History
The first Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1823 and was committed to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire, which was substantially achieved in 1838 under the terms of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. In 1839, English activist Joseph Sturge formed a successor organisation, British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (today known as Anti-Slavery International), which worked to outlaw slavery in other countries.
In 1840, a large international conference was organised in London that attracted delegates from around the world (including from the United States of America, in the South of which slavery was at times referred to as "our peculiar institution") to the Freemasons' Hall, London on June 12, 1840. Many delegates were notable abolitionists, with Thomas Clarkson the key speaker, and the image of the meeting was captured in a remarkable painting that still hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London. Delegates included
- George William Alexander (Treasurer)
- William Allen
- Saxe Bannister (Australian)
- Rev. Thomas Binney
- James G. Birney (delegate from the United States)
- Samuel Bowly
- Sir John Bowring
- George Bradburn (American)
- Rev. William Brock
- Sir Thomas Buxton
- Anne Isabella, Baroness Byron
- Thomas Clarkson (key speaker)
- Josiah Conder
- Daniel O'Connell (Irish)
- John Ellis
- Josiah Forster
- Robert Kaye Greville
- William Forster
- Elizabeth Fry
- Samuel Gurney
- John Howard Hinton
- John Angell James
- Rev. Joseph Ketley (Guyana)
- William Knibb
- Dr. Stephen Lushington, M.P.
- Dr. Richard Robert Madden (Irish)
- James Mott (American)
- Lucretia Mott (American)
- Amelia Opie
- Wendell Phillips (American)
- Samuel Jackman Prescod (Barbados)
- John Scoble (Canada)
- Joseph Sturge (founder)
- George Thompson, and
- Sir John Eardley-Wilmot, Bart., M.P.
Read more about this topic: Anti-Slavery International
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