"The increase in shipping subjected the eighteenth century docks of England to intolerable strain. The number of ships entering the port of London trebled between 1705 and 1795, the tonnage quadrupled, exclusive of the smaller vessels engaged in the coasting trade. The warehouses on the quays were inadequate for the imports. The colliers could not be discharged and the price of coals rose enormously. Sugar was piled six or eight hogsheads high on the quay, increasing the danger of fire and encouraging thefts. A great machine of organized crime was developed, involving some ten thousand people. The total annual depredations at the docks were estimated at half a million pounds, half this sum from vessels from the Caribbean.
The West Indian merchants set themselves to grapple with the problem. They organized a special force of constables to cope with the thefts, and set up a general register of laborers discharging West Indian ships. They lobbied in Parliament and eventually secured an act authorizing the construction of the West India Docks. For twenty- one years they were given a monopoly of loading and unloading vessels engaged in the West Indian trade. The first stone was laid in 1800, and the ceremony was followed by an elegant entertainment for the notables present, at which one toast was appropriately drunk to the prosperity of the West Indian colonies. The docks were publicly opened in 1802, the first ship being named after the Prime Minister, and the second laden with six hundred tons of sugar."
Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery (1964) p. 60
"The Hibberts were West Indian planters as well as merchants, who, as we have seen, supplied cotton and linen checks for Africa and the plantations. Robert Hibbert lived in Bedford-shire off the income from his West Indian property. His plantation was one of the finest in Jamaica; "though he was always an eminently kind master," his biographer assures us, "he had no repugnance to this kind of property on moral grounds." On his death he left in trust a fund yielding about one thousand pounds per annum for three or more divinity scholarships to encourage the spread of Christianity in its simplest and most intelligible form and the unfettered exercise of private judgement in matters of religion. A relative, George, was partner in an opulent trading firm in London, and was for many years agent of Jamaica in England. George Hibbert took the lead in the construction of the West India Docks. He was elected first chairman of the board of directors, and todav his portrait, painted by Lawrence, hangs in the board room of the Port of London Authority. A great collector of books, the sale of his library lasted forty-two days.The Hibberts received £31,120 in compensation for their 1,618 slaves. The family mansion in Kingston, one of the oldest houses in Jamaica, still stands today, while the family name is perpetuated in the Hibbert Journal,the celebrated quarterly journal devoted to religion, theology and philosophy. First published in October, 1902, the Journal had "the sanction and support of the Hibbert Trustees," who, however, disclaimed responsibility for the opinions expressed in its pages."
Eric Williams, Capitalism and Slavery (1964) p. 88