THE Slavery Abolition Act 1833 (citation 3 & 4 Will. IV c. 73) was an 1833 Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire (with the exceptions ‘of the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company’, the ‘Island of Ceylon’, and ‘the Island of Saint Helena’, which exceptions were eliminated in 1843). The Act was repealed in 1998 as part of a wider rationalisation of English statute law, but later anti-slavery legislation remains in force.
In 1772, Lord Mansfield’s judgement in the Somersett’s Case emancipated a slave in England, which helped launch the movement to abolish slavery. While slavery was unsupported by law in England and Scotland and no authority could be exercised on slaves entering English or Scottish soil, this did not yet apply to the rest of the British Empire.
In 1785, English poet William Cowper wrote: “We have no slaves at home – Then why abroad? Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their lungs receive our air, that moment they are free. They touch our country, and their shackles fall. That’s noble, and bespeaks a nation proud. And jealous of the blessing. Spread it then, and let it circulate through every vein.”
By 1783, an anti-slavery movement to abolish the slave trade throughout the Empire had begun among the British public.
In 1808, after Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act of 1807, the Royal Navy established the West Africa Squadron. The squadron’s task was to suppress the Atlantic slave trade by patrolling the coast of West Africa. It did suppress the slave trade, but did not stop it entirely. It is possible that, when slave ships were in danger of being captured by the Royal Navy, some captains may have ordered the slaves to be thrown into the sea to reduce the fines they had to pay. Between 1808 and 1860 the West Africa Squadron captured 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans.
Notwithstanding what had been done to suppress the trade, further measures were soon discovered to be necessary, and in 1823, the Anti-Slavery Society was founded. Members included Joseph Sturge, Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce, Henry Brougham, Thomas Fowell Buxton, Elizabeth Heyrick, Mary Lloyd, Jane Smeal, Elizabeth Pease and Anne Knight.
During the Christmas holiday of 1831, a large-scale slave revolt in Jamaica known as the Baptist War broke out. It was organised originally as a peaceful strike by Baptist minister Samuel Sharpe. The rebellion was suppressed by the militia of the Jamaican plantocracy and the British garrison ten days later in early 1832. Because of the loss of property and life in the 1831 rebellion, the British Parliament held two inquiries. The results of these inquiries contributed greatly to the abolition of slavery with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
A successor organisation to the Anti-Slavery Society was formed in London in 1839, which worked to outlaw slavery in other countries. Its official name was the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. The world’s oldest international human rights organisation, it continues today as Anti-Slavery International.
In British Guiana, now Guyana, Reverend John Smith, born June 27, 1790, and died February 6, 1824, played an integral part in the movement that led to the abolition of slavery.
Reverend Smith graced the shores of British Guiana to fulfill his desire and interest in foreign missions.
The aim of the London Missionary Society, established as a result of the Abolition Movement in England, was to teach Christianity with particular emphasis on the Africans from Sierra Leone, West Africa. Later, the initiative extended to include British colonies in the Caribbean from 1807.
As such, Smith’s appointment to the colony of British Guiana was no surprise. This would be his first and only assignment, since his tenure here was followed by his death in 1824.
Arriving in British Guiana in February 1817, Reverend Smith and his wife were designated to Plantation Le Ressouvenir. There, he replaced Reverend John Wray at the Bethel Chapel, which was constructed by Hermanus Post in the interest of the religious instruction of the slaves.
Attracting a wide cross-section of the slave population, his congregation increased rapidly, since Smith’s teachings resonated well with the plight of the slaves, with whom he would eventually develop a close bond and friendship.
This informality and bond between the slaves and Reverend Smith proved to be his ultimate downfall, as it was alleged that he was involved in the organization of the Demerara Rebellion in 1823.
He was further charged with having incited the rebellion and promoting discontent among the slaves, and failing to notify the authorities of the slaves’ intention to rebel.
He was subsequently convicted and sentenced to death. He, however, died of natural causes while awaiting a Royal reprieve. He was laid to rest in an unmarked grave in the cemetery where the St. Philip’s Church now stands.
His legacy in death gave great impetus to the abolition movement, which the Reverend himself promoted by writing to the London Missionary Society denouncing the state of the slaves in the colony.
Although Smith is simply a public figure, he is a figure who deserves to be recognized, as he has contributed greatly to the development and spiritual education of the slaves. Among the very first to be allowed to minister to the slaves, Smith taught them reading and writing among other skills.
Twenty years hence, on November 24, 1843, the foundation stone was laid for the construction of the Smith’s Memorial Congregational Church in recognition of his contributions to the social development of the slaves and the abolition movement.
British colonials played a heinous role in the slave trade and the practice of enslaving humans; but it is largely great, good-hearted men and women of the British Empire who fought relentlessly for the abolition of slavery. While history remembers with abhorrence the slave trade and slave masters; equally, however, should be a recognition of these monumental figures who prevailed against great odds to ensure that future generations of the African diaspora walk on a path to freedom.
However, slavery is relative, and sometimes the free descendants of enslaved antecedents prefer to remain enshackled to new-age slavemasters, many times leaders of their own race, who ensnare their minds into irrational and reckless self-destructive behaviour. For the descendants of the slaves of yesteryear, the only way to honour their memories is to free the mind of all negatives and embrace the positives in their existential constructs.