4 NOVEMBER

THE FIRST LIVERPOOL SLAVE SHIP SETS SALE [ 3 October 1699 ] On 3 October 1699, the first slave ship set sail from Liverpool. The Liverpool Merchant, under the command of Captain William Webster, sailed down the Mersey headed for the coast of West Africa where she picked up her captive human cargo. BRITISH SPECIAL NIGHT…

BRITISH EXECUTE AFGHAN VILLAGERS AS A “LESSON” 8 November 1879 – A British cavalry detachment surrounded the Afghan village of Indikee where shots had been fired at the invading British army the previous month. They gave the village headmen five minutes to round up thirty suspects. The correspondent of the London Daily News explained that…

BURNING AND INDISCRIMINATE MURDER AT ISTALIF [29 September 1842 ] On this day in 1842, a retribution expedition under the command of Major General McCaskill entered the Afghan town of Istalif, forty miles north of Kabul. It has been one of the first towns to participate in an anti-British insurgency which had ultimately led to…

BRITISH REIGN OF TERROR AT BENARES 4 June 1857 – Colonel James Neill, imposes a reign of terror at Benares after crushing the mutinous Indian soldiers of the 37th Native infantry. He armed civilians so that they could form “volunteer hanging parties”, and so pacify the city with summary and indiscriminate hangings, who’s victims even…

GENERAL’S REQUEST TO DEPORT BOER WOMEN TO REMOTE ISLAND IMPRACTICAL. On 20 July 1901 the British Secretary of State for War, St. John Brodrick wrote to General Kitchener, the Chief of Staff of British forces in South Africa, commenting on his suggestions for the seizure of Boer property and the permanent banishment of the families…

BRITISH BURN HOMES, DESTROY RICE STORES AND SHOOT CATTLE TO PUNISH REBEL VILLAGES [ 7 June 1818 ] On this day in 1818, a short newspaper article in the Windsor and Eton Gazette carried an opinion piece on the latest reports from Ceylon, which denounced the brutality of the British authorities in their use of extreme…