James Cropper (abolitionist)

James Cropper was born in Winstanley, Lancashire into a Quaker family, the son of Thomas Cropper and his wife Rebecca Winstanley. He was intended by his father for the family farm, but he left home at 17 and became an apprentice in the Liverpool mercantile house of the Rathbone Brothers. Cropper married in 1796 Mary Brinsmead, and outlived her by two years. They had two sons, John and Edward, who survived him, and a daughter, who married Joseph Sturge of Birmingham, and died in giving birth to her first child. ==Contribution to the Abolition of Slavery Act 1833==

The Cropper family were Quakers, a faith committed to abolishing the slave trade. In 1790 James Cropper joined the Liverpool firm of Rathbone, Benson and Co under the company's proprietor William Rathbone - a leading abolitionist. The seventeen-year-old James Cropper soon became acquainted with a wider circle of radical Liverpool abolitionists whose members also included William Roscoe. Cropper was able to witness the campaign for the abolition of the slave trade from the very city whose interests were closely tied up within it. After the Slave Trade Act 1807, James Cropper joined the African Institution, a body that would continue to monitor the plight of the slaves. The Slave Trade Act 1807 had not freed a single slave in the Caribbean, it merely banned the trade in slaves and Cropper became increasingly disillusioned with the abolitionist idea that slavery would 'die a natural death'. would go on to state that "James Cropper and other Liverpool merchants were pivotal in rejuvenating British antislavery" The petitioning of William Wilberforce James Cropper also became concerned at the continued mistreatment of enslaved Africans in the years following the Slave Trade Act 1807. In his book The Dissenters (1978) Michael R Watts credits Cropper with opening the campaign for emancipation. Cropper maintained that slavery was becoming more and more uneconomic and supported by a series of unfair subsidies when compared to sugar grown by free men in the East Indies. Mark Jones in his thesis The mobilisation of public opinion against the slave trade and slavery (1998) would also maintain that it would be James Cropper who would initiate the abolitionist revival that was to culminate in the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 and end slavery throughout the British Empire. The petitioning of Zachary Macaulay Cropper then went on to petition a second veteran abolitionist, the former Governor of Sierra Leone, Zachary Macaulay. In a letter to Macauley dated 12 July 1822, James Cropper wrote of his intention to form a society in Liverpool, which would promote the final abolition of slavery itself. Macauley had been strongly associated with the Slave Trade Act 1807 and had been a member of the extended group of abolitionists which later came to be known as the 'Clapham Sect'. Macaulay had personal experience working on West Indies plantations and witnessed the impact of West African slave trading. He also had a phenomenal memory and supplied statistics and facts for many antislavery speeches made in the House of Commons and the House of Lords. Macauley's daughter Margaret, would marry James Cropper's son Edward, so forming an extended group of radical 'Dingle Group' of abolitionists centred upon James Cropper's home at Dingle Bank, South Liverpool. Cropper would use his maritime links with the United States to collect reliable information on the conditions of slaves and promote free labour over slave labour as a means of attacking the economic viability of slavery. (1760-1846) The recruitment of Thomas Clarkson In June 1823, James Cropper wrote to Zachary Macauley suggesting that his third veteran 'recruit', Thomas Clarkson should resurrect his 1788 tour of the country, this time to campaign for the total abolition of slavery. Cropper wrote the letter from Clarkson's own home. James Cropper then proceeded to subsidize Clarkson's tour of the United Kingdom to the sum of £500 (£65,000 in 2022 values). Cropper's sons, John and Edward, donated a further £100 each. Cropper's radical proposals regarding Clarkson's tour may have brought him into conflict with the more moderate views of William Wilberforce, however on 26 October 1824, the Derby abolitionist Matthew Babbington wrote to Cropper and enclosed a letter that Wilberforce had sent him two days earlier. In this missive, Wilberforce empathised his support for Cropper regarding the direction that his revived campaign for slave emancipation should take. In his letter to Babbington, Wilberforce wrote, "Good Cropper's proposal ... makes me love better, a man I already esteemed and loved." Clarkson and Cropper split the country between them, Cropper and others would spend four months touring around districts which already had existing anti-slavery societies while Clarkson would use his oratory and fame to convert new audiences around the country to the emancipation cause. Clarkson would remain as a key speaker of the society and devote much of his time to working with James Cropper and others in disseminating anti-slavery materials to the United States. The recruitment of Joseph Sturge Cropper did not stop with the 'old abolitionists', and he recruited 'new blood' for his cause notably Joseph Sturge of Birmingham, who Cropper personally mentored into becoming a radical abolitionist. In October 1825 Joseph Sturge joined forces with James Cropper who had been publicising the anti-slavery cause in the English midlands. Cropper and Sturge talked with leading citizens, held public meetings, gave speeches, and formed societies. Both Sturge and Cropper shared the same rural Quaker origins and Cropper had been impressed by the young Sturge's speeches at the annual London abolitionist meetings of 1823 and 1824. Despite the twenty-year age gap, the two would form a formidable partnership and lifelong friendship. In 1831 Joseph Sturge formed a partnership with James Cropper's son, John Cropper to form the Young England Abolitionists, it was distinguished from other anti-slavery groups by its uncompromising arguments and vigorous campaigning tactics. Joseph Sturge would marry James Cropper's daughter Eliza – so once again extending the influence of 'The Dingle Group' i.e. the extended Cropper family of abolitionists centred on Dingle Bank, south Liverpool. It was on this visit that James Cropper would recruit the finest anti-slavery orator of the nineteenth century – Daniel O'Connell. Daniel O'Connell's bond with the 'Dingle Group' would grow even closer, when in February 1844, Edward Cropper's father-in-Law, Lord Denman, Lord Chief Justice, led the House of Lords in quashing O'Connell's conviction for inciting rebellion in Ireland. O'Connell would gain his freedom after serving just three months of a twelve-month prison sentence. O'Connell, in turn, would be an inspiration to many influential black activists including the most important African American orator of the 19th century – Frederick Douglass. Douglass would say of O'Connell. ==Accusation of instigating the 1823 Demerara Slave Revolt==

