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Power

When Queen Square was finished in 1727 most of the people living there were merchant families who were were heavily involved in trade to Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas. Queen Square is one of the largest Georgian squares in Britain and was built for Bristol's richest inhabitants.
Every town and city has places which are expensive and fashionable. Having a home or business in these areas is a way of showing off your power and status, and a way of linking into a network of other people who have similar interests to you. Queen Square in Bristol is an address which suggests that the people who live there or have businesses there have power and wealth. Much of that power and wealth was based on the exploitation of slave labour.

	Talking Head: John LaRoche was a Bristol merchant who was a French Protestant [Huguenot]. His family had left Catholic France to escape religious persecution, and had become very successful. Click here to view the text of the extract in a new window