In the 1700s, England was becoming increasingly overcrowded and the wealth gap was growing. The country's involvement in the transatlantic slave trade began in 1663 and carried on through the next century. Despite slavery technically having no legal basis in the country, they were responsible for the transportation of millions of slaves from Africa to the Americas between this time and slavery's abolishment in England in 1833. Slaves were used in England primarily for dometic service for the upper-class.
In The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, Equiano is sent to England as a slave, and says "I think I have often heard him say he gave thirty or forty pounds sterling for me; but I do not now remember which. However, he meant me for a present to some of his friends in England: and I was sent accordingly from the house of my then master, one Mr. Campbell, to the place where the ship lay" (Equiano).
Click here to see images of England in the 1700s.