TheSociety for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions was founded in 1823, with the aim ofabolishing slavery in the British Empire. This objective was substantially achieved in 1838 under the terms of theSlavery Abolition Act 1833. It was known as theLondon Anti-Slavery Society during 1838 before ceasing to exist in that year and was commonly referred to as theAnti-Slavery Society.

A successor organisation, theBritish and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society, also commonly known as the Anti-Slavery Society, was formed in 1839 by EnglishQuaker and activistJoseph Sturge to fight for globalabolition of slavery. Through mergers and name changes, it is now known as Anti-Slavery International.

The elimination ofslavery throughout the world was frequently in the mind of earlyabolitionists. The committee which established theSociety for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade in 1787 campaigned for an end to thetransatlantic slave trade fromWestern Africa tothe New World, a trade then dominated by Britain.^{[citation needed]}

TheSlave Trade Act 1807 made the trade illegal in the British Empire, but brought no change to the condition of enslaved people. Following this, British abolitionists turned their attention to abolishing slavery itself, first inBritish colonies, and later in the US and the colonies of other European powers (e.g., in South America), and in parts of the world where it had long been legal, such as in the Middle East, Africa, and China.^{[citation needed]}

The Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions,^[1] also known as the Anti-Slavery Society, was founded on 31 January 1823, with a meeting of men met at the King's Head tavern in London.^[2] The society was also referred to as the Society for Mitigating and Gradually Abolishing the State of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions, the London Society for the Mitigation and Abolition of Slavery in the British Dominions, the Society for the Abolition of Slavery Throughout the British Dominions, and other variations, but has been commonly referred to as the Anti-Slavery Society. It was known as the London Anti-Slavery Society during 1838, before ceasing to exist.^[1]

Many of the founding members had been involved with anti-slavery campaigning previously, and their concerns were founded onChristian precepts. There had been a revival ofevangelicism which had affected bothAnglicanism anddissenters alike. In common with other voluntary organisations, the new body had a subscription system, a committee, officeholders, including a secretary. Founding members includedWilliam Wilberforce (although he did not get involved in the day-to-day running^[2]),Thomas Clarkson,^[3]Thomas Fowell Buxton,Zachary Macaulay (like Wilberforce, a member of the Anglican evangelical group known as theClapham Sect), MPJames Stephen, businessman and philanthropistJames Cropper, Quaker banker andphilanthropistSamuel Gurney, andThomas Babington Macaulay.Thomas Pringle was secretary, and others who became involved with the society or who supported it included radical MP and dissenterWilliam Smith; theWhig lawyersHenry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham and Vaux,Thomas Denman, 1st Baron Denman, the judgeStephen Lushington, andJames Mackintosh; Quaker scientistsWilliam Allen andLuke Howard; and Irish political leaderDaniel O'Connell.^[2]

Auxiliary societies set up by women, such as theBirmingham and West Bromwich Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves, were supported by the society.^[2]

Its work included supporting the firstslave narrative to be published by a Black woman,Mary Prince,The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave (1831), organised by Pringle.^[2]

A wide range of views emerged among the members. Broadly, there were abolitionists who insisted on the full working out of the gradual process of abolition and amelioration (which had its successes), and the generally younger, more radical members, whose moral outlook regarded slavery as a mortal sin to be ended forthwith.Elizabeth Heyrick's 1824 pamphlet "Immediate, not Gradual, Abolition" gave the tone to the argument.^{[citation needed]}

The latter group, includingJoseph Sturge and many others, publicly campaigned throughout Britain. The idea was to engender public pressure for a new act of Parliament to outlaw slavery, rather than continue the gradualism of Whitehall's negotiations, mainly with colonial governments. In 1831George Stephen and Joseph Sturge formed aginger group within the Anti-Slavery Society, theAgency Committee, to campaign for this new act of Parliament. This campaign, and public pressure, led to theSlavery Abolition Act 1833, though it contained compromises which they disliked.^{[citation needed]}

Jamaican mixed-race campaigners such asLouis Celeste Lecesne andRichard Hill were also members of the Anti-Slavery Society.^{[citation needed]}

Theindentured labour schemes were particularly opposed by Sturge and the Agency Committee; the full working out of the act would take several years, with slavery eventually being abolished throughout the British West Indies on 1 August 1838. In response to the new legislation, other members of the Anti-Slavery Society considered their work over. The original purpose, as reflected in the name of the society (abolition in the British dominions), had, they thought, been achieved.^{[citation needed]}

Renamed the London Anti-Slavery Society in 1838, the organisation ceased to exist in this year.^[1]

With abolition of slavery throughout the British dominions achieved, British abolitionists in the Agency Committee of the Anti-Slavery Society considered that a successor organisation was needed to tackle slavery worldwide. Largely under the guidance of Joseph Sturge, the committee duly formed a new society,British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society^[1] on 17 April 1839.^[4][5] It too became widely known as the Anti-Slavery Society.

From 1825, the society published theAnti-Slavery Monthly Reporter under the editorship ofZachary Macaulay.^[6] Its name changed toThe Anti-Slavery Reporter in August 1830,^[7] and continued publication under the auspices of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society from 1839.^[8]

• American Anti-Slavery Group
• Brazilian Anti-Slavery Society

• Oldfield, John (17 February 2011)."History British History in depth: British Anti-Slavery".BBC. – Covers earlier and later anti-slavery societies.

• Abolitionism in the United Kingdom
• Abolitionist organizations
• 1823 establishments in the United Kingdom
• 19th century in slavery

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