´óÏó´«Ã½

Clarkson wrote the ‘History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade’, which kept the issue before the public.Ìý Clarkson attended the 1814 Congress of Vienna, where he gave copies of his ‘History’ to Louis XVIII, Wellington and foreign ambassadors.

The Congress declared the slave trade to be ‘.. the desolation of Africa, the degradation of Europe and the afflicting scourge of humanity’. In 1815 and 1818 Clarkson met Tsar Alexander I of Russia, who promised to pass on pamphlets to the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia.

An anti-slavery election poster

In 1823 the Anti-Slavery Society was established to abolish slavery itself.Ìý In this year alone Clarkson, now 63, travelled 3,000 miles, founded over 200 committees and obtained over 100 petitions, including 16 from Suffolk – Beccles, East Bergholt, Brandon, Bury, Eye, Framlingham, Hadleigh, Halesworth, Ipswich, Needham Market, Pakefield and Kirkley, Stowmarket, Sudbury, Wickham Market and Woodbridge.

The Anti-Slavery Convention of 1830 was opened by Clarkson and chaired by William Wilberforce, now 70 and 71 respectively.Ìý Clarkson described Wilberforce as ‘…the great leader in our cause.'Ìý Wilberforce referred to Clarkson asÌý 'My valued friend and fellow labourer …for he began before me'.

In 1833 the Act abolishing slavery in the British Empire was passed, to take effect on 1 August 1834, just two days before Wilberforce's death. Slave owners were to receive compensation for each slave, who worked out an ‘apprenticeship’ of four to six years before they were actually free.

The government paid £20 million to free 800,000 slaves. Clarkson declared that the ‘…victory is the triumph of Christianity over barbarism.’

Clarkson’s legacy sadly, was to be all but removed from the history of the abolition movement.Ìý Wilberforce's sons wrote a life of their father in 1838, minimising Clarkson’s role, for which he later forgave them.Ìý Wilberforce and several of the other leaders had monuments in Westminster Abbey, but Clarkson received no such honour until 1996.

Thomas Clarkson - Playford church

Even though he was made Freeman of London in 1838 and had a bust placed in the Guildhall, Clarkson was virtually forgotten until recently except in Wisbech, Playford and Wades Mill, Hertfordshire.Ìý Even the film 'Amazing Grace' underplays his role and treats him badly.

However, in the Colonies and America, where his writings were more influential than any others, he was revered and remembered.Ìý In a sonnet to celebrate the 1807 Act, his friend William Wordsworth described Clarkson as ‘…firm friend of human kind.’

Clarkson, in 1841 wrote ‘…My heart beats as warmly in this sacred cause now in my 81st year as it did in my 24th. I can say further with truth, that if I had another life given to me I would devote it to the same object.’

As we oppose modern slavery – forced and bonded labour, sex slaves, the denial of human rights and freedoms, we can look back to Clarkson's final year when he saidÌý ‘…Much remains to be done, but take courage, be not dismayed, go on’.

Clive Paine works for Suffolk County Council at the Bury Records Office.