Database lets British see who owned slaves BRITAIN

This is diagram of the Liverpool slave ship Brookes dated 1789, made available by the Museum of London Docklands on Wednesday Feb. 27, 2013 . The diagram details the stowage of slaves on the Liverpool slave ship 'Brookes'. A new database lets Britons search for uncomfortable information ó whether their ancestors owned slaves. Researchers at University College London have compiled a searchable listing of thousands of people who received compensation for loss of their "possessions" when slave ownership was outlawed by Britain in 1833. (AP Photo/Museum of London Docklands) less This is diagram of the Liverpool slave ship Brookes dated 1789, made available by the Museum of London Docklands on Wednesday Feb. 27, 2013 . The diagram details the stowage of slaves on the Liverpool slave ... more Photo: Associated Press Photo: Associated Press Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Database lets British see who owned slaves 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

London --

A new database launched Wednesday lets Britons curious about their family history uncover some potentially uncomfortable information - whether their ancestors owned slaves.

Researchers at University College London spent three years compiling a searchable listing of thousands of people who received compensation for loss of their "possessions" when slave ownership was outlawed by Britain in 1833.

About 46,000 people were paid a total of 20 million pounds - the equivalent of 40 percent of all annual government spending at the time - after the freeing of slaves in British colonies in the Caribbean, Mauritius and southern Africa.

"This is a huge bailout," said Keith McClelland, a research associate on the project. "Relatively speaking, it is bigger than the bailout of the bankers in recent years."

Compensation for slave owners was opposed by some abolitionists, who argued it was immoral, but it was approved as the political price of getting the 1833 abolition bill passed.

The database includes details on the 3,000 compensated slave owners who lived in Britain - rather than its colonies - and includes the ancestors of several present-day politicians and the writers Graham Greene and George Orwell. Orwell's real name was Eric Blair, and the trustees of his great-grandfather, Charles Blair, were paid 4,442 pounds for 218 slaves on a plantation in Jamaica.

Not all the slave owners were ultra-wealthy. Middle-class Britons up and down the country were paid compensation - evidence, the researchers say, of how far the tentacles of slavery spread through society.

McClelland said the London project would expand understanding of how the legacy of slavery still affects Britain.