Westbury Museum column: The Westbury man who opposed the ending of slavery

We have all doubtless heard of slaveowner Edward Colston, whose statue was unceremoniously dumped in the Avon – but did you know one of the leading opponents to the ending of slavery actually came from Westbury?

Bryan Edwards was born in 1743 in Westbury Leigh, the oldest of seven children. His father, who was a maltster and a surveyor of Westbury roads, died when Bryan was just 13 leaving the family in distressed circumstances.

Luckily for him, his mother had two rich brothers, Zachary and Nathaniel Bayly, who had made their fortunes in plantations in Jamaica. They took on Bryan, paid for his education and he became part of the family business.

Zachary, who eventually owned more than 1,300 acres of sugar plantations and more than 2,000 slaves, is an example of the get rich quick opportunities then offered by the West Indies. In his youth he had left England with just £40 and paid under five pounds for his passage.

Bryan became Zachary’s co-heir and inherited plantations and slaves. He became a vociferous opponent of slavery abolition and was keen to get a seat in Parliament so he could put over the views of the West Indies planters, who feared their trade would die if slavery were abolished.

Elected to parliament in 1796, on his third attempt, he became one of William Wilberforce’s loudest and fiercest opponents. But of course his opinions came to nothing… In 1807 the Abolition of Slave Trade Act was passed, prohibiting the Atlantic slave trade in the British Empire.

Bryan Edwards died in 1800. At his death he owned several estates together with 600 slaves, leaving a fortune which would be more than £8m today. Coming from virtually nothing, he ended his life as a banker, MP, plantation owner and historian famous for his popular history of the West Indies.

His widow Martha, a member of the leading Phipps family of Westbury, speedily remarried a Royal Dragoon, earning a mention in a newspaper which noted: Mrs Bryan Edwards has a very short chemical process for blanching sables!

If you would like to know more about Westbury history, pop into our town museum on the first floor of the library or visit www.westburyheritagesociety.org.uk

Pictured: Bryan Edwards