Held at the British Library, which shows the first page at http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/takingliberties/staritems/66minutesofcommitteeabolitionpic.html:
The following summary is taken from the *NJB family archive:
The book was presented to the British Museum on April 9 1855 by Mr H. C. Robinson of West Hill Wandsworth. Dr Thomas Clarkson was still alive and he asserts that the first minutes are in his handwriting. This was not the first meeting for six Quakers met in London including Samuel Hoare junior in 1783. It is likely that the majority of the twelve were already well known to each other.
May 22 1787. No venue given but in St. George Yard.
'At a meeting held for the Purpose of taking the Slave Trade into consideration it was resolved the said Trade was both impolitick and unjust. Resolved that Granville Sharp, Joseph Woods, Samuel Hoare junior, William Dillwyn, George Harrison, James Phillips, Richard Phillips, Thomas Clarkson, Phillip Sansom, John Lloyd, Joseph Hooper and John Barton be a committee for procuring such Information, and for distributing such Information and Evidence, and for distributing Clarkson's Essay and such other Publications as may tend to the Abolition of the Slave-Trade, and for the directing of such monies, as are already, or may henceforth be collected, for the above purposes.'
Samuel Hoare was made Hon. Treasurer and three members were declared to be a quorum. The Meeting was adjourned to Thursday evening May 24 at 6 o'clock.
May 24. At this meeting at which all were present except William Dillwyn and Phillip Sansom, Clarkson presented certain papers chief of which was one on the Acquisition of Slaves under four headings.
1. War. African tribal chiefs deliberately went to war with the intention of selling any prisoners they took.
2. Consequence of Crimes. African chiefs were known to use slavery as a punishment for relatively minor crimes and some chiefs had introduced new laws with the intention of increasing the number.
3. Right of Empire in the Prince. Dahomey's Prince was given as a example of one who attacked his own people for the purpose of enslaving them.
4. Kidnapping was carried out by whites as well as blacks.
Many millions were enslaved, 100,000 were traded annually of whom 20,000 died. 2,000 British sailors had lost their lives in this trade. Freed slaves would be doubly valuable.
Samuel Hoare reported that subscriptions amounted to £136 10s.
June 7 Thursday. All present ex John Lloyd and Granville Sharp.
William Rathbone of Liverpool to be paid £2, 12s 0d 'in procuring Muster rolls of 52 vessels'. £30 was to be paid for 300 of Clarkson's Essay to be printed. Dr Baker of Lower Grosvenor was to be thanked for his letter. This was among the first of an increasing number of letters that led to the use of a Letter folio. John Barton reported that he is commissioned by the author of a Poem entitled 'The Wrongs of Africa' to offer the profits to the committee. [We know from surviving correspondence that the poem was written by William Roscoe of Liverpool.] This was accepted.
June 12. Six present (not JB) together with a guest Dan Taylor a Baptist.
Thomas Clarkson was instructed to collect information. From now he travelled around the country and only attended occasional meetings.
June 22. Seven present including JB.
Dan Taylor and fellow Baptist present. 200 copies of 'Summary View' of the slave trade ordered to be printed. Clarkson had spent £67 in expenses in his work and travels.
July 5 Special meeting at James Herridges in George Yard. Nine present including JB.
Letter from William Smith of Clapham (later to join committee). News from New York and Philadelphia where committees had been set up. Letter to be prepared by three members to enquire what benefits freed slaves brought plantation owners. Sub Committee to be set up of Joseph Woods, Phillip Sansom and Dr Harrison to design a seal for the Committee. Enquiries to be made for a more suitable venue at 18 The old Jewry. Members given individual responsibility for contacting known sympathisers in the Counties. Roughly three to each County. E.g. Robert Barclay of Clapham who later joined the committee.
July 20. Present 8 members including JB.
Held at 18 The old Jewry (Jury) a front room on the first room hired for £25 p.a. Servant of the house to light the fire and provide candles when wanted. John Barton's particular Correspondents were:-
Dr Aikin of Yarmouth.
Joseph Haycock of Wells, Norfolk.
Walker of Nottingham.
Archibald Blackburne of Richmond Yorks.
Capt. Pearson of Louth.
Atkinson of Preston.
Samuel Eaton of Warrington.
William Roscoe of Liverpool.
John Mitcheson of Carlisle.
Elihu Robinson of Egglesfield, Cumberland.
