Waterstones Liverpool Welcomes Historian Ben Shaw

We welcome Ben Shaw who joins us to discuss The Slave Trader - The Story of Bryan Blundell, Mariner, Philanthropist and Slave Trader We welcome author and historian Ben Shaw who joins us to discuss his fascinating book The Slave Trader - The Story of Bryan Blundell, Mariner, Philanthropist and Slave Trader In the late summer of 1754, Bryan Blundell stood at Liverpool’s bustling waterfront – a man whose life traced the city’s rise from market town to maritime powerhouse. From humble beginnings as a cabin boy, he became captain, merchant, philanthropist, and twice mayor. He founded the Blue Coat School, left a lasting civic legacy, and helped shape the Liverpool we know today. But his fortune, like the city’s, was bound to the Atlantic slave trade. Ships he owned and ventures he financed tied his name to immense human suffering. Drawing on Blundell’s own journal alongside shipping records, sermons, and civic archives, this book offers a vivid, unflinching portrait of both a man and a city – one of ambition, faith, and contradiction. It is a story not just of prosperity and philanthropy, but also of the hidden costs that underpinned them.