Thomas clarkson timeline thomas clarkson and the abolition of the slave trade

In June Clarkson’s 256 page ‘Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African’ was published. It was written in a very persuasive style and fiercely attacked slavery and the slave trade. The essay was widely read and made Clarkson a well-known figure.

It was also through Philips that Clarkson met other people who were already active in their opposition to the slave trade. Clarkson learned of a committee named in 1783 by the London Yearly Meeting for Sufferings to promote total abolition of the slave trade and gradual emancipation. The Quakers had already sent petitions to parliament and placed anti-slavery articles in newspapers. However, their efforts had passed almost unnoticed.

Outside of this Quaker group Clarkson also met Reverend James Ramsay, Granville Sharp and other writers who were already involved in campaigning for the end of slavery.

Ramsay’s writings on the horrors of West Indian slavery had provoked a great deal of controversy and public interest. Ramsay had lived for 19 years on St Christopher and his ‘essay’, published in 1784, exposed the cruelty of life on the plantations.

Granville Sharp had tried to have the captain of the slave ship Zong prosecuted for murder. He had also fought a series of legal battles to prevent West Indian ‘owners’ from taking ‘their’ slaves out of England by force. Clarkson was aware that these different groups needed to be brought together and put pressure on parliament to investigate the slave trade.

Clarkson, together with Richard Philips (a cousin of his publisher), worked out the tactics for a united national campaign to ban the slave trade.

LONDON

Late 1786-Early 1787 Clarkson was also aware of the need to expand his knowledge of the slave trade so that arguments could be put to parliament supported by hard facts. Clarkson’s starting point was the port of London, before moving on to explore the larger slaving centres of Bristol and London. He found ships leaving London containing goods such as cloth, guns, ironware and drink that had been manufactured in Britain. On the African coast these goods would be traded for slaves. On the brutal ‘Middle Passage’ slaves were densely packed onto ships that would carry them to the West Indies. Here they would be sold to the highest bidder at slave auctions. The ships were then loaded with produce from the plantations for the voyage home.

The first African trading ship Clarkson boarded was not a slave ship. However, it has a dramatic impact upon Clarkson. The Lively had arrived from Africa with an exotic cargo of ivory, beeswax, palm oil, pepper and beautifully woven and dyed cloth. Clarkson realised that many of the goods had been produced by skilled craftsmen and was horrified to think that these people might be made slaves. Clarkson bought samples of everything and added to this collection over the following years. Clarkson kept these products in a small trunk and used the contents to demonstrate the ingenuity of Africans and the possibilities that existed for a humane trading system.

When Clarkson first stepped on the deck of a slave ship, the Fly, he saw the dark hold, protected by gratings, where the slaves had been packed. The conditions that the slaves had to endure on ships such as these filled him with such horror, sadness and anger that he quickly left the ship, too upset too continue.

The society was able to persuade William Wilberforce, the MP for Hull, to be their spokesman in parliament. Wilberforce was wealthy, influential and an excellent public speaker. He was close friends with the Prime Minister, William Pitt. Wilberforce was able to use his contacts to try and set up a parliamentary investigation into the slave trade. Clarkson and Wilberforce agreed to meet often.

Clarkson has been portrayed in modern times as a man who ‘worked for’ and ‘took orders’ from the Committee. However, no such commands appear in the official records. It is clear that Clarkson played a crucial role in shaping the direction of the movement. Clarkson dominates much of the business. His writings are treated as the most important that the Committee publish and are the most widely distributed.

In their biography of their father (published in 1838), Wilberforce’s sons put forward the view the Wilberforce directed the Committee from the very start and provided its sense of direction. This does not appear to have been the case. Wilberforce never identified himself closely with the Abolition Committee. The goal was the same but Wilberforce and the Committee each made a distinctive contribution.

Clarkson made a number of important contributions to the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade over the next seven years.

(1) RESEARCH

Clarkson worked hard to collect as much evidence as possible that would prove how badly slaves were treated. His research was used by Wilberforce in parliament to raise awareness of the horrors of the slave trade. Wilberforce quickly became the voice of the anti-slavery cause in parliament and was able to make it a topic of hot debate. Meanwhile, Clarkson’s travels would take him 35,000 miles around the country and make him one of the best known men in the kingdom. He spent the summer and autumn months touring the slave ports and drumming up support for the anti-slavery cause in towns across the country. The rest of his time was spent in Wisbech or London writing up his findings and keeping in touch with local anti-slavery groups.

Clarkson interviewed thousands of sailors and managed to obtain equipment used in the slave trade, such as iron handcuffs, leg shackles, branding irons, thumbscrews and instruments for forcing open slaves’ jaws. Perhaps the most famous illustration of a plan of a slave ship (‘Brookes’) showing the cramped conditions comes from one of his books.

Clarkson faced a lot of opposition. The slave traders had friends in high places. Members of the royal family and some bishops were against abolishing the slave trade. Many people were making a great deal of money from the slave trade.

