UK Parliament - Slave Trade exhibition
Thomas Clarkson (1760 - 1846) Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) with his chest containing African goods and raw material. Engraving by C Turner after painting by Alfred Edward Chalon. Copyright Palace of Westminster The bicentenary of British Parliamentary abolition of the slave trade is to be marked by Parliament with an exhibition in Westminster Hall from 23 May to 23 September 2007. The exhibition will be open to the public, free of charge. The exhibition will tell the story of the pressures and influences both at home and abroad which influenced Parliament and led to the passing of the Act to abolish Britains slave trade in 1807. The exhibition will include a broad range of historical objects, paintings, drawings and archival material. Exhibits, such as a seven metre long petition from the people of Manchester lobbying Parliament to abolish the slave trade, will be drawn from the Palace of Westminsters own collections. Other exhibits will be on loan from national and regional museums, including the wooden chest and contents used by Thomas Clarkson in his nationwide campaign for abolition, which is to be lent by the Wisbech and Fenland Museum. The exhibition catalogue will be published in a supplementary volume of Parliamentary History journal together with a selection of essays from an international selection of specialists in the field available from May 2007.
