Manchester and the Abolition of the
Slave Trade

Manchester can take pride in having played an important part in the abolition of the slave trade from the earliest days of the organised abolition movement up to the passing of the abolition bill in 1807

Manchester was far from disinterested in the slave trade. Unlike Liverpool, which had significant interests in the shipping of human cargo, Manchester's interest was in the currency of the trade. Raw cotton from slave plantations paid for the slaves and kept Manchester's machines busy while the finished products were used as currency to purchase slaves from the African traders. There was, indeed, a specific branch of production called "Africa goods" whose name clearly identifies their purpose.

Despite this interest in the trade, the people of Manchester were quick to recognise the immorality of the slave trade. The Quaker Thomas Clarkson, who may be considered the father of the abolition movement, preached in Manchester in 1787. His words fell on a receptive audience and a committee was soon formed to organise the movement in the town. Support bridged both political and religious divisions but was not, of course, universal. Many owners of businesses concerned in the trade opposed its abolition. These particularly included dyers and printers involved in the production of finished goods for the African market. They probably also included a high proportion of those eligible to vote.

Previous to the Great Reform Act of 1832, Manchester did not return its own Member of Parliament. Two members represented the county of Lancashire as a whole. Furthermore, the franchise was only granted to those who held freehold property with a rental value exceeding two pounds per annum. The total number of voters was probably only a couple of thousand out of a population numbering 60-70,000. Given this lack of a political voice, a common means of informing Parliament of the wishes of the people was to raise a petition. Petitions were raised in 1788 by many towns in support of William Wilberforce's first bill to abolish the slave trade. Manchester's was the largest and contained 10,639 signatures. Wilberforce was, of course, unsuccessful, but persisted in bringing the issue before the house. A further petition was raised by Manchester in 1792 and this attracted almost double the number of signatures. Unfortunately, neither petition has survived, both were lost in the fire which destroyed the old parliament buildings in 1834. In this same year of 1792, Manchester's committee also promoted a boycott of West Indies sugar, the important product of slave plantations.

Support for abolition grew steadily until in 1806, a new act was presented which would abolish the slave trade into foreign ports, particularly those of colonies belonging to Britain's enemies. This received broad support in the House of Commons and was sent to the Lords where it was also well received. The prospect that the trade might be severely limited encouraged many of Manchester's manufacturers to raise a petition to the House of Lords setting out their concerns that abolition would cause a severe loss of trade resulting in widespread unemployment and urging their Lordships to reject the bill. The petition was signed by something over 400 people, many signing in the name of their companies.

Whether this petition was prepared in secret is unclear, but once its existence became known, those supporting abolition moved quickly to raise a counter-petition. This was presented to the Lords by Lord Derby, who indicated that "...had time allowed, at least double the number of signatures would have been obtained." In the event, 2,348 people had signed the petition in the few days available. The act passed into law soon afterwards. The passage of this act demonstrated a clear shift in opinion and within the year, total abolition of the trade was achieved, the final act passing into law on 25 March 1807.

We are fortunate that these latter two petitions were addressed to the Lords and as a result survived the 1834 fire. The manufacturers' petition opposing the bill consists of a single page with 111 signatures. This conflicts with contemporary accounts and it seems possible that a second page has gone missing. The petition supporting abolition consists of nine large pages stitched together into a document somewhat over 5 metres in length.

Earlier this year, David Prior of the Parliamentary Archives sought the assistance of Manchester & Lancashire FHS to transcribe the names from the two petitions. Images of the pages were e-mailed to several volunteers and the resulting transcriptions checked and reassembled in a database. It has been possible to identify the majority of those who signed the petition against abolition and about 20% of those who signed in support of the act using contemporary trade directories and some other sources. Images of the petitions and lists of the names which appear have been published on a new web site concerned with Parliament and the British Slave Trade created by the 24 Hour Museum.

One of the goals of the project was to identify descendants of the signatories. There has already been at least one conclusive connection established by a MLFHS member and several others are believed to be likely. It is hoped that as the site becomes better known, more people will recognise their ancestors in the lists of names.

John Marsden 26 March 2007