Group 2 - Thomas Clarkson & Granville Sharp

Group Members - Sherelle Harripersad, Waliyah Dan, Khadija Robinson, Aaliyah

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Thomas Clarkson

Biodata

Thomas Clarkson was born the eldest of three children on March 28, 1760 in
Wisbech, Cambridge shire. His father, Reverend John Clarkson was the
headmaster of the Wisbech Grammar School and a Church of England priest. He
married Catherine Buck in 1796 and they had one child together who died before
Clarkson.  

He attended the school which his father worked at and moved on to enroll in St.
Paul’s School. For university, he received his B.A at St John’s College Cambridge
University under a scholarship. After graduation in 1783 he remained to prepare
himself to be a clergyman. 

While attending Cambridge, Clarkson entered a Latin essay competition. The topic
was ‘Anne liceat invitos in servitutem dare’ which translates to ‘Is it lawful to
enslave the unconsenting?’ Conducting proper research and writing the essay
opened Clarkson’s eyes to the inhumane acts practiced in slavery. He discovered
works by a Quaker abolitionist named Anthony Benezet and concluded that no
person should be considered the property of another against their will. As he wrote
“as all were originally free: as nature made every man's body and mind his own; it
is evident that no just man can be consigned to slavery, without his own consent."
He won the competition but his deep shock of what he found changed his career
path forever. Thomas Clarkson went from training to be a clergyman to becoming
a slave abolitionist.

He was introduced to the anti-slavery movement by a Quaker. They had been

working within this movement for a number of years both in Britain and in
America. They helped publish a translation of his essays which was brought out by
the Quaker bookseller James Phillips in 1786. The pamphlet was entitled “An
Essay of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the
African”. Clarkson’s essay drew the attention of many people, including Granville
Sharp. 
The Committee for the Abolition of Slave Trade

Thomas Clarkson, alongside Granville Sharp aided in forming the Committee of

Abolition of Slave Trade which member consisted mainly of Quakers. Nine of the
original twelve members were Quakers and five went on to play a central role. On
22 May 1787 the committee was formally established. A member of parliament,
William Wilberforce, was recruited to the cause and by 1787 had agreed to bring
his concerns about slavery before the House of Commons. 

He contributed by gathering information from ports, usually Liverpool and Bristol,

which would be used in the antislavery campaign led by William Wilberforce. For
visual aid, he collected examples of equipment used on slave trading ships like
branding irons and shackles. He also gathered witnesses to the harsh reality of
slavery who were mainly sailors who worked on these slave trading ships.
However, he faced considerable opposition from the supporters of the trade. Slave
traders were a wealthy and influential group. Their trade produced prosperity and
wealth and was legitimate at that time. In Liverpool he was set upon by a gang of
sailors who had been paid to assassinate him and was fortunate to escape alive. In
that year he published the pamphlet: "A Summary View of the Slave Trade and of
the Probable Consequences of Its Abolition". 

In 1789, he travelled to Paris to convince the French government to abolish slave

trade. This trip was unsuccessful. Between 1791 and 1792, Clarkson's brother John
was involved in an attempt to establish a settlement of former slaves in Sierra
Leone, West Africa.

Clarkson’s work with the Quakers affected his religion and by 1795 he had
renounced his Anglican orders although he never became a Quaker.

The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery

Due to health problems, Clarkson retired from the abolitionist campaign and got
married. In 1804, he revived his career with others and The Slave Trade Act was
passed in 1807. The Slave Trade Act prohibited the purchase, sale or barter of a
person. In the year that followed, Clarkson published his book, 'History of the
Abolition of the African Slave Trade.'
Still unsatisfied with the government’s reluctance to abolish the entire system of
slavery, Clarkson banded with other abolitionist and founded The Society for the
Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery in 1823. He served as their vice
president. In that same year, Clarkson and Wilberforce joined again to form a
campaign to end slavery.

He continued to work for the abolition of slavery in the British Empire and the act
was passed in 1833.

After The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery

The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery later became the
Anti-Slavery Society. In 1839, it was succeeded by the British and Foreign Anti-
Slavery Society. The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society sponsored the first
World Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840 and Thomas Clarkson served
as its key speaker. His opening remarks that day were commemorated in a painting
now displayed in the National Portrait Gallery located in London.

He died on 26th September 1846. He was not immediately commemorated in

Westminster Abbey, which as a leading abolitionist was surprising. It is said that
this was out of consideration for the susceptibilities of his Quaker friends. A large
memorial was erected in 1880 at Wisbech. In 1996 a tablet was placed in
Westminster Abbey close to the Wilberforce monument.

