ABSTRACT
The extent to which wealthy people used the profits generated by slavery to fund musical activities is becoming clearer. Several recent publications indicate some of the ways in which this money could be deployed. These include the purchase of instruments or scores, the engagement of a teacher to provide lessons, the buying of musicians abroad, and the hiring of musicians at home. In addition, the enslaved acted as domestic servants for musicians, as providers of musical entertainment (fiddlers) in plantation households, and as objects of mirth or derision for their own musical practices. This chapter engages with the topic through the angle of spending on music publication subscriptions by persons who profited from the slave economy. A database was constructed comprising the vital details and subscriptions of a sample of over 500 individuals drawn from a review of over 2500 persons. The lives and slave holdings of several families – Bowles of North Aston; Ward, Viscounts Dudley and Ward; and Young, Baronets, of Antigua and Tobago — who were the most frequent subscribers are described. Bernard Gates, the noted musician and master of choristers of the Chapels Royal and Westminster Abbey, who retired to North Aston, is included as he invested in the Royal African Company, Britain's leading slave trading business.
