Search results
The Quaker Church strongly opposed the slave trade in Britain and America. In 1783, the London Society of Friends sent a petition against the slave trade to the British Parliament.
- Granville Sharp
- James Ramsay
- Thomas Clarkson
- William Wilberforce
- Olaudah Equiano
- Ignatius Sancho
- Josiah Wedgewood
- William Grenville
- John Newton
- James Stephen
Born the son of a clergyman in 1735, Granville Sharp’s interest in slavery with the Empire began in 1765 after he befriended a slave called Jonathan Strong in London, who had been badly beaten by his owner. Using his expertise in civil service, Sharp took a successful case to the lord mayor in London and Strong was freed. This would not be the last...
James Ramsey was a Scottish naval surgeon, who had been stationed in the West Indian colonies and had lived on the island of St Kitts from 1762 to 1777. The curate commented on the inhumane treatment he had personally witnessed whilst living in the Caribbean in his Essay on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slavespublished in 1784. As an evan...
Like Sharp, Thomas Clarkson was also born the son of a clergyman in 1760. He became a central figure in the campaign against the slave trade from the moment he wrote his award-winning essay, On the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, in 1785 (later published in 1786) whilst he was a student at the University of Cambridge. He, Sharp and 9 oth...
By far the most well-known abolitionist, William Wilberforce became the figurehead of the abolition cause in Parliament. His position as the MP for Kingston upon Hull and subsequently Yorkshire in the late-18th and early-19th century meant that he was vital to the anti-slavery campaign in terms of lobbying for support of an abolition bill in the Ho...
Olaudah Equianohas been revered in history as one of the most influential abolitionist figures. Born sometime around 1745, Equiano had been kidnapped from his tribe in the former Kingdom of Benin (Nigeria) and sold into slavery at the young age of 11. For the next ten years of his life, Equiano went on quite the journey. Having experienced the infa...
Born in 1729 on a slave-ship bound for Grenada, Ignatius Sancho was an African composer, actor and writer who would later become a devoted supporter of the abolitionist cause in Britain. At the age of two, Sancho was brought to England by his owner, where he remained a slave for 18 years. Eventually Sancho ran way to the Montagu House, whose owner ...
Famed as the ‘Father of English Potters’, Josiah Wedgwood(b. 1730) led English pottery from a cottage craft to a prestigious art form sustaining an international business. He was also an abolitionist and an extremely important figure within the campaign to end the transatlantic slave trade. His interest in the anti-slavery cause derived from a frie...
Not only was Lord William Grenville the Prime Minister in 1807 when Britain abolished the slave trade, but he himself played an active and prominent part in ensuring the bill was passed in Parliament. Born in 1759, William Grenville was born into a family of elites. His father was a Whig politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kin...
An unlikely abolitionist, John Newton was a former slave ship master from London, born in 1725. At a young age, Newton worked on slave ships and became increasingly involved in the slave trade. Astoundingly, Newton was enslaved himself in 1745 when crew members of the slave ship Pegasus left him in West Africa with Amos Clowe, a slave dealer. Clowe...
Born in Poole in 1758, James Stephen spent much of his youth in a debtors’ prison. Growing up, many described him as a volatile and bad-tempered child, traits which he didn’t seem to rid himself of as an adult. Although he was a prolific newspaper reporter and lawyer, Stephen foolishly involved himself with his best friend’s fiancé, resulting in hi...
- Failure of amelioration. One major factor that enabled abolitionists to argue for emancipation was the failure of the government’s ‘amelioration’ policy.
- Late slave rebellions. Between 1807 and 1833, three of Britain’s most valuable Caribbean colonies all experienced violent slave uprisings. Barbados was the first to witness a revolt in 1816, while the colony of Demerara in British Guyana saw a full-scale rebellion in 1823.
- Declining image of colonial planters. White colonists in the West Indies were always viewed with suspicion from those in the metropole. They were often disdained for their excessively ostentatious displays of wealth and their gluttonous habits.
- Overproduction and economic deterioration. One of the most convincing arguments presented to parliament during the emancipation debates highlighted the economic deterioration of the West Indian colonies.
Apr 16, 2023 · The British campaign against slavery was not seen as just a humanitarian cause. French and American slave traders accused Britain of using it as a pretext for colonial expansion into West Africa, Cuba and even Texas.
Study Higher History and learn how the Abolitionist movement, finally persuaded Parliament to end Britain’s involvement in the slave trade in 1807.
Jun 9, 2020 · Perhaps the most decisive and influential blow against the slave trade was the evidence presented to various enquiries from men who knew the slave ships and plantations at first hand. What these committee reports told of African suffering had a profound impact.
People also ask
Who fought for the abolition of the slave trade?
Why did William Wilberforce abolish the slave trade?
Why did Wilberforce fight against slavery?
What did Elizabeth Heyrick say about slavery?
Who inspired abolitionists to stop slave trade?
How did abolitionists prove that planters had ingnored slave policies?
Jun 20, 2011 · When the 'apprenticeship' system ended, women joined the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (BFASS) to fight slavery throughout the world.
