Liverpool takes pride in its status as one of Britain's most welcoming cities, as it continually ranks among the kindest places in the country. But this modern-day culture is built in part on dark foundations: a thriving slave trade.
Though the slave trade was abolished in Britain in 1807, merchants and their families continued to reap the financial rewards of their brutal business. Many of them had risen to prominent positions thanks to the wealth they had acquired, which they poured into industrial development, bolstering Britain's position as a dominant global power.
Here are some of the other Liverpool streets named after people whose source of wealth and power should not be forgotten. Tarleton Street Banastre Tarleton , was a British general, politician, war hero - and slave trader. He led the British Legion during The American Revolutionary War before returning to Liverpool in 1782, when church bells rang out to celebrate his arrival. He first stood as a Tory candidate for Liverpool in 1784, and was eventually elected MP in 1790.
Sir Thomas Street Known as "the founder of modern Liverpool", Sir Thomas Johnson was also one of Britain's first ever slave traders. Born in Liverpool to a wealthy merchant family, he expanded his family's business to include the transportation of slaves to America. As MP, he welcomed the opening of the world's first commercial wet dock in 1715, which paved the way for even more slave ships to sail into Liverpool throughout the century.
Exchange Flags Exchange Flags' name comes from the fact that it was once a key centre of commerce and trade within Liverpool. That business extended to the slave trade, with the square used as a hub for traders to exchange and negotiate transfers of slaves. Exchange Flags now houses a building finished long after the abolition of the slave trade in 1939.