George Thompson

Born in Liverpool in 1804, George Donisthorpe Thompson grew into one of the 19th century's most prominent campaigners against slavery. Largely self-educated, he won attention as a powerful public speaker and helped build antislavery support in Britain during the years when abolition was becoming a defining moral and political cause.

Thompson also became well known in the United States, where his lecture tours connected him with major abolitionist figures and drew both admiration and fierce opposition. Beyond antislavery work, he supported a wider range of reform movements, and he later served as a Member of Parliament.

He died in 1878, leaving behind speeches, pamphlets, and other writings that capture the urgency of his activism. For listeners today, his work offers a vivid window into the rhetoric, ideals, and struggles of the international movement against slavery.