Thomas Clarkson
1760 – 1846 British Abolitionist campaigner
The researcher and organiser who gathered the evidence behind the British abolition campaign.
- Religion
- Anglican (Quaker-allied)
- Affiliations
- Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade
Thomas Clarkson devoted his life to abolition after winning a university prize essay on slavery convinced him of its evil. He rode thousands of miles gathering evidence, interviewing sailors, and collecting the instruments of the trade to expose its cruelty. A founder of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787, he supplied the facts that Wilberforce used in Parliament. He kept campaigning for decades, living to see slavery abolished across the empire.
Connections
- ally of Granville Sharp — Fellow founder of the abolition society.
- associate of Olaudah Equiano — Worked alongside him in the abolition campaign.
- associate of Olaudah Equiano — Worked with him to publicise the trade's horrors.
- ally of William Wilberforce — His tireless research partner in the abolition campaign.
- ally of William Wilberforce — Supplied the evidence for his parliamentary campaign.
In the timeline
- 1787 Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade founded a founder and chief investigator
- 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade the researcher behind the campaign
- 1807 Britain abolishes the slave trade the researcher behind the campaign