British parliamentary abolitionists: Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton and the political and cultural debate on abolitionism in the nineteenth century

This articlehighlights the activity of the Anti-Slavery Society and the role of parliament as the centre of British political life, providing a brief insight into petitions for human rights, and the ensuing parliamentary debates. In 1807 the British Parliament made the slave trade illegal, a significant milestone in the anti-slavery movement, but slavery remained an underlying principle of British colonial rule. In 1825, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton became the head of the anti-slavery party, continuing the struggle in Parliament until the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act freed all enslaved people in the British Empire. Buxton, however, considered the passing of the act to be the first in a series of parliamentary regulations, requiring approval and implementation. Buxton therefore continued the anti-slavery campaign until his death in 1845. In 1838 he published The African Slave Trade and Its Remedy, suggesting that the British government make treaties with rulers in Africa because political reform alone had eliminated neither the slave trade nor slavery itself. Other means had to be pursued, such as trade, commerce, and religious proselytism. Despite the fact that slavery was not eliminated in Buxton’s lifetime, his political career left an indelible mark on the history of the abolition movement.