Thomas Clarkson
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Thomas Clarkson was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and helped achieve passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807, which ended British trade in slaves.
Thomas Clarkson by Carl Frederik von Breda, painting in the National Portrait Gallery
Plan of the slave ship Brookes, carrying 454 slaves after the Slave Trade Act 1788. Previously it had transported 609 slaves and was 267 tons burden, making 2.3 slaves per ton.
Playford Hall, the Clarksons' home from 1816
The Clarkson Memorial, Wisbech
Abolitionism in the United Kingdom
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Abolitionism in the United Kingdom was the movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to end the practice of slavery, whether formal or informal, in the United Kingdom, the British Empire and the world, including ending the Atlantic slave trade. It was part of a wider abolitionism movement in Western Europe and the Americas.
1787 Wedgwood anti-slavery medallion designed by Josiah Wedgwood for the British anti-slavery campaign
Title page of a published lecture against slavery by Joseph Ivimey
Portrait of Dido Elizabeth Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray, the great-nieces of Chief Justice Lord Mansfield living at Kenwood House.
Ignatius Sancho (c1729–1780), an escaped slave, gained fame as an active 18th-century British abolitionist. He opened a popular shop in Mayfair and mixed with influential people. He was the first person of African descent to vote.