Edward Strutt Abdy (1791–1846) was an English legal academic and

abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

, notable as an author on racism and race relations in the United States.

Early life

Abdy was the fifth and youngest son of Thomas Abdy Abdy, of Albyns, Essex, by Mary, daughter of James Hayes, of Holliport, a bencher of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn ...

. He was educated at

Felsted School (Keep your Faith) , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent day and boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster , head = Chris Townsend , r_head_ ...

and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes f ...

, where he obtained a fellowship (B.A. 1813; M.A. 1817). He was admitted to the

in 1813.

Tour in the USA, 1833–4

Abdy made an extended American tour, beginning with a visit to

Auburn Prison Auburn Correctional Facility is a state prison on State Street in Auburn, New York, United States. It was built on land that was once a Cayuga village. It is classified as a maximum security facility. History Constructed in 1816 as Auburn Pris ...

New York State New York, officially the State of New York, is a U.S. state, state in the Northeastern United States. It is often called New York State to distinguish it from its largest city, New York City. With a total area of , New York is the List of U.S. ...

, by way of a pretext. He visited also southern and western states. The leader of the prison reform group with which Abdy set off was William Crawford (1788–1847), sent by the British Home Secretary

Viscount Melbourne Viscount Melbourne, of Kilmore in the County of Cavan, was a title in the Peerage of Ireland held by the Lamb family. This family descended from Matthew Lamb, who represented Stockbridge and Peterborough in the House of Commons. In 1755 h ...

to investigate the "silent system" of Auburn Prison, and the "

separate system The separate system is a form of prison management based on the principle of keeping prisoners in solitary confinement. When first introduced in the early 19th century, the objective of such a prison or "penitentiary" was that of penance by the p ...

" in operation at Pennsylvania. The tour resulted in the publication by Abdy of a three-volume ''Journal of a Residence and Tour in the United States of North America, from April 1833 to October 1834''. It reported on his research on US penal institutions, made with members of the Society for the Improvement of Prison Discipline and the Reformation of Juvenile Offenders. But Abdy wrote also at length on the

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one race over another. It may also mean prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism ...

he perceived in American society. On his journeys, Abdy had close contact with US abolitionists including

Maria Weston Chapman Maria Weston Chapman (July 25, 1806 – July 12, 1885) was an American abolitionist. She was elected to the executive committee of the American Anti-Slavery Society in 1839 and from 1839 until 1842, she served as editor of the anti-slavery journ ...

. He influenced

William Ellery Channing William Ellery Channing (April 7, 1780 – October 2, 1842) was the foremost Unitarian preacher in the United States in the early nineteenth century and, along with Andrews Norton (1786–1853), one of Unitarianism's leading theologians. Channi ...

and

Lydia Maria Child Lydia Maria Child ( Francis; February 11, 1802October 20, 1880) was an American abolitionist, women's rights activist, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalist, and opponent of American expansionism. Her journals, both fiction and ...

; and was involved in the formation of the (American) Anti-Slavery League. Abdy paid a visit in New York to

Peter Williams, Jr. Peter Williams Jr. (1786–1840) was an African-American Episcopal priest, the second ordained in the United States and the first to serve in New York City. He was an abolitionist who also supported free black emigration to Haiti, the black repub ...

, the black Episcopal minister. In his ''Journal of a Residence and Tour'' Abdy recounts, under a chapter subheading "Africo-American craniology", a conversation he had on skulls, with the sexton of Williams's church, who worked in what had become the burial ground for all black New Yorkers. The sexton, on Abdy's account, told an anecdote against "Dr. Paschalis" (i.e. Félix Pascalis-Ouvière M.D. (1762–1833), French physician in New York), based on the proposition that Paschalis could not with certainty identify an African-American skull from the bone alone. Abdy's intention in the framing of this account has been regarded as problematic. On the other hand, Channing had an interest in

phrenology Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...

, and a copy of

George Combe George Combe (21 October 1788 – 14 August 1858) was a trained Scottish lawyer and a spokesman of the phrenological movement for over 20 years. He founded the Edinburgh Phrenological Society in 1820 and wrote a noted study, '' The Constitutio ...

's ''Constitution of Man'' (Boston, 1829). In the widely-reported conversation Abdy had had with Channing, he had pushed Channing on whether he was properly informed on the free black population. Channing on this occasion produced a phrenological argument for

white supremacy White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...

. This encounter, in August 1834 on

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but i ...

, saw Abdy throw back some of Channing's own words at him. Channing later told

Harriet Martineau Harriet Martineau (; 12 June 1802 – 27 June 1876) was an English social theorist often seen as the first female sociologist, focusing on race relations within much of her published material.Michael R. Hill (2002''Harriet Martineau: Theoreti ...

that Abdy's reasoning had an impact on his views. The public perception, based on Abdy's book and his comfort with being thought tactless, was that they had parted on bad terms.

Later life

In later life Abdy took an interest in

hydrotherapy Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The te ...

, publishing ''The Water Cure. Cases of Disease cured by Cold Water (translated from the German), with remarks addressed to people of common sense,'' a translation of a pamphlet by Rudolf von Falkenstein. His death occurred at Bath, 12 October 1846, at the age of 56. He was unmarried.

References

;Attribution

External links

*E. S. Abdy, ''Journal of a Residence and Tour in the United States of North America: From April, 1833, to October 1834'', from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music ...

:
Volume 1
(1835)
Volume 2
(1835)
Volume 3
(1835) *E. S. Abdy,
American whites and blacks, in reply to a German orthodermist
' (1842) *Rudolph von Falkenstein, tr. E. S. Abdy,
The water cure, cases of disease cured by cold water
' (1842) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abdy, Edward Strutt 1791 births 1846 deaths English non-fiction writers Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge Members of the Middle Temple English male non-fiction writers