author

Thomas Clarkson

1760–1846

A tireless force in the British abolition movement, he turned moral conviction into years of investigation, organizing, and public campaigning. His work helped build the case against the slave trade and made him one of the movement’s most persistent voices.

8 Audiobooks

The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Volume I

by Thomas Clarkson

The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade, by the British Parliament (1839)

by Thomas Clarkson

An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African Translated from a Latin Dissertation, Which Was Honoured with the First Prize in the University of Cambridge, for the Year 1785, with Additions

by Thomas Clarkson

Thoughts on the Necessity of Improving the Condition of the Slaves in the British Colonies With a View to Their Ultimate Emancipation; and on the Practicability, the Safety, and the Advantages of the Latter Measure.

by Thomas Clarkson

The History of the Rise, Progress and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade by the British Parliament (1808), Volume II

by Thomas Clarkson

A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 3 Taken from a View of the Education and Discipline, Social Manners, Civil and Political Economy, Religious Principles and Character, of the Society of Friends

by Thomas Clarkson

A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 1 Taken from a View of the Education and Discipline, Social Manners, Civil and Political Economy, Religious Principles and Character, of the Society of Friends

by Thomas Clarkson

A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 2 Taken from a View of the Education and Discipline, Social Manners, Civil and Political Economy, Religious Principles and Character, of the Society of Friends

by Thomas Clarkson

About the author

Born in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, in 1760, Thomas Clarkson studied at St John's College, Cambridge. A prize essay on whether it was lawful to enslave others changed the course of his life: after researching the subject, he committed himself to fighting the slave trade.

Clarkson became one of the key organizers and public campaigners behind Britain’s abolition movement. He helped found the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and traveled widely to gather evidence about the horrors of the trade, speaking with sailors, collecting instruments used on slave ships, and building public support for change.

Although others in Parliament carried the legislative battle, Clarkson’s relentless work outside it was crucial to the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. He continued campaigning against slavery more broadly for decades afterward, and by the time of his death in 1846 he was widely recognized as one of the movement’s central figures.