John Loth? of Woodside ?Edinburgh.
(blank) Oxford.
500 circular letters were to be prepared and 5000 copies of 'Summary View'
August 7. These minutes may be in JB's handwriting. Duties seems to have been shared and no Chairman had officially been appointed yet.
The Committee agreed that their numbers could be increased by a further eight. Robert Barclay and John Vickeris Taylor were to be invited to join. Clarkson wished to take Mr Fawconbridge [This may the same Fawconbridge who spent time in Sierra Leone and made difficulties for Clarkson out there] to Liverpool. Would the committee pay his expenses? Reply asked for a 'prudent attention to economy.'
August 21. Seven present including JB who was asked to give notice of the next meeting.
Report from Clarkson who was making enquiries in Bristol. (These enquiries were not without their dangers.)
August 28. Six present including JB.
Letter from Brissol Warville of Paris offering money and support. Reply refused money and suggested similar society in France. Made Honorary member. Letter from John Wesley in Guernsey. Three members asked to prepare reply including JB. His 'Thoughts on Slavery' to be reprinted. Josiah Wedgwood to join the committee.
September 4. Seven members present. JB absent. Granville Sharp made Chairman. Each meeting recorded an increasing number of letters and two or more members were asked to prepare replies.
September 11 Ten members present including JB and JV Taylor a new member.
Thomas Clarkson's expenses £96 14s. 3d. paid.
September 18. 4 o'clock. Eight members present. JB absent.
Letter to William Russell of Birmingham.
Three letters received from Thomas Clarkson in Bristol.
October 2. Six members present. JB absent.
Thomas Clarkson asked to come to London. His second Essay was to be published.
October 16. Eight members present including JB.
Subscriptions received £304 since the last meeting. This compares with sums of £30 or so per week at the start. Joseph Woods brings a possible Committee Seal, namely the famous "Am I not a Man & a Brother?" which Josiah Wedgwood was to produce in thousands. Thomas Clarkson asked the Committee to enquire for details of London's Imports and Exports, and Muster Rolls of 24 East India Company vessels recently arrived, (a task they were unable to fulfil and gave up months later). Committee now encourages Petitions to Parliament.
October 30. Nine present including JB.
Further letter from John Wesley. JB one of three deputed to reply. Dean of Middleham's Letter to Committee to be printed and distributed. Simon Hoare reports enquiry for information from William Wilberforce. Sub committee of Granville Sharp, Simon Hoare and Phillip Sansom to prepare information. JB involved in preparing replies to letters from William Russell of Birmingham and Joshua Grigby.
November 13. Nine members present, including Robert Barclay a new member. JB absent.
Phillips who had regularly reported on new publications on Slavery brings no less than fifteen including works by Wesley and Newton. 5000 copies of the Dean of Middleham's letter to be printed. Clarkson had sent specimens of articles of cruelty. Six letters to be answered.
November 22. 5.p.m. Seven members present including Thomas Clarkson for a special meeting. JB absent.
Letters from William Frend and James Mackenzie of Cambridge, and John Wesley. . Cambridge was to prove particularly generous in their support.
November 27. Seven members including JB.
New list of Subscribers to be prepared. 3000 'Summary Views' to be printed, and 1000 circulars. Thomas Clarkson given special vote of thanks.
December 11. Nine members present including JB [John Barton married Elizabeth Home in December 1787 and may already have moved to Hertford so his absence from meetings is not unexpected]. William Frend of Cambridge sent 80 guineas. Much correspondence to answer. Philadelphia in touch again.
December 18 . Six members. JB absent.
Money kept with Sir Herbert Mackworth Bart. & Co. Bankers of New Bond Street. Correspondence sub committee of three formed.
January 1 1788. Eight members present. JB absent.
Manchester had sent 100 guineas. 5000 Summary Views' to be printed. London Petition to be prepared. Members to wait upon Alderman Le Masurier. Thomas Clarkson awarded honorarium of 60 guineas. Praise for Alexander of Fawconbridge for his efforts. James Martin M.P. and William Morton Pitt to join committee.
January 8. Seven members present. JB absent.
Letter from Chas Lloyd Birmingham with 100 guineas. 3000 Dean of Middleham's letters to be printed without delay. Anthony Benezett's Account of Guinea to be revised for publication. Committee to be increased up to thirty.
January 15. Nine members present. JB absent.
