Sarah Wedgwood (25 September 1776 – 1856) was an English abolitionist and charity administrator.

Early life

She was born 25 September 1776 as the sixth surviving child of

Josiah Josiah () or Yoshiyahu was the 16th king of Judah (–609 BCE). According to the Hebrew Bible, he instituted major religious reforms by removing official worship of gods other than Yahweh. Until the 1990s, the biblical description of Josiah’s ...

and Sarah Wedgwood while the family was living at

Etruria Hall Etruria Hall in Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England is a Grade II listed house and former home of the potter Josiah Wedgwood. It was built between 1768–1771 by Joseph Pickford. The hall was sold by the Wedgwoods in the 19th century an ...

. The Wedgwoods' involvement with the abolition movement began when she was a child, with the

Wedgwood anti-slavery medallion The Wedgwood anti-slavery medallion was an abolitionist symbol produced and distributed by British potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood in 1787 as a seal for the '' Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade''. The medallion depicts a kneelin ...

coming out in 1787. In 1805 she began living at Parkfields, Barlaston, with her elder sister Catherine, where both sisters contributed monetarily to the abolition movement. After the death of Catherine in 1823, she lived at Camp Hill, Maer Heath, Staffordshire.

Abolition campaigning

In 1825 she was a founding member of the

Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves The Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves, also known as the Birmingham and West Bromwich Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves, was founded in Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, c ...

(later called the Female Society for Birmingham), along with

Lucy Townsend Lucy Townsend (née Jesse; 25 July 1781 – 20 April 1847) was a British abolitionist. She started the first Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in Birmingham, UK, titled the Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves. Although slavery had ...

Elizabeth Heyrick Elizabeth Heyrick (née Coltman; 4 December 1769 – 18 October 1831) was an English philanthropist and campaigner against the slave trade. She supported immediate, rather than gradual, abolition. Early life Born in Leicester, Elizabeth was the ...

, Mary Lloyd, and Sophia Sturge. The group 'promoted the sugar boycott, targeting shops as well as shoppers, visiting thousands of homes and distributing pamphlets, calling meetings and drawing petitions.' Sarah served as the group's district treasurer. She is probably the 'Miss Wedgwood' who published the pamphlet ''British Slavery Described'' to raise funds for the North Staffs Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society in 1828. She was opposed to gradual abolition, writing in an 1830 letter to Anne Knight:

'If the battle might be between emancipation and slavery only there would be some hope; but this 3rd thing that looks like emancipation and is not, is I fear beguiling so many that it will very much weaken the true cause.'

In 1832, she pledged £100 to the Anti-Slavery Society towards a plan for immediate emancipation.

Later life

In 1846 she moved to Petleys, Down, Kent, to live near her niece,

Emma Darwin Emma Darwin (; 2 May 1808 – 2 October 1896) was an English woman who was the wife and first cousin of Charles Darwin. They were married on 29 January 1839 and were the parents of ten children, seven of whom survived to adulthood. Early lif ...

. In the final decade of her life, she is described by her great-niece,

Henrietta Litchfield Henrietta Emma Litchfield (née Darwin; 25 September 1843 – 17 December 1927) was a daughter of Charles Darwin and his wife Emma Wedgwood. Henrietta was born at Down House, Downe, Kent, in 1843. She was Darwin's third daughter and the eldest da ...

'She was tall, upright, and very thin…Her life was one of Spartan simplicity. She lived in her books, and the administration of her charities, and her only society was that of my mother and a few old friends and relations.'

She died 6th November 1856, leaving thousands of pounds to over a dozen charities in her will.Wedgwood (1908) p. 179.

References

External links

Sarah Wedgwood
at the Darwin Correspondence Project
"Wedgwood's Abolition Journey"
at the V&A Museum {{DEFAULTSORT:Wedgwood, Sarah 1776 births 1856 deaths English abolitionists People from Etruria, Staffordshire 19th-century English philanthropists 19th-century British women philanthropists