Clarkson’s work was also very dangerous. Most of his meetings with informants had to take place secretly in darkness. Slave traders and sailors often threatened Clarkson. In 1787 on a visit to Liverpool he had a lucky escape from a gang of sailors paid to assassinate him. Clarkson was attacked and nearly thrown overboard but managed to escape with his life. When Clarkson investigated the death of a seaman, Peter Green, who was flogged and had his brains beaten out by his captain, Clarkson was told that he was ‘now so hated that he would be torn to pieces’ if he ever tried to bring the case to trial.

(2) FINDING WITNESSES

Clarkson’s also attempted to try and find witnesses that would appear before parliament. Clarkson often struggled to find people who were willing to give evidence against the slave trade. However, he was very determined and refused to give in. For example, in 1790 he visited 317 ships in London, Portsmouth and Plymouth in three weeks, in search of a sailor who had crucial evidence about the capture of slaves, and about whom he only had a rough description. 

(3) ORGANISING LOCAL PRESSURE GROUPS

Clarkson also aimed to organise local groups that could put pressure on the government to abolish the slave trade. Clarkson worked hard to rally support for his anti-slavery campaign. He organised many petitions and helped local groups raise money to support the cause. Clarkson inspired and educated supporters of the campaign. In Manchester, for example, after he gave a speech at the Collegiate Church in 1787 a petition in favour of banning the slave trade was signed by 11,000 people (this was more than a fifth of the town’s population). Clarkson also encouraged the public to boycott goods such as sugar which had been produced by slaves. It is estimated that during this period 300,000 people boycotted sugar produced in the West Indies. Clarkson managed to gain a great deal of public support for the campaign to stop the slave trade. In 1792, 519 petitions opposing the slave trade were sent to Parliament.

1787: BRISTOL

In 1787 Clarkson visited Bristol. He wanted to know about the state of trade with Africa, including the trade in timber and ivory, as well as the slave trade. He also wanted to find out about conditions on the slave ships.

Clarkson’s contact was a Quaker named Harry Gandy, who as a youth had sailed on two slaving voyages to Sierra Leone. At first, information was easy enough to come by and Clarkson soon collected a thick catalogue of horrors, involving cruelty to slaves and British seamen.

On one occasion he boarded two small ships that were being fitted out to carry slaves from Africa to the West Indies. He measured the space for the 100 slaves and calculated that only three square feet had been allocated for each adult.

Clarkson also met two surgeons who had worked on the slave ships. James Arnold told Clarkson of the savage beatings given to slaves. When two victims rebelled one was shot and the other fatally scolded with hot fat. Arnold promised to keep a journal for Clarkson on his next voyage on the ship ‘The Ruby’. Clarkson used this diary as evidence against the slave trade.

Alexander Falconbridge had been on four slave ship voyages. For the last two years he had been working as a doctor in Bristol. Falconbridge, along with Harry Gandy, was willing to go to London to testify before parliament. Falconbridge’s ‘An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa’ (written essentially by Richard Phillips) was published by the Committee in 1788. It was blunt, factual and proved to be very influential.

1787: LIVERPOOL

Leaving Bristol, Clarkson pressed on to Liverpool, stopping at major towns along the way (such as Gloucester, Worcester and Chester) to contact local clergymen, mayors and publishers who might support his campaign.

Illustration of handcuffs and leg shackles, bought in a Liverpool shop. From Clarkson’s History of the...Abolition of the African Slave Trade, 1807.

Whilst in Liverpool, Clarkson went to see the poet and writer Edward Rushton who had once been an officer on a slave ship. Rushton had been saved from drowning by a slave and had befriended the slaves in return. Rushton described in detail to Clarkson the evils of the trade and agreed to sign his statement. Another valuable source of information was Robert Norris, a retired slave captain and now a leading merchant. He gave Clarkson the manuscript of a voyage to Africa which contained many examples of cruelty in the trade.

Clarkson was joined by Falconbridge in Liverpool but they found few people willing to testify. Many people were scared to provide evidence because they feared that their houses would be pulled down in revenge by supporters of the slave trade.

It became increasingly dangerous for Clarkson to stay in Liverpool. When Clarkson investigated the death of a seaman, Peter Green, he was told that he was ‘now so hated that he would be torn to pieces and his lodgings burned down’ if he ever tried to bring the case to trial. Green, serving as a steward on a slave ship off the African coast, had been accused of assault by a black woman interpreter who belonged to the ship’s owners. Green had refused to give her the keys to the ship’s wine store. The captain flogged Green for two and a half hours, ripping his back open with the cat-of-nine tails and beating his brains out with a knotted rope. Green was still alive when he was cut down but was then shackled and lowered into a small boat alongside the ship. He was found dead the next morning.

This case illustrated how British seamen as well as the African slaves were victims of the slave trade. When Clarkson checked the records he found that Green was one of 16 seamen who died on the slave ship’s voyage. Using records collected in London and Liverpool, Clarkson estimated that one in five British seamen who served on slave ships died on their voyage. This statistic shocked the public and became one of the abolitionist’s most successful arguments against the trade.

Clarkson also had a lucky escape from a gang of sailors that seem to have been paid to assassinate him. Clarkson was alone on a pierhead when he was attacked by eight or nine men who attempted to shove him towards the end of the pier. Clarkson believed that the gang was determined to throw him into the sea and make it look like an accident. Fortunately he was able to push one of the gang to the ground and despite being hit by the others he was able to break through and escape.