Sugar, spirits, and fodder: The London West India interest and the glut of 1807–15

Abstract

This article is an overview of the lobbying activities of the London Society of West India Planters and Merchants (the Society) during the period between Britain's slave trade abolition and the Battle of Waterloo. This lobby, at this point in time, continued to be dominated by Jamaican absentee planters and merchants. Their primary concern during the final years of the Napoleonic Wars was centered upon the dull sugar prices and excess supply of muscovado. In order to correct this oversupply problem through government intervention, the Society vigorously lobbied politicians and directed its member Members of Parliament to put forward several proposals that would enhance home demand while suppressing foreign supplies. The organization managed to achieve some success in manipulating policy during wartime, but Jamaican investors could not sustain government favor in the long run.