutely shocking and appalling.
A lot of the slave owners and slave merchants didn't even attempt to hide what they were
doing.
They write about it in their journals, they're proud of it.
Why do you think it's so important that we now, so many years later, still need to know
about it?
I mean, for one thing because the effects of slavery, its legacy is long lasting, it's
with us now.
Who are the most important historical figures that you came across when you were researching?
There were a whole raft of people, black and white, who were involved in the campaign against
slavery.
Granville Sharp, who was one of the key lawyers who got slaves who were being kidnapped and
returned to the plantations, he got them off their ships.
And then Olaudah Equiano, who was a former slave himself, and wrote a fascinating treatise
about his time as a slave, that was designed to change people's minds about slavery.
I learned a lot while I was reading Blood and Sugar about the importance of sugar in
the slave trade.
Mmhmm, sugar was a commodity that was in great demand.
And prior to the slave trade really taking off, it was incredibly expensive.
So working people couldn't afford sugar.
And slavery made sugar cheap and affordable, as well as rum, and tobacco.
And so actually, that was what the campaigners against the slave trade were up against.
How did they finally turn public opinion?
My novel is based on a real life massacre that occurred at sea.
In some ways it was a really crucial turning point for the abolitionist campaign, because
what happened was so shocking, and really brought home to people the logical and horrific
consequences of treating human beings as cargo.
I feel like I've learned so much this morning about the history of slavery in this part
of London.
And I really recommend Blood and Sugar as a great way to submerge yourself in 18th century
Deptford.
What a dark and scary place that must have been.
But for now, I'm going to continue with my tour, and keep on learning about the dark
secrets that East London has to offer.
Next stop, Wapping!
I think it's just about to start to rain, just to add our sinister mood.
So I am here now on a road that used to be called the Ratcliffe Highway.
And it might look pretty harmless today with its McDonalds and its Big Yellow Storage,
but it was once the scene for two really gory murders in December 1811.
So along this road lived a family called the Marrs, and they lived with their apprentice
James Gowan.
And one night, their servant girl Mary came back from a late night food shop to find the
house completely dark, and the front door locked.
And when she eventually got a neighbour to help her in through the back door, they were
greeted by a very gruesome scene.
All four members of the household had been beaten to death, and the house was so covered
in blood that they described not being able to walk along the floor without stepping in
it.
And a pretty gruesome ending, but one that was apparently not uncommon at the time, the
bodies were laid out in the house for the public to be able to pay and come and look
at.
Pretty gross, I think.
And no money was stolen from the house, and the police were never able to figure out what
the motive might have been.
But just twelve days later, the murderer struck again.
So that brings me here, to an equally harmless looking street, but back in 1811 there was
a tavern along this road called The King's Arms, which was run by the Williamsons and
their servant Bridget.
Now late one night, residents of the street spotted a lodger at the tavern climbing out
of his window and crying for help that there had been a murder.
When they got in, they found the bodies of the Williamsons equally gruesomely attacked
as the Marrs had been.
A few days later, a man named John Williams was arrested for both murders.
But before he could be tried, he hanged himself in his cell.
He was accused anyway, and he was buried as a criminal, but to this day, the true mystery
of the Ratcliffe Highway murders has never been solved.
You'd have thought that all that talk of murder might have put me off my appetite, but I'm
actually starving, so I found the perfect place for some lunch: this pub, the Prospect
of Whitby.
Now sitting right on the banks of the Thames, it seems such a completely charming pub, but
back in the 17th century, it had a much more sinister reputation.
Back then, it was called the Devil's Tavern, and it was the meeting place for sailors,
smugglers, and thieves.
And, it was actually the favourite drinking spot for the infamous Hanging Judge Jeffrey,
who was given that nickname because of his notoriously brutal sentences.
And in his honour, you'll find the noose and gallows hanging here.
Yep, super cheery stuff.
Fast forward a little to Victorian times, and we find another infamous East London serial
killer.
I'm talking of course about Jack the Ripper, and I'm here now in Whitechapel, where five
women, all sex workers, were found murdered and horrifically mutilated, all just a few
months apart back in 1888.
And the street that I'm standing on now, Durward Street, this is where the first body was found.
Now over 100 suspects have been named as the possible Jack the Ripper.
Everyone from Queen Victoria's grandson, to Lewis Carroll.
Even the lead actor in the stage play of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde was accused, because theatre-goers
couldn't believe that anyone could act evil that convincingly without actually being evil.
But the killer was never found, and later similar murders around the same area may also
have been carried out by Jack the Ripper.
At this point, I guess we'll never know.
I can't forget two of East London's most notorious residents, the Kray Twins.
And this pub here, The Carpenter's Arms, was once owned by twins Ronnie and Reggie, who
were the foremost perpetrators of organised crime in the whole of East London throughout
the 50s and 60s.
And it was right here in this pub that Reggie Kray had a drink, on the night of 29th October
1967, to settle his nerves before going to murder Jack McVitie, the crime that finally
led to the Kray Twins' imprisonment and downfall.
And finally, all the way back to Deptford where we began this tour.
Deptford Strand, where I am now, this road is where Eleanor Bull's house was, which is
the house where Christopher Marlowe was supposedly killed in 1593.
The death of Christopher Marlowe is one of my favourite parts of London's dark history
to explore, because there are just so many theories about what actually happened.
Some believe it was a harmless bar fight gone wrong, some believe that Christopher Marlowe
actually faked his own death and then went on to write bestselling plays under the name
William Shakespeare.
Some believe that he was assassinated by Queen Elizabeth, to stop him from spreading his
dangerous atheist ideas.
We may never know what actually happened.
But the dark truth is hidden somewhere along this road.
And that is really just skimming the surface of all of the dark secrets that this part
of London has to offer.
So please do leave a comment below if you've got your own story about the history of East
London.
I am loving learning about all of these.
And do give this video a thumbs up if you've been convinced to read the wonderful Blood
and Sugar.
And here on Book Break, we post new videos every Thursday, and next week we are continuing
the dark theme with a video all about the best villains in literature.
So make sure you hit that subscribe button below so you don't miss out on that one.
See you next time!