What was the impact on the abolition movement of the work of individuals?

Thomas Clarkson:

• He became a leading figure after he essay 'Is it lawful to enslave the un-consenting?' won an essay competition at Cambridge University
• Behind the scenes he was the driving force in educating the public about the wrongs of the slave trade and ensuring that the movement gained widespread support
• For Walvin, he was an 'indefatigable foot soldier' who prepared the ground for the movement's more public activites 
• The nature of his work was not the most acknowledged, but without it the movement would not have enjoyed the success it did
• His essay inspired parliamentary figures (Wilberforce) to the cause of abolition
• His talent as a public propagandist ensured that their message was well known among the British population
• The passion and level of detail in his essay was useful and a very persuasive tool which sparked greater interest for the movement
• 1787 - Wilberforce was won over to the movement by his essay and became the parliamentary leader of abolition 
• 1784 - Wilberforce helped a Ramsey, a ship's surgeon, to publish a pamphlet on slave experiences in colonies; but he was not persuaded to join the movement until Clarkson's essay
• In helping secure a parliamentary supporter, Clarkson was fundamental in the success of the abolition movement because he established a prominent voice for its cause within the heart of British authority 
• He furnished Wilberforce with details of the slave trade for use in his parliamentary speeches and in stirring up public support
• In his research he ensured no detail was left out and the general public was made well aware of the inhumanity of the slave trade
• 1787/94 - travelled 35,000 miles around Britian collecting evidence about the slave trade and delivering lectures on the subject to audiences
• He punctuated his talks with physical objects for the audience to behold; manacles, African pottery and spices to eidence their culture
• He humanised the slaves
• He acquired the cut-through section plan of a slave ship cargo hold which displayed the overcrowded conditions faced by those enslaved which brought the immorality of the trade into focus
• Helped to found 1,200 branches of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, giving the movement a broad base of popular support by 1807
• Undertook research…