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Slavery in Leicestershire
Posted on 28/09/2007
Loughborough Newsdesk
In 1807 the Act to Abolish the Slave Trade throughout the British Empire marked the end of transatlantic traffic in human beings. A major exhibition to mark this bicentenary will be displayed at Charnwood Museum in Loughborough from 1st October to 28th November 2007.
The display has been produced by the Record Office for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland using their important set of papers which disclose local relations with the slave trade, and with individuals who struggled to eliminate slavery itself.
Whilst the impact of the abolition of slavery would appear to be greater at the towns and cities who dealt in the slave traffic there were families from our area who owned plantations overseas for which slaves were purchased and had to work. Records exist of these slaves and their ages.
Leicestershire was also where Elizabeth Heyrick was born, who with her friend Susannah Watts created the Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves and raised funds for the Antislavery Society. She also organised anti-slavery campaigns in Leicester, include a boycott on slave-grown sugar. To do this the two ladies personally visited every household in Leicester! They were also the editors of a publication called The Humming Bird which was a monthly anti-slavery publication.
Local landowner, Thomas Babington(1758 " 1837) of Rothley Temple, (Rothley Temple is an old manor house on the edge of Rothley with historical connections to the Knights Templar) was the MP for Leicester between 1800 and 1818 and a friend of William Wilberforce. They frequently visited each other. Babington hosted meetings of anti-slavery campaigners at his home with people such as Thomas Gisborne and Zachary Macauley. In fact, Wilberforce drafted the Act of Abolition whilst he was staying at Rothley Court.
The Long Road to Freedom can be viewed at Museum in Queens Park in the centre of Loughborough 10.00am " 4.30pm Monday to Saturday and 2pm-5pm on Sunday in October, 1pm-4pm on Sundays in November.
The exhibition is free.