Federation Of Family History Societies

Manchester & Lancashire FHS and Parliamentary Archives Complete Joint Project

Manchester 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 Act in 1807. The town was far from disinterested in the slave trade, though unlike Liverpool, which had significant interests shipping the 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 their vested interest, the people of Manchester were quick to recognise the immorality of the slave trade. Thomas Clarkson, who may be considered the father of the abolition movement, preached in Manchester in 1787. His words found 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.
In 1788 many towns raised petitions 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 raised by Manchester in 1792 attracted almost double the number of signatures. Unfortunately, neither of these petitions 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, an important product of slave plantations.

Support for abolition grew steadily until in 1806, a new bill was raised 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 reputedly signed by something over 400 people, many signing in the name of the companies which they owned.

Whether this petition was prepared in secret is unclear, but once its existence became known, supporters of 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, an Act for the total abolition of the trade was achieved, 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 from FFHS to transcribe the names from the two petitions. FFHS put David in touch with John Marsden of Manchester & Lancashire FHS who readily accepted the challenge. Posting a request for volunteers on the Society's e-mail list, a dozen willing workers were secured within a few hours. Images of the pages were e-mailed to the volunteers and the resulting transcriptions checked and reassembled in a database.

To make the transcription more useful, efforts were made to identify those who signed the petitions. About 75% of the signatories of the petition against abolition and about 20% of those who signed in support of the act were identified using contemporary trade directories and other sources. Many of the names were unfortunately too commonplace to allow individuals to be identified with any certainty.

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 - http://slavetrade.parliament.uk/ - created by the 24 Hour Museum - http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/ The site was launched with a press day in the Gladstone Room in the Palace of Westminster on 23 March with David Prior and John Marsden in attendance and at which the two petitions, together with the landmark Act of 1807, were on display.

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.

The Act and the two petitions will be at the centre of a public exhibition, The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People to be held in Westminster Hall at the Houses of Parliament. The petitions will appear alongside the famous wooden chest and its contents used by Thomas Clarkson in his nationwide campaign for abolition. The free exhibition opens on 23 May and runs to 23 September 2007. and more details can be found at www.parliament.uk/slavetrade