William Wilberforce was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming an independent Member of Parliament (MP) for Yorkshire (1784–1812). In 1785, he became an evangelical Christian, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform.
John Dolben, of Epsom, Surrey, was an English barrister and Whig politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1707 to 1710. He was deeply involved in the impeachment proceedings against Dr Henry Sacheverell in 1710, and his work on the impeachment is said to have contributed to his early demise.
The Slave Trade Act 1807, officially An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the slave trade in the British Empire. Although it did not abolish the practice of slavery, it encouraged British action to press other nation states to abolish their own slave trades.
The Zong massacre was a mass killing of more than 130 African enslaved people by the crew of the British slaver ship Zong on and in the days following 29 November 1781. The William Gregson slave-trading syndicate, based in Liverpool, owned the ship as part of the Atlantic slave trade. As was common business practice, they had taken out insurance on the lives of the enslaved Africans as cargo. According to the crew, when the ship ran low on drinking water following navigational mistakes, the crew threw enslaved Africans overboard.
Digby Augustus Stewart Mackworth Dolben was an English poet who died young from drowning. He owes his poetic reputation to his cousin, Robert Bridges, poet laureate from 1913 to 1930, who edited a partial edition of his verse, Poems, in 1911.
Colonel Sir John Sinclair, 1st Baronet,, was a Scottish politician, military officer, planter and writer who was one of the first people to use the word "statistics" in the English language in his pioneering work, Statistical Accounts of Scotland, which was published in 21 volumes.
Finedon is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 4,309. In 1086 when the Domesday Book was completed, Finedon was a large royal manor, previously held by Queen Edith, wife of Edward the Confessor.
Amazing Grace is a 2006 biographical drama film directed by Michael Apted, about the abolitionist campaign against the slave trade in the British Empire, led by William Wilberforce, who was responsible for steering anti-slave trade legislation through the British parliament. The title is a reference to the 1772 hymn "Amazing Grace". The film also recounts the experiences of John Newton as a crewman on a slave ship and subsequent religious conversion, which inspired his writing of the poem later used in the hymn. Newton is portrayed as a major influence on Wilberforce and the abolition movement.
James Penny was a merchant, slave ship owner, and prominent opponent of the abolition of slavery in Liverpool, England. He defended the slave trade to the British Parliament. The famous Penny Lane has been associated with him although it is now widely regarded as of an unconnected origin.
Sir Edward Knatchbull, 8th Baronet was a British politician and baronet.
Sir John Trevelyan, 4th Baronet, of Nettlecombe Court in Somerset, was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1777 to 1796.
Ralph Payne, 1st Baron Lavington KB PC was a British politician and Governor of the Leeward Islands.
Volta Tower was a folly in the town of Finedon, Northamptonshire, England. It was built in 1865 and collapsed in 1951.
Sir William Young, 2nd Baronet, FRS, FSA was a British colonial governor, politician and owner of sugar plantations which, in 1788, included 896 enslaved Africans. He was the governor of Tobago from 1807 – January 1815, and Member of Parliament for St Mawes, 19 June 1784 – 3 November 1806, and Buckingham, 5 November 1806 – 23 March 1807.
The Sons of Africa were a late 18th-century group in Britain that campaigned to end African chattel slavery. The "corresponding society" has been called the Britain's first black political organisation. Its members were educated Africans in London, included formerly enslaved men like Ottobah Cugoano, Olaudah Equiano and other leading members of London's black community.
The Dolben Baronetcy, of Finedon in the County of Northamptonshire, was a title in the Baronetage of England. It was created on 1 April 1704 for Gilbert Dolben, son of John Dolben, Archbishop of York. Gilbert was judge of the Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) and MP for Ripon, Peterborough and Yarmouth, Isle of Wight. The 3rd Baronet was an MP for Oxford University and Northamptonshire, and was an avid campaigner for abolition of the slave trade. The title became extinct on the death of Sir John English Dolben, the 4th Baronet, in 1837. William Harcourt Isham Mackworth (1806–1872), a younger son of Sir Digby Mackworth, the 3rd Baronet, took the additional surname Dolben after he married Frances, the heiress of the 4th Baronet.
William Dolben was a Welsh clergyman.
The Slave Trade Act 1788, also known as Dolben's Act, was an Act of Parliament that limited the number of enslaved people that British slave ships could transport, based on the ships' tons burthen (bm). It was the first British legislation passed to regulate slave shipping.
Sir Gilbert Dolben, 1st Baronet (1658-1722), of Finedon, Northamptonshire, was an English lawyer, landowner and Tory politician who sat in the English and British House of Commons between 1685 and 1715. He also served as a High Court judge in Ireland for many years. He was the grandfather of the leading anti-slavery campaigner Sir William Dolben.
Finedon Hall is a Victorian country house in Finedon, Northamptonshire. It is a Grade II listed building.
