Lloyd’s of London — the Zong and the 2020 apology
Lloyd’s was the global hub of marine insurance for slave-trading voyages, including the 1781 Zong massacre. In June 2020 it became one of the first British institutions to formally apologise for its role and commit to reparative action. From its origins in Edward Lloyd’s 17th-century coffee house, Lloyd’s of London grew into the world’s centre for marine insurance — including, for over a century, the insuring of British ships that carried enslaved Africans across the Atlantic. Historians estimate that during the era of the British slave trade some 3.2 million enslaved people were transported on shipping insured through Lloyd’s underwriters.
The most infamous case associated with Lloyd’s is the Zong (1781), a British slave ship whose crew murdered around 142 enslaved people by throwing them overboard, and whose owners then attempted to claim the loss on their marine insurance under the ‘perils of the sea’ clause. The resulting litigation — Gregson v. Gilbert (1783) — became a galvanising moment for British abolitionism.
In June 2020, against the backdrop of the global Black Lives Matter protests, Lloyd’s issued a public apology for its ‘shameful’ historical role and committed to a programme of independent research, archive opening, and reparative investment. Lloyd’s current headquarters — the Richard Rogers-designed inside-out building — has stood at One Lime Street since 1986.
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Sources
- Lloyd’s of London — ‘Our historical links to the transatlantic slave trade’ — https://www.lloyds.com/about-lloyds/history/the-trans-atlantic-slave-trade
- The Conversation / Open University — ‘Lloyd’s of London archives show how important the City was to transatlantic slavery’ — https://theconversation.com/lloyds-of-london-archives-show-how-important-the-city-was-to-transatlantic-slavery-218448
- Webster, Jane. Insurance Litigation Involving the Zong and Other British Slave Ships, 1780–1807. Journal of Legal History 28:3 (2007). — https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01440360701698437
- Al Jazeera — ‘‘Shameful’: Lloyd’s of London apologises for role in slave trade’ (18 June 2020) — https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2020/6/18/shameful-lloyds-of-london-apologises-for-role-in-slave-trade