Paul Brinkley

Paul Brinkley was born in the Bristol suburbs and trained in Birmingham's Whittall Street (the heart of the old, once awesome Birmingham Gun Quarter) as a Lawyer, little knowing the relevance or significance that these two places had to the Slave Trade and World history. Living in Birmingham and being aware of Jamaican influence on the City he was intrigued by these World links and felt that all those strands of time, place and peoples should be pulled together and explained in an approachable...See more

Paul Brinkley was born in the Bristol suburbs and trained in Birmingham's Whittall Street (the heart of the old, once awesome Birmingham Gun Quarter) as a Lawyer, little knowing the relevance or significance that these two places had to the Slave Trade and World history. Living in Birmingham and being aware of Jamaican influence on the City he was intrigued by these World links and felt that all those strands of time, place and peoples should be pulled together and explained in an approachable manner, picking out the core issues from amongst dry Victorian accounts and learned scholarly studies, whilst maintaining an objectivity amongst the present revisionism raging over Atlantic and Empire issues. Working back, Paul Brinkley was drawn to Georgian times when the New World was shaped as much by Asante and Fante Armies and Businessmen as by American Settlers and Caribbean Planters. The story led to West Africa and the pernicious legacy of European Traders. Paul Brinkley is interested as a Solicitor in recording accurately the evidence, apportioning responsibility and facing surprising truths, which abound in this equally harsh yet uplifting tale of human cruelty, coercion, suffering and courage. Paul Brinkley's interest hopes to extend next to the Caribbean Islands where the fallout from the awful West African Slave Trade was most keenly felt. See less