Thomas Clarkson

Thomas Clarkson ( born March 28, 1760 Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, † September 26, 1846 in Ipswich ) was an opponent of slavery in England and one of the founders of the abolitionist movement.

Biography

Clarkson was educated at St John's College, Cambridge. In 1783 he was ordained a deacon. He won a 1785 advertised by the university theologian Peter Packard rhetoric competition on the theme "Is it lawful to enslave others against their will? " Two years later he founded the slavery opponents Granville Sharp, the printer James Phillips and some Quakers in London, the " Society for the Abolition of Slavery " ( Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade ), which was also called abolitionist movement. Initially, the movement fought only the slave trade, the movement of the member Olaudah Equiano had suffered firsthand. Clarkson performed extensive research in the port cities by, interviewed participants and collected material on human trafficking in the Atlantic slave trade. On the political enforcement of his goals, he used the contacts to the House of Representatives William Wilberforce. 1807, including the slave trade was abolished and Clarkson lived to see the final abolition of slavery in Britain in 1833.

The time of his famous English stage and marine painter Clarkson Frederick Stanfield got its name ' Clarkson ' by his parents out of admiration for Thomas Clarkson.