Sir Hardman Earle, 1st Baronet

Sir Hardman Earle, 1st Baronet (11 July 1792 – 25 January 1877) was a British railway director and slave owner. Earle owned plantations and enslaved people in what is now modern-day Guyana. He bought shares in the Liverpool to Manchester railway line and became a director of the company, which later amalgamated into the London and North Western Railway. Early life Earle was born on 11 July 1792. He was the fourth son of the slave trader, Thomas Earle. He was named after Sir John Hardman, an MP, slaver and owner of Allerton Hall. Earle attended Charterhouse School, then located in Charterhouse Square, London. Cotton trading and slavery In 1812, Earle became a partner in a Liverpool trading business, Salisbury Turner & Earle, where he was responsible for all cotton trading. He owned plantations and slaves in what is now Guyana. His family were steeped in the slave trade, his father, Thomas Earle, grandfather William Earle and great grandfather John Earle all having been slave traders. In 1833, slave ownership was abolished in the British colonies and with the Slave Compensation Act 1837, the British Government compensated the owners who were forced to free enslaved people. Hardman Earle was awarded £19,000, around £2.5m in 2020 money, in compensation; the former captives were not awarded anything. He received compensation for freeing enslaved people on the following plantations: Lynch's Estate, Blizards, Bodkin's (St Paul), Thibou's Estate, Gunthorpe's (St Georges) and Manning's Estate. Salisbury Turner & Earle was a founder member of the Liverpool Cotton Brokers' Association, now the International Cotton Association, and Earle served as president in 1849.