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48-686: The first International Congress was held in London at the suggestion of Joseph Sturge and on the initiative of the American Peace Society in 1843. The host was the London Peace Society . 294 British, 37 American and 6 Continental delegates attended. Elihu Burritt organized the Congress of 1848, the first after the French Revolution of February 1848 . It was chaired by Auguste Visschers ,

96-633: A Belgian lawyer and philanthropist. The participants met at Brussels in September of that year. Among the delegates were Cobden , Thierry , Girardin , and Bastiat . The congress adopted resolutions urging limitation of armaments and the placing of a ban upon foreign loans for war purposes. One year after Brussels, the Peace Congress met in Paris from 22 to 24 August 1849, with Victor Hugo as president The proceedings were published by Charles Gilpin . Among

144-710: A Whig government upcoming, Stephen broke off entirely from the Anti-Slavery Society. The Agency Committee became the Agency Society and they began pursuing more daring tactics - some of which were met with fierce and at times violent resistance by the West Indian interests. The West Indian interest group began posting placards around London advocating for the benefits of slavery to the Empire. In response, Stephen has anti-slavery placards printed and recruited people to follow

192-647: A farmer in Elberton, Gloucestershire , and his wife Mary Marshall, who belonged to the Religious Society of Friends (commonly known as Quakers). His brothers included John Sturge, who became a manufacturer in Birmingham , and Edmund Sturge . The abolitionist and pacifist Sophia Sturge (1795–1845) was his sister, and Charles Gilpin was a nephew. After a year at school in Thornbury , Sturge boarded for three years at

240-529: A solicitor, with a view to being called to the Bar . This was accomplished, in 1849, under the auspices of Gray's Inn ; and Sir George then removed to Liverpool , where he practised at the local Bar for some years. Business falling off, Stephen determined to follow his two sons to Australia, and took up his residence in Melbourne in 1855. Though this step was afterwards a matter of regret with him, he did fairly well at

288-715: A speech to the House of Lords , Brougham acknowledged Sturge's central role at that time in rousing British anti-slavery opinion. In 1834 Sturge sailed to the West Indies to study apprenticeship as defined by the British Emancipation Act of 1833 . He intended to open it to criticism as an intermediate stage en route to emancipation. He travelled throughout the West Indies and talked directly to apprentices, proprietors (planters), and others directly involved. Upon his return to Great Britain, he published Narrative of Events since

336-509: A village then just north of London. He was the brother of the Right Hon. Sir James Stephen , for many years Under-Secretary of State in the Colonial Office , whose policy he for a long period initiated and controlled. One of his cousins was Sir Alfred Stephen . Born in 1794 at Saint Kitts , George Stephen was originally intended for the medical profession; but after spending three years in

384-466: The American Peace Society in 1841, intended to propagate the ideas of William Jay. A preliminary meeting was held in London in 1842, and the decision was taken that the Peace Congress should follow directly on from the second Anti-Slavery Convention. Sturge ended up organising both, after the death of Nun Morgan Harry (1800–1842). The Peace Congress took place 22–24 June 1843, and formally was

432-750: The British Empire . In 1837, keen to act independently of the consensus in the Anti-Slavery Society , Sturge founded the Central Negro Emancipation Committee. More significantly, in 1839, one year after abolition in the British dominions, Sturge led a small group who founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society to put an end to slavery worldwide. It continues today as Anti-Slavery International . The Society's first major activity

480-534: The Caribbean island of Montserrat , Olveston , and Elberton to demonstrate that slavery was unnecessary. As a result of Sturge's single-minded campaign, in which he publicised details of the brutality of apprenticeship to shame the British Government, a major row broke out amongst abolitionists. The more radical element were pitted against the government. Although both had the same ends in sight, Sturge and

528-478: The Baptists, with mainly Nonconformist support, led a successful popular movement for immediate and full emancipation. As a consequence, the British Government moved the date for full emancipation forward to 1 August 1838. They abolished the 12-year intermediary apprenticeship scheme. For many English Nonconformists and African-Caribbean people, 1 August 1838, became recognised as the true date of abolition of slavery in

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576-501: The First of August 1834. In it he cited an African-Caribbean witness, to whom he referred as "James Williams" to protect him from reprisals. The original statement was signed by two free African-Caribbeans and six apprentices, and was authenticated by an English Baptist minister Thomas Price of Hackney , who wrote the introduction. Following another trip and further study, Sturge published The West Indies in 1837 . Both books highlighted

