Royal Navy: Memorial plan for the West Africa Squadron backed by Portsmouth MP Penny Mordaunt

The Portsmouth North MP and Leader of the House of Commons has shown her solidarity with local historians and their plight to commemorate the Portsmouth-based Naval Fleet. The fleet, which comprised 25 vessels and 3,000, men policed the seas between West Africa and America for 60 years after William Wilberforce’s Slave Trade Abolition Bill was passed in 1807. The fleet would board vessels suspected of transporting victims of slavery as part of the transatlantic slave trade. The operation consumed half of the Royal Navy budget at the time which is equivalent to £50bn in today’s money.

Penny Mordaunt said: “This 60-year campaign saw thousands of men lose their lives to slowly turn the tide against this evil trade. It is estimated their actions directly freed 150,000 slaves and seized 1,600 vessels. Such a memorial is not only a long overdue tribute to their sacrifice and achievements. It would also be an asset to modern Britain.”

ALSO READ: Calls for memorial to be built to honour fallen sailors who freed slaves

The campaign was spearheaded by Colin Kemp who established a company to raise the £100,000 needed for the memorial, commissioned a design from sculptor Vincent Gray which will be showcased in parliament later this month. Mr Kemp added: “The slave trade was an appalling episode in our island’s story, which has rightly been consigned to the history books – but how we got there and then engaged in a titanic struggle to end slavery once and for all, is virtually unknown. Indeed, in a recent survey of UK adults, just one person had heard of the West Africa Squadron, while half of young people thought that the US was the first country to abolish slavery.

“In highlighting the atrocious treatment of those who were enslaved, we should also highlight and honour the work of those who did so much to end this vile trade, including those who made the ultimate sacrifice and gave their lives, in what academics Robert Pape and Chaim Kaufmann argued was the most expensive international moral action in modern history.”

Possible locations for the memorial include Gunwharf Quays but so far nowhere has been confirmed.