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The slave trade was never a significant part of the commercial activities of Essex ports.听Although records show, for example, that the ship the Blue Horizon departed from Colchester bound for Jamaica in 1763 with 77 slaves on board.听 However, many of the most renowned abolitionists were born and carried out their activities in Essex.

Probably the most famous abolitionist from Essex was Thomas Fowell Buxton, who was born at Castle Hedingham in 1786.听 In 1823 he founded the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery, commonly known as The Anti-Slavery Society.听 After the retirement of William Wilberforce in 1825 Buxton took over as the leader of the anti-slavery campaign in parliament.听 In 1839, six years before his death, he published The African Slave Trade and its Remedy.听 Although Buxton was considered a prominent figure in the campaign against slavery modern research has revealed that the activities of women have been previously considerably underestimated by historians.

From the late 1820s two groups of female abolitionists, The Colchester Anti-Slavery Society and The Chelmsford Female Negro鈥檚 Friends Society, were among the most vigorous campaigners for abolition within the county.听 The strength of female support for the cause can also be demonstrated by the financial support received by the Chelmsford branch of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society. From 1852 the male auxiliary organizations of this society had virtually ceased to provide monetary support, whereas the related female societies continued to provide considerable income from their fundraising activities.

The contribution of Anne Knight provides further confirmation of the importance of the role of women in the anti-slavery movement.听 She was born in Chelmsford in 1786, into a Quaker family.听 Her father, William, was a prosperous wholesale greengrocer.听 From the late 1820s she began to campaign tirelessly for the complete abolition of slavery.听 She sought support for anti-slavery petitions by carrying out door-to-door canvassing in Chelmsford from 1830.听 She also regularly travelled to London to meet with national leaders of the abolitionist movement.听 In 1834 she even began to add an international dimension to her campaigning when she undertook an anti-slavery lecture tour of France.听 Her contribution to the cause was acknowledged in Jamaica when a newly founded village for freed slaves was named Knightsville in her honour.

Modern studies of abolitionists tend to place a greater emphasis on the role played by slaves themselves rather than concentrating solely on the work of white campaigners.听 In this context Essex towns were often visited by freed slaves who gave lectures on the subject of abolition.听 One of the most prominent of these was Thomas Ringgold Ward, who addressed an anti-slavery meeting in Chelmsford in 1854.听 Ward was born to enslaved parents in Maryland in 1817.听 His family escaped to New Jersey in 1826 and he, after being persecuted for his abolitionist views, finally fled to Canada.听 His address to the meeting in Chelmsford was part of a tour of England, which he undertook to raise funds for the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada.听 Thus the awareness of the plight of slaves was not only made known to the people of Essex by white abolitionists, but also by the first hand accounts of black activists who toured the county.

Essex, while not involved in the slave trade to the same extent as many parts of the country, had a proud tradition of abolitionism demonstrated by the activities of societies and the tireless work of individuals.