Paul Lashmar is Reader in Journalism at City St George's, University of London. He has taken an interest in the history of slavery since he developed a Channel 4 series on Britain's slave trade in 1999. He has been an investigative journalist in television and print, and on the staff of The Observer, Granada Television's World in Action current affairs series and The Independent. He is the author, co-author or co-editor of six books. He lives in Dorset.David Adetayo Olusoga OBE is a British-Nigerian historian, writer, broadcaster and BAFTA-winning film-maker.

'Drax of Drax Hall is not just a look into the dark sources of one family’s fortune; it is an indictment of a nation’s refusal to reckon with its past. Lashmar’s book is a necessary, damning reminder that the ghosts of empire are not distant – they are living, breathing and, in some cases, still collecting rent.'

• List of PlatesForeword by David OlusogaAbbreviationsPrologueMapsIntroductionPart I Drax Hall, BarbadosPart II The Erles of CharboroughPart III Barbados and the English Civil WarPart IV Post-RestorationPart V The Grosvenor YearsPart VI The Wicked SquirePart VII Four Barrels and a Smoking GunPart VIII NemesisArchivesFamily TreesTen Major Dorset Landowners 1883-2020AcknowledgementsIndex