Editorial Note
- Editorial Note
The editors would like to emphasize that they have made every effort to use appropriately sensitive vocabulary and to avoid phraseology which is now considered unacceptable. Variations on 'enslaved African' has been our preferred term, though the (still ubiquitous) word 'slave' is unavoidable in certain contexts, particularly that of historical usage and when linked to the word 'trade'. Although 'negro' only appears where it is quoted from an historical source, 'creole', 'coolie' and similar terms have been retained, a precise meaning being specified on each occasion. For consistency, 'black' is always given in lower case.
In footnotes, the place of publication is London, unless otherwise stated.
The editors wish to express their gratitude to Clyve Jones, editor of Parliamentary History, for agreeing to publish these essays together with the catalogue of the parliamentary exhibition. They are grateful to Alisdair Hawkyard for his copy-editing and indexing, and to Ian Davidson and Ann Vinnicombe of Edinburgh University Press for seeing this project through to publication. Thanks are also due to Malcolm Hay, curator at the Palace of Westminster, and Paul Seaward, director of the History of Parliament Trust. [End Page x]
Stephen Farrell is a senior research fellow at the History of Parliament in London, specializing in the early nineteenth-century house of commons. He completed his Cambridge Ph.D. thesis on the Rockingham whigs and the house of lords in 1993, and has since published articles in Parliamentary History. He is a member of the curatorial team for the parliamentary exhibition, for which he did extensive background research.
Melanie Unwin M.A. (R.C.A.) is a member of the curatorial staff at the Palace of Westminster and the project manager for 'The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People' exhibition.
James Walvin is the consultant curator for the parliamentary exhibition. He taught for many years at the University of York, where he is now professor of history emeritus. He also held visiting positions in the Caribbean, the U.S.A. and Australia. He won the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize for his book Black and White, and has published widely on the history of slavery and the slave trade, including more recently Black Ivory. A History of British Slavery. His book The People's Game was a pioneering study of the history of football and remains in print 30 years after its first publication. His recent books are A Short History of Slavery (2007), and The Trader, The Owner, The Slave (2007).