624-656: The Quaker Sidcot School . He then farmed with his father, and on his own account. Of pacifist views, he refused in 1813 to serve in the militia. Failing at first to earn a living as a corn factor , at Bewdley from 1814, Sturge moved to Birmingham in 1822. There he became an importer of grain. Successful in business, with his brother Charles, he built up the company. The Sturges as a family became investors in railways and docks. Joseph from 1831 ceased to be an active partner, leaving operations to Charles, and concentrated on causes and public life. As an abolitionist , he

672-527: The United States, and many Nonconformists . In 1841 Sturge travelled in the United States with the poet John Greenleaf Whittier to examine the slavery question there. On his return he published A Visit to the United States in 1841 (1842). On the same visit (22 May), he saw William Jay who was interested in forwarding the peace agenda, by international arbitration. The Peace Congress of June 1843 held in London resulted from proposal made by Sturge to

720-574: The Victorian Bar, principally in insolvency cases, and became a Q.C. in 1871. In 1866 he acted as Commissioner of Insolvent Estates at Geelong. He died in Caulfield, Victoria on 20 June 1879. In addition to an autobiography written for his children, Sir George published, in 1839, anonymously, Adventures of an Attorney in Search of a Practice ; and was also the author of The Jesuit at Cambridge , published

768-441: The West Indian groups around London and, after they posted the placard and left, immediately post over it with an anti-slavery placard. These tactics infuriated the upcoming Whig government and were denounced by Thomas Buxton. At the next meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society, members voted to condemn the approach, increasing tensions between the established and elder abolitionists and the more radical activists. Source: Building on

816-587: The city held a civic ceremony to formally rededicate the statue. Randal Brew, the Lord Mayor of Birmingham , unveiled an interpretation board giving details of Sturge's life. On the same day, a blue plaque (historic marker) was unveiled at the site of his home in Wheeleys Road, Edgbaston. George Stephen (abolitionist) Sir George Stephen QC (1794 – 20 June 1879) was a British solicitor, barrister , author and radical anti-slavery proponent . He

864-455: The colonies who were paid by slaveholders to shout down the speakers. Fights broke out around London. Stephen was assaulted three times and received a dagger in the post with the message 'Death to the Abolitionist!!!' on it. As the details of the slavery abolition bill were debated, tensions grew over the inclusion of compensation and apprenticeships . The Agency Society fiercely condemned

912-556: The cruelty and injustice of the system of indentured apprenticeship. They reported on the abuse of apprentices, and the way the treadmill was used in prisons, and by 1840 changes had been made. While in Jamaica, Sturge worked with the Baptist chapels to found Free Villages , to create homes for freed slaves when they achieved full emancipation. They planned the communities to be outside the control of planters. He bought two plantations on

960-675: The damage caused by the Royal Navy and French Navy gunboats , in attacks during the Crimean War. On this trip Sturge bought Robert Wilhelm Ekman 's painting Sunday Morning in a Farmhouse , which was shown in the exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1858. The painting was brought back to Finland in 1960. Sturge married, first, in 1834, Eliza Cropper, sister of John Cropper . After her death, in 1846 he married Hannah Dickinson , daughter of Barnard Dickinson and his wife Ann Darby, who

1008-466: The early campaign work done by Thomas Clarkson, Stephen and the Agency Society also orchestrated a lecture tour around the United Kingdom in 1832 to raise awareness and campaign for the abolitionist cause. Speakers were selected that were loyal to the immediatists cause and lectures focused on arguing against slavery based on facts and statistics. Circuits were established in advance and Society agents on

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1056-547: The ground would promote the lecture and stir up public sentiment in advance of the lecturers arrival. These lectures were remarkably successful and, since the Society started in 1832, the number of local anti-slavery associations grew from two hundred to twelve thousand. In one instance, the Agency Society organised lectures in Borough Market and Whitechapel, but were met with mobs of workers whose livelihoods depended on sugar from

1104-478: The inclusion of compensation measures and, in July 1833, Stephen began to campaign that abolitionists Members of Parliament should vote against the bill in protest of the inclusion of apprenticeships. On 24 July, Thomas Buxton successfully pushed for limiting the length of apprenticeships. Sir George (who was knighted in 1837, being the first so honoured after Queen Victoria 's accession) subsequently ceased to practise as

1152-408: The island of Jamaica and the conditions of its enslaved workers. He visited it several times and witnessed firsthand the horrors of slavery , as well as the abuses under an apprenticeship system designed to control the labour of all former slaves above the age of six for 12 years. He worked for emancipation and abolition with African-Caribbean and English Baptists . In 1838, after full emancipation

1200-542: The late 1830s, he published two books about the apprenticeship system in Jamaica, which helped persuade the British Parliament to adopt an earlier full emancipation date. In Jamaica, Sturge also helped found Free Villages with the Baptists , to provide living quarters for freed slaves; one was named Sturge Town in his memory. Born on 2 August 1793, Joseph Sturge was the fourth child in the family of 12 of Joseph Sturge,

