Student work

1. 1
Those against the slave trade

2. JAMES
RAMSAY
2
Seaman, Priest, Surgeon and Englishman
By Rory

3. LIFE BEFORE ABOLITIONISM
 Born in Fraser burgh, Scotland, to William Ramsay and
Margaret Ogilvie.
 Educated at King’s College in Aberdeen.
 Before he became a fierce Abolitionist, James Ramsay was
a Sailor in the Navy. When his Ship intercepted a Slaver,
and found over a hundred slaves living in inhumane
conditions, Ramsay was effected for life.
 Later, he suffered a fracture to his thigh bone while
working at sea, and retired from the Navy, remaining lame
for the rest of his life.
 Afterwards, he took up Priesthood, and journeyed to the
Caribbean Isle of St Christopher.
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4. ABOLITIONISM
 There, his Abolitionist work would begin. He made considerable
efforts to better the lives of the Slaves there, leading to him being
the subject of much antagonism by the local Slavers, due to his
apparent ‘Disruption’ of the Work.
 Afterwards, when he left St Christopher, he published a novel
about the horrors of Slavery he had witnessed, entitled: An Essay
on the Treatment and Conversion of African Slaves in the British
Sugar Colonies and joined an anti-Slaving group of influential
politicians, philanthropists and clergy, based out of Teston.
 After the publishing of his book, he was repeatedly the victim of
slander, with many accusations from threatened Slavers being
thrown against him.
 He met with the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger, on
several occasions.
 He did not live to see Slave Trade abolished, as he died in 1789,
and was buried at Teston. However, his Legacy lives on in the 4
common belief that he attributed to the eventual abolition more
than any other one person.

5. TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE
By Ben
Toussaint had a large influence on the end of slavery in the British
Empire. He was the leader of history's largest slave revolt that
transformed the French colony of St Domingue into the
independent country of Haiti. 5

6. Toussaint L'Ouverture was initially against the rebellion
and the bloodshed. In fact he protected his master’s
plantation and helped him escape. When a slave revolt
broke out in the Northern Province in August 1791, he
travelled to the camp. He found the rebels very
unorganised. He trained a guerrilla force of his own. In
1793, he became an aide to Georges Biassou (an early
leader of the 1791 slave rising). His army proved
successful against the European troops. When France
and Spain went to war in 1793, his army joined the
Spaniards.
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7. THE SLAVE TRADE
In 1793, at war with France, Britain
tried to capture St Domingue. The
attempt ended in a costly and
humiliating failure. By forcing British
troops to withdraw in 1798,
L'Ouverture showed British officers
what determined military opponents
enslaved people fighting for their
freedom could be. Of the more than
20,000 British soldiers sent to St
Domingue during five years of
fighting, over 60% died during the
conflict. Some of the surviving
officers returned home as abolitionists
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8. TOUSSAINT
L’OUVERTURE
Although there is a large body
of visual materials depicting the
Haitian revolution, there are no
existing portraits drawn from life
of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the
hero of the revolution.
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9. James Stephan by Ali
James Stephan is a politician who was born in the year 1758, 30th of June.
James Stephan started out as a reporter on parliamentary proceedings.
He then visited Barbados and witnessed the trial of 4 black slaves for murder, the men
were sentenced to death by burning. James Stephan thought this was wrong, and he
swore to himself that he will never keep a slave. He then allied with the abolitionist
movement.
Stephan was a skilled lawyer whose specialty was the laws governing Great Britain's
foreign trade. He defended the mercantilist system. In October 1805, his book
appeared It called for the abolition of neutral nations' carrying trade, meaning
America's carrying trade, between France’s Caribbean islands and Europe, including
Great Britain. Stephen's arguments two years later became the basis of Great Britain's
orders in council, which placed restrictions on American vessels. The enforcement of
this law by British warships eventually led to the war in 1812, even though the Orders
were repealed in the same month that America declared war.
James’s second wife was called Sarah, and because of this marriage, he became
acquainted with many of the figures in the anti slavery movement. Several of his
friendships were made in Clapham, he also had a few other connections in the village
of Stoke Newington, a few miles north of London.
James Stephan became the chief architect of the slave trade act 1807, providing
William Wilberforce with the legal mastermind he needed for drafting. 9

10. • Mary Prince (c. 1788-c. 1833) was a woman who was put into the slave
trade and wrote a book during and about her experience. It came out in
1831, two years before her death.
• No images exist of her, but many illustrations of other subjects are in her
book.
• She was born to slaves in Bermuda, and was first the property of Charles
Myners, then, when he died, Captain Williams.
• She worked domestically and in fields.
• Mary quotes: “To strip me naked - to hang me up by the wrists and lay my
flesh open with the cow-skin, was an ordinary punishment for even a slight
offence.”
• She was then sold to John Wood for $300, and attended meetings at the
Moravian Church: “The Moravian ladies (Mrs. Richter, Mrs. Olufsen, and
Mrs. Sauter) taught me to read in the class; and I got on very fast. ”
• She then escaped, worked under Thomas Pringle, and became a leading
activist for the anti-slave trade movement.
• Little is known about how she died, and all that is known of her life is
contained in that little book.
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By Billy

