Slavery and the slave trade was a source of money in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century for traders, manufacturers, and land owners. Profit from slavery and the slave trade was often connected to other money- making activity.

Records showing the link between Sandwell and slavery have local, national and international significance; they demonstrate the argument that the demand for trade goods for the slave trade made a contribution to the rapid exploitation of metal and coal reserves and industrial activity and technological developments in the Black Country. Profits from the manufacturing stimulated the development of communications and experimentation which led to the adoption of new manufacturing techniques, and new forms of power which brought rapid change in industry.

There is some evidence of direct investment in slaving voyages and that the area benefited from the profits of plantation slavery.

General ironmongery from the region can be found in slave ship records from the seventeenth century. Admiral Hawkins' voyage of 1563 is one of the earliest recorded slaving voyages from Britain. From the 1650s British American and West Indian colonies imported large, quantities of nails, plantation hoes, cane cutters, ox chains and slave collars from all over the industrial West Midlands, including the six towns of Sandwell. Brass goods were used widely in the African trade. Brass rings called Manilas were used as payment by Europeans trading with African chiefs.

The six towns
Sandwell six towns are West Bromwich, Wednesbury, Smethwick, Rowley Regis, Oldbury and Tipton. Slavery and the slave trade stimulated demand for their raw materials and manufactured goods.

West Bromwich was a centre of forges and nail making. In 1859 West Bromwich had 66 colleries.

The advert from John and Samuel Roberts, Swan and Small Heath Foundries in West Bromwich (1858), includes the manufacture of Sugar Pans, for the Caribbean market¹. It was a centre of forges, nail making, gun making and corrugated iron from the late 1820's.

In 1775 nail making was organised by three merchant employers, Turton and Co, Richard Jesson and William Brett. Jesson and Wright were using the potting and stamping process in 1771 at Cockshutt. The name 'Guns Village' testifies to the importance of the production of gun components 'organised' by John Whately, Joseph Grice, Thomas Hadley and Samuel Galton. Dawes, Izons, Whitehouse, Bulloch, Bagnall and Kenrick were all iron masters based in West Bromwich. Parts of guns made in West Bromwich were often finished off and assembled in Birmingham.

Wednesbury was a known centre for forges, gun making, and semi finished gun locks. There were four forges in Wednesbury in 1785 -the oldest dating back to 1597. In the 18th century it was held by four generations of Willets who made guns and grinding tools, both for the Royal Ordinance and the slave trade. When it was taken over by the Elwells in 1817 it included plantation tools in its manufactures. Wednesbury forge was excavated in 2006 by Ironbridge Archaeology. In 1859 Wednesbury had 22 collieries.

Smethwick-was a known centre for gun making, steam engine manufacture and brassworking. Smethwick Brass Works was the first to open by the canal in 1792. Brass goods including manilas were used widely in the African trade. John Whateley, a leading gun maker, like others in the industry, moved out of Birmingham and set up a 'large manufactory of gun barrels'. He started production in the area known as 'French Walls'.

Rowley Regis was a known centre for quarrying, mining, nail making, chain making, gun barrels, pottery and agricultural implements. Rowley was made up of twenty hamlets with nine mills and forges operating in the late eighteenth century. It has a long history of iron manufacture, including the production of 'jews' harps - the shackles which join the anchor ring to the chain cable - in demand for ships and British overseas trade in general. Joseph Parkes was the leading chain maker at the end of the 18th century, John Hadley the gunsmith, William Dawes, Thomas Williams and James Attwood the iron masters, the latter of Corngreaves Hall which would become Corngreaves Iron Works in 1818. By the middle of the 19th century there were 30 collieries in Rowley and a further 34 on the Corngreaves estate in Rowley Regis.

Oldbury was a known centre for iron work, especially nail making. It was after the cutting of the canal that Oldbury expanded rapidly, with four blast furnaces operating from the late 18th Century and the opening of Brades' iron and steel works by William Hunt. Oldbury specialised in edge cutting tools which were in demand for the plantations of North America and the Caribbean. New techniques allowed the extraction of deep coal seams beneath Oldbury and by the middle of the 19th Century there were 33 collieries; coal masters included Parkes and Co., Williams and Whitehouse.

Tipton was a known centre for Lime works, forges, iron works, rolling and slitting mills, chain cables, anchors, screws and nails. Perhaps more than anywhere in Sandwell, the opening of the canal transformed the town which has been labelled 'the Venice of the North Midlands'. Bradley's, Cresswell's, Horseley's, Dawes, Bagnall and Walker Bros, were iron masters operating in Tipton; Joseph Hall developed wet puddling at Bloomfield and Tipton specialised in cast iron, boilers and steam engines - all in demand in the Caribbean. Lord Dudley's lime works provided the only lime in that region and Blair and Stephenson became the country's leading producer of red lead in the early 19th century. The Birmingham Coal Company was based in Tipton: there were 31 collieries there in 1859, including Williams and Whitehouse, and Bagnall's.