Freshfields founder engaged in business linked to slavery

The 19th century founders of British top law firm Freshfields and investment bank Rothschild engaged in business linked to the slave trade. According to a report by the Financial Times, James William Freshfield, founder of Freshfields, and Nathan Mayer Rothschild, the banking family’s 19th-century patriarch, benefited financially from slavery, records from the National Archives show. Both have often been portrayed as opponents of slavery.

Freshfields founder engaged in business linked to slavery ft.com Tue, Jun 30, 2009