1248-525: The meeting, he was approached by James Copper and invited to a dinner with other abolitionists Quakers to present his ideas. He was given funding to form the Agency Committee (as a sub-group of the Anti-Slavery Society), composed of other 'immediatists' around the country, and pursued a series of tactics designed to generate 'pressure from without.' In 1832, emboldened by the likely election of

1296-755: The newly formed Metropolitan Police , on 4 July 1839. After Schofield read the Riot Act , Sturge held the police were responsible for the escalation of violence that led to the Bull Ring Riots, 1838 . In addition to his other commitments, Sturge joined the Anti-Corn Law League early in its existence. During 1842 he began a campaign for "complete suffrage", and had the support of the Christian Chartist pastor Arthur George O'Neill in Birmingham. His movement

1344-474: The pacifists were unable to raise their voices. Joseph Sturge Joseph Sturge (2 August 1793 – 14 May 1859) was an English Quaker , abolitionist and activist. He founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (now Anti-Slavery International ). He worked throughout his life in Radical political actions supporting pacifism , working-class rights, and the universal emancipation of slaves . In

1392-460: The poll: Richard Spooner [Cons] 2095, William Scholefield [Lib] 1735 and Sturge [Chartist] 346. In 1847 he stood once more, for Leeds , in the general election . There he was identified as "Bainesite" — a follower of Edward Baines — and was campaigning for schooling, with no state involvement, a divisive position in the British and Foreign School Society . Sturge took up the cause of peace and arbitration being pioneered by Henry Richard . He

1440-608: The responsibility of the London Peace Society . The resolution of the Congress mentioned Jay's ideas positively, but laid more weight on those of William Ladd , who had died in 1841, proposing international institutions to keep the peace. Sturge was critical of the role of William Scholefield , the Mayor of Birmingham , in the suppression of a chartist meeting in the Bull Ring, Birmingham . Schofield had arrived with 60 officers of

1488-481: The same year; and of Adventures of a Gentleman in Search of a Horse , a brochure intended to illustrate in an amusing form the operation of the warranty law, which ran through half a dozen editions. Sir George also wrote several orthodox law books and a "Life of Christ." Sir George married, in 1821, Henrietta, eldest daughter of the Rev. William Ravenscroft, Prebendary of Down Cathedral , Ireland, who died in 1869. Their son

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1536-481: The speakers were many of the chief philosophers and politicians of the time, including Frederic Bastiat , Charles Gilpin , Richard Cobden and Henry Richard William Wells Brown was invited to speak against slavery. Hugo introduced the concept of the United States of Europe . Through the next decades, more congresses were convened in various cities: The series was interrupted by an interval of wars during which

1584-524: The study of anatomy, and going through a two-years' course at Magdalene College, Cambridge . He left Cambridge without graduating, after doing brilliant work, and entered the office of Messrs. Kaye & Freshfield , solicitors to the Bank of England . Having served his articles, he went into practice on his own account, and was engaged by the Government to obtain evidence against Queen Caroline , of whose guilt he

1632-686: The year, before the industrial conflicts of the Plug Riots had hardened his attitude and he began to see Sturge's broadly middle class support as a threat to his leadership position. Following a dispute over redrafting the People's Charter as a legislative bill, in December 1842 with William Sharman Crawford MP, Sturge walked out of a joint CSU-Chartist delegate conference in Birmingham. Crawford introduced their reform bill to "a small and bored House" in May 1843. The bill

1680-449: Was a fierce advocate of immediate emancipation rather than the gradual emancipation that Buxton , Macauley and Stephen's father had originally been pushing for. Ultimately, he was successful in pushing anti-slavery leaders to achieve immediate emancipation. After joining the abolitionist cause, Stephen, became impatient with the 'tame monotony' of the Anti-Slavery Society and their push for gradual rather than immediate emancipation. He

1728-495: Was allied in 1831 with George Stephen in pressing Parliament for immediate legislation against slavery. The Reform Act 1832 , in his view, failed to address poverty, and he worked for radical electoral reform. Sturge was appointed an alderman in 1835. He opposed the building of the Birmingham Town Hall , to be used for performances, because of a conscientious objection to religious oratorios . He became interested in

1776-523: Was authorised, Sturge laid the foundation stone to the "Emancipation School Rooms" in Birmingham. Attending were United Baptist Sunday School and Baptist ministers of the city. In 1839 his work was honoured by a marble monument in a Baptist mission chapel in Falmouth , Jamaica. It was dedicated to "the Emancipated Sons of Africa". After legislation for the abolition of slavery in the British dominions

