| Slavery facts | - Britain was engaged in the slave trade for over 200 years
- Possibly 25 million people were removed from Africa
- One third of those taken died on board the slave ships - many others never recovered
- The modern equivalent of half a million pounds could be made on each slave voyage
- Abolitionists boycotted sugar grown by slaves, wore anti-slavery badges, and printed graphic slogans on cups and saucers
- There could be as many as 20 million people living in slavery today
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 | | Chains used on enslaved Africans |
On the 25th of March 1807, the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed by Parliament. It marked the end of a long-fought campaign to make the trading of people illegal in The British Empire / Britain's colonies. There had been particularly intense opposition from commercial interests, many of whom had amassed huge fortunes in the British colonies, using slave labour to produce cotton and sugar cane. More surprisingly, the Church of England at that time supported slavery, and saw no moral objection to the use of slave labour on its overseas estates. Some of the most prominent people involved in the abolition movement during the late 18th century were associated with Cambridgeshire – Thomas Clarkson was born in Wisbech and attended the Grammar School, before continuing his studies at St John’s College in Cambridge.
 | | Thomas Clarkson memorial |
At University, Clarkson won a prize in an essay competition that posed the question: "Is it lawful to make slaves of others against their will?". The question was set by the University Vice-Chancellor (and former Dean of Peterborough Cathedral), Peter Peckard, a man who later wrote two abolitionist pamphlets himself.Ìý The essay was published as: 'An essay on the slavery and commerce of the human species, particularly the African', translated from a Latin dissertation, which was honoured with the first prize in the University of Cambridge, for the year 1785. It was to raise the profile of the abolitionist campaign to far greater prominence.Ìý Olaudah Equiano was taken as a boy from his home in what is now Nigeria, to the New World and finally to Britain, where he worked for a Royal Navy Captain and then a Quaker merchant. Through careful trading and saving, Equiano was eventually able to buy his freedom. He wentÌý to London, and became involved in the movement to abolish the slave trade, which led him to write and publish 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the African' (1789), a strongly abolitionist autobiography. The book became a bestseller and, as well as furthering the anti-slavery cause, made Equiano a wealthy man. He later married Susannah Cullen at St Andrew’s church in Soham, and his infant daughter Anna Maria is buried in Chesterton. Clarkson and Equiano campaigned long and hard alongside other abolitionists such as William Wilberforce, the MP for Hull, who was persuaded to become the leader of the parliamentary campaign in the House of Commons. In 1787 the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade was formed by Clarkson, Granville Sharp and other members of the Clapham Sect of evangelical reformers. After more than 20 years, their efforts were finally rewarded, when the Act was carried in the House of Lords by 41 votes to 20 and the House of Commons by 114 to 15. So, the region played backdrop to this long-laboured drama that still resonates today, in its architecture and its history, and even in its present state.Ìý Watch this space for more as we uncover the links to slavery and the county you call home...
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