Abolitionist, father of the eminent historian Thomas Macauley. He defied his rudimentary education by teaching himself Latin and Greek and reading the English classics . At the age of sixteen he took a position as a book-keeper on a plantation in Jamaica. Returning to Britain in 1789, he became a member of William Wilberforce's circle and in five years became Governor of Sierra Leone, the colony founded for emancipated slaves. He filled this position successfully until 1799, when he married and settled in Clapham. In 1804 Macaulay was elected a member of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and played a leading part in the campaign whichn which in 1807 resulted in victory for Wilberforce and his supporters. He continued campaigning, taking his abolitionist stance to other European countries in order to persuade them to follow Britain's example. It was later said that Macaulay was the only one of the ‘saints' whom Wellington liked. He helped to start the 'Christian Observer', the official organ of the Clapham Sect, and served as its editor. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and an active member of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Church Missionary Society, and the Society for the Suppression of Vice, and was one of the principal founders of the University of London. In 1828 his family moved from Clapham to Great Ormond Street, Bloomsbury. Financial concerns plagued him, and he was living in lodgings when he died. In the year of his death, his philanthropic friends had a memorial erected in Westminster Abbey. It incorporates a figure of a kneeling slave together with the motto ‘Am I not a Man and a Brother?'
Cenotaph here
Cenotaph here
Abolitionist, father of the eminent historian Thomas Macauley. He defied his rudimentary education by teaching himself Latin and Greek and reading the English classics . At the age of sixteen he took a position as a book-keeper on a plantation in Jamaica. Returning to Britain in 1789, he became a member of William Wilberforce's circle and in five years became Governor of Sierra Leone, the colony founded for emancipated slaves. He filled this position successfully until 1799, when he married and settled in Clapham. In 1804 Macaulay was elected a member of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and played a leading part in the campaign whichn which in 1807 resulted in victory for Wilberforce and his supporters. He continued campaigning, taking his abolitionist stance to other European countries in order to persuade them to follow Britain's example. It was later said that Macaulay was the only one of the ‘saints' whom Wellington liked. He helped to start the 'Christian Observer', the official organ of the Clapham Sect, and served as its editor. He was a fellow of the Royal Society and an active member of the British and Foreign Bible Society, the Church Missionary Society, and the Society for the Suppression of Vice, and was one of the principal founders of the University of London. In 1828 his family moved from Clapham to Great Ormond Street, Bloomsbury. Financial concerns plagued him, and he was living in lodgings when he died. In the year of his death, his philanthropic friends had a memorial erected in Westminster Abbey. It incorporates a figure of a kneeling slave together with the motto ‘Am I not a Man and a Brother?'
Cenotaph here
Cenotaph here
Family Members
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