Abolition of the Slave Trade

• On 25th March 1807 the UK Parliament passed the 'Abolition of the Slave Trade Act', abolishing the slave trade throughout the British empire (although not abolishing slavery itself)
• See an image of the first page of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807
• There is a collection of web sites about the abolition of the slave trade, including images, at Gateway to the Internet > Global issues > Abolition of the slave trade
• You can find out about the lives of traders, freed slaves, and abolitionists in a special article called 'Slavery and abolition' in the Oxford dictionary of national biography's online magazine, which is available without logging in to the main dictionary. If you do log in to the Oxford dictionary of national biography you will be able to see all other articles too
• For overview articles and more web links, log in to Encyclopedia Britannica online and search, for example, the phrase 'slave trade'
• If you log in to Newspapers online you can search the 'Times digital archive 1785 -1985' and read news items about the slave trade and about abolition debates and events as they were reported at the time
• Find out about Salim Charles Wilson (Hatashil Masha Kathish), the freed slave who lived in Pavenham at the end of the nineteenth century

Further information

• Library catalogue
• Contact us if you need help to find information

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