James Stephen (politician) - Abolitionism

Abolitionism

James Stephen's second marriage was to Sarah, sister of William Wilberforce, in 1800, and through this connection he became frequently acquainted with many of the figures in the anti-slavery movement. Several of his friendships amongst the abolitionists were made in Clapham(home to the Clapham Sect) where he had moved from Sloane Square in 1797. Other connections were formed also in the village of Stoke Newington a few miles north of London, where James Stephen's father leased a family home from 1774 onwards called Summerhouse. The property adjoined Fleetwood House and Abney House at Abney Park and stood where Summerhouse Road is built today. Close by were the residences of three prominent Quaker abolitionists: William Allen (1770–1843), Joseph Woods the elder, and Samuel Hoare Jr (1751–1825). The latter two were founder members of the predecessor body to the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

Anna Letitia Barbauld, author of An Epistle to William Wilberforce (1791), also came to live in Stoke Newington in 1802. Inevitably, Wilberforce also became a frequent visitor to Stoke Newington, combining meetings with William Allen and his Quaker circle with visits to his sister Sarah and brother-in-law James.

James Stephen came to be regarded as the chief architect of the Slave Trade Act 1807, providing William Wilberforce with the legal mastermind he needed for its drafting. To close off loopholes pointed out by some critics, he became a Director of the Africa Institution for the Registration of Slaves through which he advocated a centralized registry, administered by the British government, which would furnish precise statistics on all slave births, deaths, and sale, so that "any unregistered black would be presumed free". Though he introduced many successful ideas to strengthen the legal success of the abolitionist cause, this mechanism which he believed to be "the only effective means to prevent British colonists from illicitly importing African slaves" was never taken up. His last public engagement was a speaking engagement at a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society at Exeter Hall in 1832.