1824-566: Was based squarely on the middle classes. He envisaged a platform that could unite the League and the Chartist movement . The League would have nothing to do with it. Sturge had a measure of further Chartist and nonconformist support, but by the end of the year the Chartist leaders William Lovett and Feargus O'Connor had swung against him. O'Connor had supported Sturge's Complete Suffrage Union earlier in

1872-516: Was buried in the graveyard at the Friends Meeting House, in Birmingham, England. Rather than a grand public funeral, the family sought a modest event in keeping with their Quaker beliefs; but the mourning procession from the late Sturge's home included forty carriages of friends and family, led by the mayor, Sir John Ratcliff. The Joseph Sturge memorial by sculptor John Thomas was unveiled on 4 June 1862 at Five Ways . On 24 March 2007,

1920-498: Was convinced. Source: It was, however, in connection with the movement for the abolition of slavery in the British colonies that he mainly distinguished himself. His father (James Stephen) had married, as his second wife, the sister of William Wilberforce , and was allied with that great man, Zachary Macaulay , Thomas Clarkson , and others in the abolition of the slave trade , achieved in 1807 George Stephen, along with other more radical abolitionists such as Elizabeth Heyrick ,

1968-537: Was critical of Wilberforce (and the old guard of the movement in general) as being indecisive and too ready to compromise. Wilberforce, he said, was excessively deferential to "rank and power". In a meeting of the Society in 1831, Stephen advocated for the formation of a splinter group of 'young' abolitionists that could take 'energetic measures.' His proposal was rejected by the elder abolitionists as too radical and likely to alienate supporters in Parliament. However, after

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2016-499: Was enacted in 1833, slave-owning planters in the West Indies lobbied to postpone freedom for adults for twelve years in a form of indenture. Enslaved children under the age of six were emancipated by the new law on 1 August 1834, but older children and adults had to serve a period of bonded labour or "apprenticeship". Sturge led a campaign against this delaying mechanism. He was supported by William Allen , Lord Brougham , and others. In

2064-511: Was granddaughter of Abraham Darby III ; and they had five children, one being the peace campaigner Sophia Sturge (1849–1936). Fellow Quaker Stephen Henry Hobhouse wrote a biography in 1919 titled Joseph Sturge, his life and work . Joseph Sturge was a cousin of whaling shipowner, industrialist and philanthropist Thomas Sturge . Sturge died suddenly at his home on Wheeley's Road, in Edgbaston , Birmingham , on 14 May 1859 of heart disease. He

2112-642: Was instrumental in the founding of the Morning Star in 1855 as a newspaper through which to promote the Peace Society and his other social ideas. In 1854 Sturge and two other Quakers, Robert Charleton and Henry Pease , travelled to Saint Petersburg to see Tzar Nicholas I , trying to prevent the outbreak of the Crimean War . In 1856 Sturge and Thomas Harvey visited the Grand Duchy of Finland to investigate

2160-446: Was lost by 101 to 32. In the years 1842–7 Sturge ran three times for Parliament, on his "complete suffrage" platform, without success. In August 1842 he was parliamentary candidate for Nottingham , in a by-election. He was defeated by John Walter , the proprietor of The Times . In Nottingham he visited a Sunday School run by Samuel Fox . The idea of teaching not only scripture, but also basic skills such as reading and writing,

2208-446: Was taken up by Sturge, who opened a similar school around 1845. In that year he started an Adult School movement, in Birmingham, and took steps in 1847 to spread Sunday (First-Day) Schools among Quakers. Sturge then contested Birmingham in 1844 as a Chartist candidate, in a by-election caused by the death of Joshua Scholefield . He was strongly supported at the election hustings , split the liberal vote, but ultimately came bottom of

2256-509: Was the leader of the Agency Society, a ginger group of the Anti-Slavery Society . He advocated for immediate rather than gradual emancipation and adopted more agitating campaigning tactics. While he played a crucial role in the abolition of slavery, he was known to be quarrelsome and short-tempered. He became involved in disputes that damaged his career. Stephen was the fourth and youngest son of James Stephen , C.B., by his marriage with Ann, only child of Henry Stent, of Stoke Newington ,

2304-541: Was to organise the World's Anti-Slavery Convention . It was held at the Freemasons' Hall, London , from 12 June 1840. Others were held in 1843 ( Brussels ) and 1849 ( Paris ). It attracted delegates from Europe, North America, South Africa and Caribbean countries, as well as the British dominions of Australia and Ireland. It included African-Caribbean delegates from Haiti and Jamaica (then representing Britain), women activists from

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