11. Elizabeth Heyrick (1789-1831): The Radical
Campaigner by Courtney
• Elizabeth Heyrick was born Elizabeth Coltman, in 1789, in Leicester. She married
a Methodist, John Heyrick, who died eight years later. Elizabeth became a
member of the Society of Friends and devoted herself to social reform.
• As well as becoming a prison visitor, she wrote political pamphlets about a range
of issues, from the Corn Laws to the harsh treatment of vagrants. However, her
overriding interest was in the abolition of slavery in the British colonies. Heyrick
began campaigning for a new sugar boycott in Leicester, with the help of Lucy
Townsend, Mary Lloyd, Sarah Wedgwood and Sophia Sturge.
• She visited all of the city's grocers to urge them not to stock slave-grown goods.
Her message was clear cut. She described the West India planters as being like
thieves and those who bought their produce, like
receivers of stolen goods. She asked, why petition
Parliament when we can take swifter action
ourselves? She wanted all slavery ended
forever. She criticized the mainstream
anti-slavery figures for being slow, cautious
and accommodating.
• In 1824, she published her pamphlet 'Immediate not
Gradual Abolition'. This differed from the official policy
of gradual abolition and William
Wilberforce gave out instructions for leaders of
the movement not to speak at women's
anti-slavery societies, most of which supported 11
Heyrick.

12. Elizabeth Heyrick (1789-1831): The Radical
Campaigner by Courtney
• However, her pamphlet was distributed and discussed at meetings all over the country. In
1830, the Female Society for Birmingham submitted a motion to the National Conference of
the Anti-Slavery Society calling for it to campaign for an immediate end to slavery in the
British colonies. Below are some extracts from her 1824 pamphlet:
• "The perpetuation of slavery in our West India colonies is not an abstract question, to be
settled between the government and the planters; it is one in which we are all implicated,
we are all guilty of supporting and perpetuating slavery. The West Indian planter and the
people of this country stand in the same moral relation to each other as the thief and
receiver of stolen goods."
• "The West Indian planters have occupied much too prominent a place in the discussion of
this great question. The abolitionists have shown a great deal too much politeness and
accommodation towards these gentlemen. "Why petition Parliament at all, to do that for us,
which we can do more speedily and effectually for ourselves?"
• Elizabeth suggested that the women's associations should withdraw their funding for the
Anti-Slavery Society, if it did not support this resolution. As the Female Society for
Birmingham was one of the largest donors to central funds, it was influential across the
whole network of ladies' associations, which supplied over a fifth of all donations.
• At the conference in May 1830, the Anti-Slavery Society agreed to drop the words "gradual
abolition" from its title and support the Female Society's plan for a new campaign calling for
the immediate end to slavery. Elizabeth Heyrick died in 1831 and therefore did not live to
see the passing of the 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act.
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13. JAMES RAMSAY
By Harvey
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14. As well as bringing to public notice the debate about the slave
trade. He contributed several further publications to the
campaign, including An Inquiry into the Effects of Putting a
Stop to the African Slave Trade, published 1784
Ramsay became part of the group of influential politicians,
philanthropists and churchmen based at Teston, and was
persuaded by Lady Middleton, the wife of Charles Middleton
and others to publish his account of the horrors of the slave
trade. They met at Barham Court. This was the first time that
the British public had read an anti-slavery work by a
mainstream Anglican writer who had personally witnessed
the suffering of the slaves on the West-Indian plantations.
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15. Quobna Ottobah Cugoano by Guilhem
• Ottobah was born in 1757 in Ghana and captured in 1770 to become a
slave. He was taken to the West Indies and spent a nearly a year in
Grenada as a slave. In 1772 he was bought by an English merchant and
taken to England. Here, he changed his name and became free. In 1784,
he was employed as a servant by artist Richard Cosway. It was here that
he began to learn about British politics and abolitionists.
• He joined the Sons of Africa abolitionist group and worked with Olaudah
Equiano and other Africans to stop slavery. In 1786 he was involved with
the Henry Denme case, a black man who had been kidnapped and being
sent to the West Indies. Ottobah managed to stop the ship from
departing at the very last minute.
• In 1787, Ottobah published his book. He was the first African to write a
critique about slavery. It demanded that slavery was to be completely
destroyed and slaves should be freed. It said that Africans also had their
right to resist against slavery.
• Still no one listened to him and slavery continued. In 1791, he wrote a
smaller book that told the idea of Britain building schools just for Africans
and other ideas against slavery.
• People do not know what happened to him after the release of his
second book…
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16. Anthony Benezet (1713-1784) by Will
• From the 1750s, Benezet became an avid opponent of slavery, He
insisted on the equality of all people and pointed out the high level of
culture, intelligence and industry of the native Africans. He wrote:
• "To live in ease and plenty by the toil of those whom violence and cruelty
have put in our power, is neither consistent with Christianity nor common
justice..."
• "I can with truth and sincerity declare, that I have found amongst the
negroes as great a variety of talents as amongst a like number of whites;
and I am bold to assert, that the notion entertained by some, that the
blacks are inferior in their capacities, is a vulgar prejudice, founded on
the pride of ignorance of their lordly masters, who have kept their slaves
at such a distance, as to be unable to form a right judgment of them."
• In 1754, he left the Friends' English School to set up the first public girls'
school in America. He was motivated by a genuine concern to do the
best for all his pupils. In an age intolerant of disabilities, Benezet was
compassionate enough to devise a special programme for one deaf and
dumb girl enrolled in his school, so she could share in the fellowship of
the school. He continued to teach black children from home until1770
when, with the support of the Society of Friends, he set up a school for
them at Philadelphia.
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17. The Quakers by Kat
• The Quakers fought against
slavery by organising anti
slavery committees across
the country.
• They joined forces with the
Anglicans to gain public
attention.
• Thomas Clarkson • Joseph Sturge went to the
organised the committees West Indies to investigate
and Quaker merchants and the conditions.
business men provided the • Sophia Sturge personally
movement’s financial advised 3,000 households
support. not to buy slave-grown
sugar. 17

