| AdminHistory | In 1901 whilst in Trinidad, in the Caribbean, William heard a rumour that slave labour was employed to produce the cocoa beans used by Cadbury Bros. in Sao Thome and Principe (West Africa). This information led to William carrying out research and starting political enquiries into the issue of contract labour.
Cadbury Bros., Fry's, Rowntree's and Stollwerck selected Joseph Burtt to formally investigate the matter in 1904, because of his language skills and knowledge of the area. Burtt's report was given to the British Government who approached the Portuguese Government in 1907; William and Burtt travelled to Portugal to lay the report before the estate owners. However this was a time of political instability in Portugal and a change of Government happened in 1908; there are 2 letters reflecting this in MS 466G/3/6/2.
In 1908 William visited the Portuguese West African Islands of Sao Thome & Principe (where the cocoa plantations were) and Angola (the indigenous home of the slaves). In the same year the Standard newspaper accused the Cadburys of indifference and hypocrisy regarding the use of slave labour; the Cadburys pursued and won a case for libel although they were awarded only a farthing damages (less than the cost of a newspaper). From 1907 onwards William developed new sources of cocoa in Ghana and from 1909 on Cadbury Bros., Fry's, Rowntree's and Stollwerck boycotted the purchase of cocoa from Sao Thome and Principe. William continued to take an active interest in projects to help the area for the rest of his life.
The reports and letters referred to above are amongst the collection of business papers held at the University of Birmingham Library.
William made friends and notes relating to the earlier trip and these can be seen in MS 466G/3/6/2, MS 466G/6/2 and MS 466G/11/7/A.
There has been much analysis of the morality, politics and history of this period, and a good introduction is Lowell J Satre's book "Chocolate on Trial: Slavery, Politics and the Ethics of Business" (Ohio University Press, 2005). |