I recently read a biography of William Wilberforce by Stephen Tomkins. Wilberforce is the revered nineteenth-century British MP who worked hard to end the slave trade. But I wanted to know more about the anti-slavery movement in England and more about the others involved.
Bury the Chains by Adam Hochschild is a comprehensive study of the subject. It begins in 1787 with a group of twelve men meeting in a London printing shop and continues through the total abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire in the summer of 1833. And then it goes on through the death of Thomas Clarkson, the last of the original twelve.
The book highlights the efforts of the enslaved as well, with chapters on the revolts in the French and British West Indies. It includes the attempts at settling freed slaves in a colony in Sierra Leone – right next to a slave-trading hub.
Although Wilberforce is given his due, this book makes clear that he was only one of many. And, in fact, although his dedication to ending the slave trade never wavered, he was a proponent of very cautious, gradual change, believing in the supremacy of white aristocrats like himself. He was happy to give charity, but shuddered at the thought of equality.
The importance of women’s groups is also stressed, especially in progressing from ending the slave trade to abolishing slavery altogether.
It is a difficult book to read, both because of the large amount of information conveyed and because it so clearly demonstrates the cruelty, greed, and hypocrisy of those in charge. But it is well worth the effort.
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