the cost of freeing slaves

From John Latimer's Annals of Bristol in the 19th Century:
via the Bristol_and_Somerset Rootsweb list

"According to a parliamentary return issued in 1838, the principal firms and persons in this district owning slaves received compensations as follows:

Messrs. Thos. & John Daniel, £55,178;
Messrs. H.J.D.E. Baillie & G H Ames, £23,024;
Sir C Codrington, Bart., £29,867;
Mr James E Baillie, £12,357;
Mr Philip John Miles, £9,076;
Mr James Cunningham, £12,357;
Mr Richard Bright, £8,092;
Mr Robert Bright, £3,820;
Messrs Charles Pinney & E Case, £3,572.

The list does not include payments under £3,000.

The Bristol Times of April 8, 1854 stated that Messrs. Daniel & Sons, who had a house in London as well as in Bristol, "obtained not much less than a quarter of a million" to compensate for their slaves."