Sir Arthur Helps was a writer and historian who served as dean of the Privy Council during the reign of Queen Victoria. He wrote several books on moral and social subjects such as workers’ rights, animal rights and the history of enslavement. While none of his books had much success due to their moralising nature and dense content, Helps had more success in his official life and developed a good relationship with Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, who shared many of his concerns.
This history of the establishment of the Spanish Empire in the Americas and the history of Spanish involvement in enslavement from the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean to the consolidation of Spanish rule in Florida and South America was published between 1855 and 1861. It explores the history of enslavement in the sixteenth century and the attempts of writers such as Bartolomeo de las Casas to raise their concerns to Philip II and his successors over the abuses committed by conquistadores and settlers towards Indigenous populations, and the involvement of Spanish merchants in the Atlantic slave trade.
Helps presented this four-volume set to Queen Victoria in February 1861, remarking in his presentation letter, tipped inside the first volume, that he thought the books would be of interest to the Queen due to her own interest ‘in the welfare of the African race’ and that he hoped she would ‘appreciate and sympathize with the extraordinary efforts made the Spanish Monarchs to mitigate the evils of Slavery throughout their dominions’.
Following Prince Albert’s death in December 1861, Queen Victoria approached Helps to edit volumes to memorialise the life and work of the Prince Consort. He also assisted the Queen in preparing her journals of summer excursions in Scotland, particularly stays at Balmoral, for publication (see for example RCIN 1053109).