"The Slave Master of Trinidad": William Hardin Burnley'

William Hardin Burnley (1780-1850) was the largest slave owner in Trinidad during the nineteenth century. Born in the United States to English parents, he settled in Trinidad in 1802 and became one of the most influential citizens and prominent agent in the British Empire. A central figure among the elite and moneyed transnational slave owners, Burnley moved easily though the Atlantic world of the Caribbean, the United States, Great Britain, and Europe and counted among his friends Alexis de Tocqueville, British politician Joseph Hume who was his brother-in-law, and prime minister William Gladstone. In this seminar, Professor Cudjoe discusses the life and times of Burnley, and assesses his significance within the wider Atlantic world.