Thomas Clarkson

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Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760–26 September 1846), abolitionist, was born at Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, England, and became a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire.

Clarkson was the son of Rev. John Clarkson (1710–1766), and attended the grammar school of which his father was headmaster, and went on to St Paul's School in London in 1775, after which he went up to St John's College, Cambridge in 1779, where he was an excellent student. He appears to have enjoyed his time at university, although he was also a serious, devout man. He received his B.A. degree in 1783 and was set to continue at Cambridge with the intention of following in his father’s footsteps and entering the church. He was, in fact, ordained deacon but never proceeded to priest's orders.

It was while he was in Cambridge, in 1785, that he entered a Latin essay competition which was to set him on the course that he would take for most of the rest of his life. The topic of the essay was Is it lawful to enslave the unconsenting? and it led Clarkson to consider the question of the slave trade, reading everything he could on the subject, including the works of Anthony Benezet. He was appalled and challenged by what he discovered – and it changed his life. He also researched the topic by meeting and interviewing those who had personal experience of the slave trade and slavery.

After winning the prize, Clarkson experienced what he called a spiritual revelation from God as he travelled on horseback between Cambridge and London, having broken his journey at Wadesmill, Hertfordshire. "A thought came into my mind, that if the contents of the Essay were true, it was time some person should see these calamities to their end'" (Clarkson, History, vol. 1). It was this experience that ordered him to devote his life to abolishing the trade.

Having translated the essay into English so that it could gain a wider audience, Clarkson published it in 1786 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.

The publication of the esssay had an immediate impact, and he was introduced to many others were sympathetic to the cause of abolishing slavery, some of whom had already published and campaigned against the slave trade. These included influential men like James Ramsay and Granville Sharp. The movement had been gathering strength for some years amongst Quakers in both Britain and the United States.

Partly due to the publication of Clarkson’s essay, an informal committee was set up with the aim of lobbying MPs. This was to lead, in May 1787, to the foundation of the Committee for Abolition of the African Slave Trade. The Committee was partly responsible for persuading William Wilberforce to lend his support – he was already known as an abolitionist, and had put a question about the slave trade before the House of Commons.

Clarkson was one of those who took a leading part in the affairs of the Committee and was given the responsibility for collecting information to support the abolition of the slave trade, and he spent the next two years riding around England gathering evidence by interviewing 20,000 sailors and obtaining equipment used on the slave-ships such as iron handcuffs, leg-shackles, thumb screws, instruments for forcing open slave's jaws and branding irons.

Thomas Clarkson’s research took him to English ports such as Bristol, Liverpool and London and his collection of evidence was vital in supporting the arguments of the abolitionists. In the next year he rode some 35,000 miles in search of evidence, seeing local anti-slave trade societies founded in the cities he visited.

In 1787 he published his pamphlet, A Summary View of the Slave Trade and of the Probable Consequences of Its Abolition.

In 1807 the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was eventually passed. It was not until 1833 that Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act giving all slaves in the British Empire their freedom.

Thomas Clarkson retired to Ipswich where he died on 26 September, 1846.

On that spot at Wadesmill a monument to Clarkson was erected in 1879 that reads: 'On this spot where stands this monument in the month of June 1785 Thomas Clarkson resolved to devote his life to bringing about the abolition of the slave trade.' Another monument, the Clarkson Memorial was erected in Wisbech to celebrate his life and works.

External links

[Brief Biography of Thomas Clarkson]
[Thomas Clarkson: biography and bibliography by Carey Brycchan (Part of his British Abolitionists project)]
[Works by Thomas Clarkson at the online library of liberty]
[The Louverture Project]: Thomas Clarkson - [Thoughts on The Haitian Revolution] Excerpt from a 1823 Clarkson book.

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