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Thomas Clarkson

(1760-1846), Slavery abolitionist

Regency Portraits Catalogue Entry

Sitter in 11 portraits
Thomas Clarkson devoted his life to abolitionism. His An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species (1786) brought him into association with Granville Sharp, William Wilberforce and other opponents of slavery; Clarkson joined them in forming a society for the abolition of the slave trade. He visited British ports to collect facts for his pamphlet A Summary View of the Slave Trade and of the Probable Consequences of Its Abolition (1787), and the evidence that he gathered was used in the antislavery campaign led by Wilberforce in Parliament. In 1807, a bill for the abolition of the slave trade finally was passed, and the next year Clarkson's two-volume history of the trade was published.

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Thomas Clarkson, by John Young, after  Carl Fredrik von Breda - NPG D33312

Thomas Clarkson

by John Young, after Carl Fredrik von Breda
mezzotint, published 1789
NPG D33312

Thomas Clarkson, after Alfred Edward Chalon - NPG D1468

Thomas Clarkson

after Alfred Edward Chalon
mezzotint, (1824)
NPG D1468

Thomas Clarkson, by Charles Turner, after  Alfred Edward Chalon - NPG D33313

Thomas Clarkson

by Charles Turner, after Alfred Edward Chalon
mezzotint, published 1828
NPG D33313

Thomas Clarkson, by John Cochran, after  Samuel Lane - NPG D2085

Thomas Clarkson

by John Cochran, after Samuel Lane
stipple engraving, published 1836
NPG D2085

Thomas Clarkson, by Thomas Anthony Dean, after  Henry Room - NPG D33314

Thomas Clarkson

by Thomas Anthony Dean, after Henry Room
stipple engraving, published 1839
NPG D33314

'The Abolition of the Slave Trade' (The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840), by John Alfred Vinter, after  Benjamin Robert Haydon - NPG D23546

'The Abolition of the Slave Trade' (The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840)

by John Alfred Vinter, after Benjamin Robert Haydon
lithograph, circa 1846-1864 (1841)
NPG D23546

'The Abolition of the Slave Trade' (The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840), by John Alfred Vinter, after  Benjamin Robert Haydon - NPG D32033

'The Abolition of the Slave Trade' (The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840)

by John Alfred Vinter, after Benjamin Robert Haydon
lithograph, circa 1846-1864 (1841)
NPG D32033

'The Abolition of the Slave Trade' (The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840), by John Alfred Vinter, after  Benjamin Robert Haydon - NPG D20516

'The Abolition of the Slave Trade' (The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840)

by John Alfred Vinter, after Benjamin Robert Haydon
lithograph, circa 1846-1864 (1841)
NPG D20516

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