Call for Parliamentary debates. Treasurer Samuel Hoare reports subscriptions total £l,367,,8s,,2d. Robert Hunter and Joseph Smith new members.
January 22. Eleven members present. JB absent.
Petitions from all towns to be encouraged. More suitable room required.
January 29 Nine members present; JB absent.
Newton's Thoughts on the Africa Trade' to be printed. John Barton communicated a letter from Arch-Deacon Paley. Letter from Thomas Babington.
February 2 Eleven members present; JB absent.
Enquiry as to how much sugar was imported into Glasgow. Newton's book to be sent to every M.P. Granville Sharp reported that Captain Jeremiah Barton(!) of Albion
Trading to Honduras Bay had picked up two men from a Spanish wreck and detained them. One black had served in the Royal Navy. Albion was now in the Thames.
Ten letters to be answered, one from Josiah Wedgwood.
February 12. Eleven members present; JB absent.
Renewed foreign interest including the Irish Bishop of Cloyne. Granville Sharp had arranged for a Writ of Habeas Corpus on the men detained in the Thames, and the men had been delivered up.
February 16. Special meeting. Seven present.
William Wilberforce had asked for evidence to present in Parliament.
February 19. Twelve members present; JB absent.
Many letters to answer and much money received.
February 26. Ten members present including JB for the first time since the beginning of the year, presumably coming from Hertford.
Nine letters received. John Barton, John Taylor, and James Phillips to answer. Still looking for better premises.
[This is the last entry in the Minute book which confirms John Barton's continued interest. It also underlines the major part in the campaign undertaken by the Quakers. Wilberforce's part in Parliament was essential, but his sons in their biography almost omitted the part played by Thomas Clarkson because of his sympathy with the French Revolution. (Slavery was abolished during the period of the French Revolution but was restored by Napoleon, partly it is said because the empress Josephine was brought up on a plantation.) We know that John Barton's involvement continued into 1788. In a letter dated July 29 1788 to William Roscoe of Liverpool he quotes from the next minute book.
Old Jewry 15th July 1788.
"This committee impressed with a sense of the laudable ... and great abilities manifested by the author of 'a scriptural refutation of a pamphlet entitled Scriptural researches on the licitness of the Slave Trade' do gratefully accept his offer, and request Mr Barton to convey to him of the Committee for the important service he has rendered the cause in which they are engaged." [Letter in the Liverpool Record Office 920 ROS 256.]
Some lesser known members of the London Committee For the Abolition of Slavery.
Samuel Hoare. Junior. (? 1748 -
His father Samuel (1716 - 1796) was born in Cork and went to London 'to engage in mercantile transactions' In 1744 he married Grizell Gurnell and lived in Stoke Newington. They had one son Samuel. In 1748? Samuel Hoare Junior became a partner in a Banking House. He married (1) Sarah Gurney. He was a supporter of American Independence. In 1783 he was one of six Quakers on the first committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. In 1788 he married (2) Hannah Sterry.
Joseph Hooper (1732 - 1789)
Joseph Hooper was the son of John Hooper and Elizabeth Pinnell of Reading and later of Tooley Street Southwark. He was a surgeon and apothecary. He married in 1758 Rachel Crosby 1738-1819 at Wandsworth. They had seven or more children. He died at Bath April 4 1789 aged 57. (Many went to Bath in hope of a cure.) He was then living in Gloucester Row Stoke Newington.
Joseph Woods (1738 - 1812) See the booklet.
James Phillips (1745 - 1799)
James' family came from Trewirgn (Redruth) in Cornwall. He came to London in 1768. He married Sarah Whiting and had twelve children. After 1777 he acquired from Mary Hinde (who was born a Phillips) ownership of a printing firm in George Yard, Lombard Street and became The Quaker printer'. The firm eventually became James Phillips and Son.
Richard Phillips (1756 -1836)
He was the son of John Phillips and Mary Jones of Swansea. His father was a Quaker and his mother an Anglican. He 'enjoyed dancing with all the ardour of his animated character'. He studied Law and became known as 'The honest attorney'. He married Sarah Corbyn (1754 - 1819) and they had one child. He was one of the few members still alive to see the Abolition of Slavery in the British Empire pass through Parliament in 1833. He was a particular supporter of Thomas Clarkson. In 1810 he was involved in setting up Lancastrian Schools and served forty years in the British & Foreign Bible Society.