Milner

This famous illustration is in a pamphlet by Thomas Clarkson entitled ‘The history of the rise, progress, and accomplishment of the abolition of the African slave-trade by the British parliament’ (London, 1808)

Volume of pamphlets formerly owned by Milner relating to the anti-slavery campaign.

The shocking diagram of the Brookes (a slave ship from Liverpool) became the defining image of the battle to end the slave trade. It showed 482 slaves lying shoulder to shoulder and, as one contemporary put it, made "an instantaneous impression of horror on all who saw it".

Although conservative and somewhat reactionary in his politics Milner was outspoken in his opposition to ‘that detestable traffic’, and in his support for Wilberforce’s 18-year long campaign against the trade. However, Milner’s letters to Wilberforce indicate his concern that their support for the abolitionist cause should not associate them both with those who held radical and revolutionary views.