Granville Sharp

Biodata

Granville Sharp was born on November 10, 1735, in Durban to Thomas Sharp an
Archdeacon of Northumberland. He was the ninth child of fourteen siblings.
Granville Sharp was educated mostly at home and also attended Durham School
due to lack of funds to take care of his education. At age fifteen, Granville Sharp
served as an apprentice to a London linen-draper. As a young chap, Granville
Sharp loved to argue but usually did not find debaters at his workplace. Those who
showed interest in the field spoke different languages, so Sharp had to learn Greek
and Hebrew to debate well. In 1757, Granville Sharp ended his apprenticeship. He,
however, lost both parents just a year after his apprenticeship.

 Career

Granville Sharp gained employment as a Clerk in the Ordnance Office at the

Tower of London in 1757. His new position afforded him time to delve into other
things other fields being scholarly or intellectual. With his interest in music,
Granville Sharp collaborated with his other siblings who also shared the same
interest to form a family orchestra. They performed at William’s house and in the
family sailing barge, Apollo in Fulham. They performed fortnightly in the sailing
badge from1775 to 1783.
 
Activism
Granville Sharp interest in activism arouses when he met Strong, a slave who has
been beaten and cast onto the streets by his master lawyer, David Lisle. Granville
Sharp took an interest in his case and after helping to treat Strong of his injuries,
sought justice for him. With this Granville Sharp learned the English laws and
delved into parts which talked about the rights and liberty of individuals. After
several legal banters between Granville Sharp and Lisle, Strong was given his
freedom and lived the rest of his life as a free man.
After the case Granville Sharp took a strong position against slavery and for the
rest of his life will fight for the abolition of slavery spoke against social and legal
injustice. He fought for several other slaves in the country, but since England was
at the time the worst accomplice when it comes to slave trading, most of the cases
did not go in his favor, and some became undetermined by the court. One
important success that was chalked by Granville Sharp was in the James Somerset
case. Sharp was contacted on January 13, 1772, to help Somerset, a runaway slave
from Virginia who has been caught and was to be sailed to Jamaica for sale.
Somerset came to England with his master Charles Stewart in 1769 and on October
1771 took to his heels only to be caught by slave hunters after 56 days.
As Granville Sharp was set for sails, three Londoners applied for habeas corpus to
Lord Mansfield. Somerset received support from the public in terms of funds for
the payment of his legal team. With Granville Sharp knowledge in the English law
on liberty, Granville Sharp briefed Somerset's lawyers and at the end, the judgment
delivered on June 22, 1772, went in favor of Somerset. The judgment established
that any slave who was forcibly taken to England gains his freedom immediately
they set foot there. Granville Sharp was instrumental in the return of slaves to
Africa, Sierra Leone to be precise for a new settlement. Some of the settlers arrived
at what came to be Granville Town in May 1787. He was also involved in several
advocacies in other countries, especially in the United States of America.
Abolition
His campaign was championed by other individuals and groups who shared the
same interest. As he grew others like Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce and
the Clap ham Sect continued with the campaign. After the Act of Abolition was
passed by both by Parliament and as to be implemented on March 25, 1807,
Granville Sharp was grateful to the Lord and offered a thanksgiving prayer.
Granville Sharp was however not able to witness the full implementation of the
law and final abolishment as he died on July 6, 1813.
 
 
Honors
Granville Sharp was named after towns like Granville Town in Sierra Leone and
the free village of Granville in Jamaica. Granville Sharp was featured on the 50p
postal stamp of the Royal Mail during the commemoration of the 200thanniversary
of the abolition of slave trade in 2007. A memorial has been erected in
Westminster Abbey in his honor.
 
Works
Granville Sharp came out with several publications, including, A Representation of
the Injustice and Dangerous Tendency of Tolerating Slavery, 1769, A Declaration
of the People's Natural Right to a Share in the Legislature, in support of the
American colonists, 1774, and A Declaration of the People's Natural Right, in
support of both Americans and Irish, 1775. Others are The Just Limitation of
Slavery in the Laws of God, 1776, The Legal Means of Political Reformation1780,
Regulations for a New Settlement of Sierra Leone1786Free English Territory in
Africa, 1790 and A Letter to a Gentleman in Maryland respecting the extreme
Wickedness of tolerating the Slave Trade, 1793.
 
 
 
 
Bibliography 

Thomas Clarkson 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/clarkson_thomas.shtml
http://amistadresearchcenter.tulane.edu/archon/?p=creators/creator&id=617
https://web.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/speccoll/quakersandslavery/commentary/
people/clarkson.php

Grandville Sharp 
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp04061/granville-sharp
https://www.sunsigns.org/famousbirthdays/d/profile/granville-sharp/
https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/sharp_granville.shtml