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 William Roscoe address |
While Roscoe’s contemporaries were making money from the slave trade, Roscoe showed political courage and made a stand for abolition. Liverpool was a major port for the trade and much of the city’s wealth came from it. Liverpool merchants fought against the abolition of the slave trade and numerous anti-abolition petitions were submitted to Parliament from Liverpool.
Throughout his life Roscoe consistently opposed the evils of slavery and in his first published work, Mount Pleasant, a Descriptive Poem (1777) he attacked the slave trade. This was followed in 1787 by the poem, The Wrongs of Africa. The Wrongs of Africa made him a leader of the movement for the abolition of the slave trade in Liverpool, but caused anger amongst the slave trade merchants. In October 1806 Roscoe was elected M.P. for Liverpool. In Parliament he spoke in favour of the bill to abolish the slave trade. As an M.P. he also supported Whitbread’s Bill for educating the poor, Reform, the abolition of the Test Act and the granting of full political rights to Roman Catholics and Dissenters. Despite his efforts on his return to Liverpool in May 1807 he received a hostile reception from parties of disgruntled seamen and there were riots. |
