James Penny (died 1799) was a merchant,

slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...

owner, and prominent opponent of the

abolition of slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

, England. He defended the slave trade to the British Parliament. The famous

Penny Lane "Penny Lane" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Strawberry Fields Forever". It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwr ...

has been associated with him although it is now widely regarded as of an unconnected origin.

Early life

Penny was probably not a native of Liverpool and may have been born in

Ulverston Ulverston is a market town and a civil parish in the South Lakeland district of Cumbria, England. In the 2001 census the parish had a population of 11,524, increasing at the 2011 census to 11,678. Historically in Lancashire, it lies a few mi ...

.National Archives, Liverpool Record Office and Local History Service.
/ref> He came to Liverpool to work as a mariner and was married to Ann Cooper in 1768. He is subsequently referred to as a mariner, ship's captain and merchant in Liverpool directories. Penny was active in the slave trade until the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...

. He returned to the trade after the war as a shipowner and as a business partner with other traders. He was involved in several slave trading companies and was known for his knowledge of the African coast derived from his many journeys dating back to 1776. When in 1788, the British government launched an inquiry into the slave trade, following public pressure from abolitionists, Penny was chosen to represent the views of slavers. According to local historian F.E. Sanderson, he was a "man of considerable stature in the town, highly regarded by his fellow merchants, his forthright views on the slave trade must have brought him to their notice as a likely delegate".

Evidence to Parliament

In the possible evidence he gave the British Government, Penny claimed that "he found himself impelled, both by humanity and interest, to pay every possible attention both to the preservation of the crew and the slaves."BBC Abolition of Slavery
/ref> He stated that he allowed the slaves on the Atlantic slave route to play games and dance and sing. In the same body of evidence, he notes that the fatality rate for his slaves was one in twelve, and that "The average allowance of width to a slave is fourteen and two-thirds inches."Final report of the American Freedmen's Inquiry Commission to the Secretary of War
- May 15, 1864 -

Robert Dale Owen Robert Dale Owen (7 November 1801 – 24 June 1877) was a Scottish-born Welsh social reformer who immigrated to the United States in 1825, became a U.S. citizen, and was active in Indiana politics as member of the Democratic Party in the Indian ...

Samuel Gridley Howe Samuel Gridley Howe (November 10, 1801 – January 9, 1876) was an American physician, abolitionist, and advocate of education for the blind. He organized and was the first director of the Perkins Institution. In 1824 he had gone to Greece to ...

and J. McKaye Penny also argued that abolition of the trade would destroy the economy of Liverpool; "it would not only greatly affect the commercial interest, but also the landed property of the County of Lancaster and more particularly, the Town of Liverpool; whose fall, in that case, would be as rapid as its rise has been astonishing."

Later life

In 1792 he was presented with a silver

epergne An epergne ( ) is a type of table centerpiece that is usually made of silver but may be made of any metal, glass or porcelain. An epergne generally has a large central "bowl" or basket sitting on three to five feet. From this center "bowl" ra ...

for speaking in favour of the slave trade to a parliamentary committee. He continued to be committed to the slave trade even when other merchants were moving away from it. With his eldest son, James, he was elected to the

African Company of Merchants The African Company of Merchants or Company of Merchants Trading to Africa was a British chartered company operating from 1752 to 1821 in the Gold Coast area of modern Ghana, engaged in the Atlantic slave trade. Background The company was establ ...

trading in Liverpool in July 1793. He died in 1799. One of Penny's daughters married the writer Christopher North.

References

External links

Anti-abolitionism in Liverpool

Liverpool and the slave trade
* On the Street name Penny Lan

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penny, James Year of birth missing 1799 deaths Proslavery activists English slave traders People from Ulverston