Abolitionism in the United Kingdom
Abolitionism in the United Kingdom was the movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to end the practice of slavery, whether formal or informal, in the United Kingdom, the British Empire, and the world, including ending the Atlantic slave trade. It was part of a wider abolitionism movement in Western Europe and the Americas.
The buying and selling of slaves was made illegal across the British Empire in 1807, but owning slaves was permitted until it was outlawed completely in 1833, beginning a process where from 1834 slaves became indentured “apprentices” to their former owners until emancipation was achieved for the majority by 1840 and for remaining exceptions by 1843. Former slave owners received formal compensation for their losses from the British government, known as compensated emancipation.
Britain Emancipation Timeline in English History
1701: The Chief Justice rules that a slave becomes a free person as soon as he arrives in England.
1772: The Somersett case held that no slave could be forcibly removed from Britain and British lands. This case
decided that the condition of slavery that slavery did not exist under English law. This law emancipated the remaining
ten thousand slaves in England, who mainly served as domestic servants.
1787: The Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was founded.
1788: Sir William Dolben’s Act regulating the conditions on British slave ships was passed into law.
1805: The bill for Abolition passed in British Commons, but was rejected in the House of Lords.
1807: The Slave Trade Act abolished slave trading in British Empire. Captains fined £120 per slave that is traded
within the British Empire.
1807: British begin patrols of the African coast to arrest slaving vessels. The West Africa Squadron was established to
suppress slave trading. By 1865, 150,000 enslaved African people were freed by these anti-slavery actions and laws.
1811: Slave trading made a felony in the British Empire punishable by transportation for British subjects and
foreigners.
1818: Treaty between Britain and Spain to abolish the slave trade.
1834: The British Slavery Abolition Act comes into force, abolishing slavery throughout most of the British Empire.
Legally frees 700,000 in West Indies, 20,000 in Mauritius, and 40,000 in South Africa. The exceptions, territories
controlled by the Honourable East India Company and Ceylon, were liberated in 1843 when they became part of the
British Empire.
1835: Treaty between Britain and France to abolish the slave trade
1838t: Enslaved men, women, and children in the British Empire finally became free after a period of forced
apprenticeship following the passing of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833
1839: British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society founded, now called Anti-Slavery International
1841: Quintuple Treaty is signed; Britain, France, Russia, Prussia, and Austria agree to suppress the slave trade
1842: Treaty between Britain and Portugal to extend the enforcement of the ban on the slave trade to Portuguese ships
sailing south of the Equator.
1843: Treaty between Britain and Uruguay to suppress slave trade
1845: 36 British Royal Navy ships are assigned to the Anti-Slavery Squadron.