Why did John's parents leave England in the first place?


I don't understand that. Why were they leaving England to "spend a year in the tropics", as Jack said, if it wasn't necessary? And if it was necessary, what was the necessity?

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I don't remember if they make that clear in the movie. The book tells us that Lord Clayton was appointed to a governmental post in the British West African colonies to investigate cases of conscription and slavery of natives by a non-English colonial army (I'm guessing French or German, but I don't know).

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They were going to purchase slaves from Africa

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