Guiana's sugar & slave merchants' influence on the wider slave economy, 1790-1840.

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From slavery and apprenticeships, to indentured labour and colonialism, one British enterprise stands out for itslongevity, it's reach and its mercantile and political influence, that of the Demerara sugar and slave traders, who becameknown as Sandbach Tinné & Co. Though largely overlooked in historical circles, this study explores how these primarilyScottish, West India plantation, slave and sugar merchants, based in Glasgow and Liverpool (with extensive plantationsin Guiana and Grenada), developed one of the most influential commercial enterprises of the late 18th, 19th and 20thcenturies. As well as financing many of Britain's slave traders, their massive accumulation of wealth, endowed some ofthe most prestigious academic institutions, pioneered technological inventions to industrialise sugar cultivation, financedchurches, established banks, insurance companies, shipping lines, postal distribution, news networks, distilleries and thenascent steam powered railways of the empire, thus fuelling the industrial revolution. Their business model became thefoundation of the modern banking system, the profits from which, their descendants still enjoy the privilege of today. Thequestion arises therefore, Why does nobody know about them? This study uses genealogy as a new methodologicalhistoriographic tool, which will allow for a unique and 'collective biography' of this merchant family's business and socialinterests to emerge, which might otherwise be invisible.