Event    From 25/3/1807  To 1/8/1834

Abolition of slavery

The British abolition of slavery came in two parts: first the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act became law on 25 March 1807, which left slavery itself still permitted until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 which caused all slaves in the British Empire to be emancipated on 1 August 1834. The slaves in India and Ceylon were not freed until Britain took over from the East India Company in 1843.

Compensation was paid, but to the owners, not the slaves. Meticulous records were kept and have been analysed at Legacies of British Slave-ownership.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Abolition of slavery

Commemorated ati

Aboliton of slavery - SE1

{The statue stands at one end of a long composite stone slab inlaid with a de...

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Bronze Woman

This was the first statue of a black woman to be on permanent display anywher...

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Buxton Memorial Fountain

Due to strong shadows it was only on our fourth visit that we managed to take...

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Gilt of Cain - Slave trade

This sculpture, 'Gilt of Cain', was unveiled by Bishop Tutu in commemoration ...

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Holy Trinity Clapham - Clapham Sect

The damage on this plaque is the result of WW2 bombs.

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Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake

Sea captain, explorer and pirate. Born in Crowndale, near Tavistock, Devon. He spent his formative years in the house of his cousin Sir John Hawkins and by 1565 was voyaging to Guinea and the Spani...

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6 memorials
Ellen Craft

Ellen Craft

Slavery abolitionist. Born in Clinton, Georgia. She and her husband William were enslaved and escaped to the north of America. Although born of mixed-race parents she was very light skinned and, dr...

Person, Race Issues, USA

2 memorials
Alford Gardner

Alford Gardner

Windrush Pioneer. Alford Dalrymple Gardner was a Jamaican-born "Windrush generation" emigrant and co-founder of the first Caribbean cricket club in Britain. Served in the RAF in WW2. The Guardian,...

Person, Race Issues, Sport / Games, Jamaica

1 memorial
Edward Owen Greening

Edward Owen Greening

Co-operative movement activist and social reformer. Born at Warrington, Lancashire. He joined the Anti-Slavery Society and was a supporter of the Northern cause in the American civil war. His invol...

Person, Race Issues, Social Welfare

1 memorial
William Ewart Gladstone

William Ewart Gladstone

Born in Liverpool. Liberal Prime Minister four times. One of the Commissioners for the Great Exhibition. Queen Victoria moaned that "He speaks to me as if I were a public meeting". Caroline's Misce...

Person, Jack the Ripper suspects, Politics & Administration, Race Issues, Seriously Famous

10 memorials