18. Thomas Clarkson by Lauryn
• Thomas Clarkson was a abolitionist and a leading campaigner against
the slave trade in the British Empire. In his later years Clarkson
campaigned for the abolition of slavery worldwide. In 1840, he was the
key speaker at the Anti-Slave society (today known as Anti-Slavery
International) conference in London, which campaigned to end slavery in
other countries.
• Thomas Clarkson was absolutely central to the anti-slavery movement.
He helped organise the first meeting of the abolition committee in
London in 1787 and worked more than half a century after that against
the slave trade and slavery.
• He travelled and shared the news about slavery and told lots of people
about the situation. As he saw people he would give them a book or
would talk to them when he travelling around countries. He did this
because he didn't agree with slavery. He was against it . He organised a
campaign. He wanted slavery to stop.
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19. Mary Prince by Megan
Mary Prince was born in 1788 in Bermuda. She was born into
enslavement and she worked for a series of masters from the age of ten.
She was forced to work waist deep in salt ponds, where she suffered
from sun blisters, boils and sores on her legs. She was brought from
Antigua to England by her owners, Mr and Mrs John Wood, in 1828.
Slavery wasn’t legal though in England so she went to the Anti-Slavery
Society. In 1829 she tried to set up a petition so she could go back to
Antigua to live with her husband without
being enslaved, but she was unsuccessful.
Her life story was published by abolitionist
sympathisers in 1831. It was called
‘The History of Mary Prince’ and it attracted a
big readership. Nobody knows if Mary Prince
was allowed to go back home to her husband,
or if she died in Britain.
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20. Elizabeth Heyrick (1789-1831) by Morwenna
• In the early 1820’s British anti-slavery campaign started and the leaders
(all men) were very cautious in making rules and regulations in enslaving
people throughout the slave trade. Elizabeth Heywick thought differently
and thought that people should take action straight away. In 1824 she
sent out a leaflet about ‘Immediate, not Gradual Abolition.’ This sold
thousands over Britain.
• Elizabeth, A former school teacher from Leicester shocked lots of people
by honestly sympathising with the slave revolts. She claimed to the
people that it was self defence from the slave traders. Her bravery in
being so open touched a nerve and British Women’s anti-slavery
societies started nationwide. She campaigned with her societies to start
a boycott on sugar that was grown by slaves and
visited all groceries to urge the not to stock
slave-grown products. She wrote even more
leaflets and pamphlets’
advertising what was
happening in the slave trade. She did
everything she could to help the slave trade.
• She did this until she died in 1831.
• I think that she made a major difference to how
people saw the slave trade worked and stopped
grocery shops to stop buying and selling
slave-grown products. 20

21. James Ramsey By Nic
• On November 27th 1759 a
slave ship asked for help.
A dysentery killed many
people including the doctor
and James Ramsay was
the only volunteer.
• He saw the slaves in
agony and their blood on
the decks.
• I guess he pitted them
because he went to
America and became a
minister and campaigned
against slavery.
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