George Thompson | |
|---|---|
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| Member of Parliament forTower Hamlets | |
| In office 1847–1852 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Richard Fox |
| Succeeded by | Charles Salisbury Butler |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1804-06-18)18 June 1804 Liverpool, England |
| Died | 7 October 1878(1878-10-07) (aged 74) Leeds, England |
| Party | Radical |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 6 |
| Occupation | Abolitionist, activist, politician |
George Donisthorpe Thompson (18 June 1804 – 7 October 1878) was a British abolitionist and politician who toured giving lectures and worked for legislation while serving as aMember of Parliament. He was arguably one of the most importantabolitionists andhuman rights lecturers in theUnited Kingdom and theUnited States.
Thompson had little formal education and was largely self-taught. In early adulthood, he began a life of professional activism, starting with his role in founding a mutual improvement society at the age of eighteen, as well as his membership in debate societies. This suggests an early interest in self-betterment and the issues of the day. His father worked aboard a slave trading vessel, and his stories of the horrors of the slave trade planted the issue in the younger Thompson's mind from an early age. He recalls the stories that his father told in some of his later writings, recounting his father's observations of the inhumane treatment of slaves.[1]
Initially Thompson had little knowledge of slavery, though he had gained a reputation as an able orator. He was hired by the society to try to get slavery immediately abolished on moral and religious grounds, a concept called "immediatism." He quickly took up the dissemination of the Society's creed: "To uphold slavery is a crime before God, and the condition must, therefore, be immediately abolished." In 1832 he travelled toScotland, where he gained an interest in the abolition of slavery in theUnited States and other parts of the world. While inScotland he also metWilliam Lloyd Garrison, who would remain a lifelong friend and colleague, as well asNathaniel Paul, an African-American abolitionist. InGlasgow in 1833 he debated withPeter Borthwick, who had been appointed by the West India Association to defend slavery.[2]
Thompson was invited by Garrison to visitNew England, and this proposal was not only accepted by his supporters inGlasgow but theEdinburgh Emancipation Society was formed so that it too could back Thompson's journey.[3] From 1836 to 1847 he was active in every major anti-slavery debate in Britain, including the 1840World Anti-Slavery Convention inLondon.[4] In 1847 he was elected to theHouse of Commons as a Member of Parliament (MP) forTower Hamlets.[1]
Thompson was also an advocate of East Indian reform, free trade,Chartism,nonresistance, and the peace movement. However, he was most prominent in his work to eliminate slavery at home and abroad, often protesting legislation that offered limited or gradual restriction on slavery. Favoring a quick and decisive emancipation of all slaves, he was ultimately unsatisfied with theSlavery Abolition Act 1833, because it forced slaves to work as apprentices for six years after their "liberation." He therefore used his position in Parliament to push for additional legislation.[1]
George Thompson was an active lecturer, and he willingly pointed out the role thatAmerica played in the perpetuation of slavery. He first traveled to theUnited States in 1834, where he attracted the attention of pro-slavery men, and barely escaped being captured by them after one of his lecturing sessions. His lecture circuit that year was credited with the formation of over 150 anti-slavery societies around the US, and inspired many to join the anti-slavery cause.[5] The resistance to his platform did not abate, and he was forced to return to Britain, viaTasmania (Australia). TheHobart Town Courier newspaper, 8 Jul 1836, carried a letter, penned by Thompson in November of the previous year, intended for Patrick Letham of Glasgow. In his letter, Thompson states that he had arrived "within the hour" atNew Brunswick,Canada, by British brig, having "left the United States to escape the assassin's knife". The editor's note adds that attempts to "burn and murder" him had been made in several US towns.[6]
When theFugitive Slave Law was passed in 1850, Thompson returned to theUnited States, and he was this time quite popular among proponents of abolitionism, now that the movement had increased in size and influence.
In 1859, with his son-in-lawFrederick William Chesson, he founded theLondon Emancipation Society, which strongly supported theUnion side in theAmerican Civil War.[7] In 1860, Thompson andFrederick Douglass debated the nature of theUnited States Constitution in the context of slavery. Their debates were highly publicized and later published in pamphlet form asThe Constitution of the United States: is it pro-slavery or anti-slavery?
During a final visit in 1864, he allied withWilliam Wells Brown in advocating the destruction of slavery. He also metAbraham Lincoln, and both supported and witnessed the final destruction of theConfederacy atFort Sumter in 1865.[1][further explanation needed]
He was involved in the setting up of theBritish India Society in 1839.[8] He was also the President of theBengal British India Society, which was established in 1843.[9] Bengal British India Society aimed to study the actual condition of people in British India, promote loyalty to the British rule and promote general public interest.[10]
Thompson became ill and traveled back to his home country, where he died in 1878, and was buried inBeckett Street Cemetery, Leeds.[11] While his advocacy of abolitionism went relatively unnoticed after his death, his efforts to effect a worldwide abolitionist movement cannot be ignored. His profession as activist allowed him to make a living by supporting the cause that he cared about, as well as enabling him to make unprecedented steps in freeing enslaved peoples around the world.
On 29 January 1831 inIslington, Thompson married Anne Erskine Lorraine Spry. Thompson had several children who survived to adulthood:Louisa Eliza Spry Thompson (m. Frederick Arthur Nosworthy),Amelia Ann Everard Thompson[12] (m. Frederick William Chesson),George Herbert Thompson (m. Marianne Cronin) and Edith Thompson. Another son, named after William Lloyd Garrison, died aged 15. A daughter, named after Elizabeth Pease, died aged 6.[13]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forTower Hamlets 1847 –1852 With:Sir William Clay, Bt | Succeeded by |
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| People | |
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