Slavery Abolition in Liverpool

18th September 2024

A rare folk art beaker has thrown light on the continued fight for the abolition of slavery in British colonies during the 1830s.

The engraved horn cup (lot 627) features a kneeling female slave between banners inscribed ‘Am I not a woman and a sister’ – an adaptation of the famous anti-slavery medallion designed by Josiah Wedgwood in 1787.

Beneath that is engraved ‘ASS Liverpool’; a reference to the Anti-Slavery Society that was formed in 1823 to continue to campaign for an expansion on the Slave Trade Act of 1807. While the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 outlawed the owning of slaves across the British Empire, it didn’t lead to slaves being freed, as the abolitionists hoped. Instead, the slaves were kept on under a system of Apprenticeships which were intended to allow them to earn their freedom through training. The system was heavily criticised, as a further inscription on the cup indicates, stating ‘Negro Apprenticeship is Slavery in All but Name’.

The presence of a female slave on the beaker suggests that it may relate to a female abolitionist – women were key in campaigning for immediate rather than gradual abolition, which was achieved with the abolition of the apprenticeships in 1838.

“A female branch of the Anti-Slavery Society was established in Liverpool in 1827 by the female members of James Cropper’s family,” explained Mark Yuan-Richards of Woolley and Wallis, who will be selling the cup in early October. “The initials JC on the back of the cup are likely to refer to Cropper, a Quaker who was prominent in the abolitionist movement and hugely influential in recruiting other key figures to the cause. Cropper was known to use the imagery from Wedgwood’s medallion on his crockery, and sent parcels of sugar and coffee from the East Indies to several MPs to prove that such commodities could be provided without slave labour.”

The rare beaker is engraved in a scrimshaw tradition, often practised by those from the sea-faring community, many of whom would have witnessed slavery first hand during their travels.

“Cropper was a former ship owner and businessman who would have had far-reaching contacts throughout the city of Liverpool,” continued Yuan-Richards. “He and his family were held in high regard and his beaker may well have been a gift from a like-minded contemporary in the shipping industry.”

Featuring in the Furniture and Works of Art auction at Woolley and Wallis in Salisbury on 3rd October, the cup carries a pre-sale estimate of £500-800.

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