In August 1823, a slave revolt broke out on Liverpool Merchant John Gladstone's 'Success' plantation in Demerara (part of modern-day Guyana, South America). The rebellion quickly spread to involve more than 10,000 enslaved people between August 18 and 19 and was led by slaves with the highest relative status. The rebellion had been instigated by Jack Gladstone, a slave who, as was common at the time, had been given the surname of his 'owner'. The rebellion also involved his father Quamina Gladstone and senior members of their church group, including allegedly its English pastor, John Smith of the London Missionary Society who worked with the enslaved Africans. The largely non-violent rebellion was brutally crushed under the Governorship of John Murray with an estimate of between 100 and 250 slaves killed. The brutal crushing of the rebellion also brought the general plight of the slaves in the sugar plantations to the attention of the British people and would thus bring closer the eventual abolition of slavery. Cropper entered into lengthy public correspondence with Gladstone, the largest slaveholder in the British Empire, and their correspondence in the Liverpool Mercury was later produced in book form in order that the whole of this controversy is submitted to the public. Gladstone insisted that slaves in the West Indies were well treated, and their working conditions protected by existing laws.  Cropper accused slave owners of excessive cruelty and causing the degradation of African people. He claimed that the slaves were routinely whipped, were indiscriminately sold, separating from their families, and for six months of the year had to work for one half the night, as well as the whole day. As an experienced Liverpool merchant, Cropper, together with his wife and daughter had been given sole responsibility for distributing anti-slavery leaflets in the north of England, Ireland, the Caribbean and the United States As a result, Cropper's pamphlets were personally blamed by Liverpool merchant John Gladstone for inciting the 1823 Demerara slave revolt.  In their 'back and forth' correspondence in the Liverpool Mercury (December 1823). John Gladstone stated in no uncertain terms that he believed the slave revolt on his plantation had originated not in Demerara, South America but in Dingle, South Liverpool... In 1824 the pro-slavery activist and geographer James MacQueen berated both Thomas Clarkson and James Cropper for questioning the economic viability of West Indian slavery in his 427-page book The West India colonies: the calumnies and misrepresentations circulated against them by the Edinburgh Review, Mr. Clarkson, Mr. Cropper. ==Support for Black activism in the United States==

In the 1820s James Cropper sponsored several American free black initiatives, for example in 1828 he donated to a Philadelphia school for black infants and provided large scale financial support for American antislavery newspapers. James Cropper also used his Liverpool links to directly encourage antislavery activism in the United States. Sir John Gladstone was already critical of Cropper's growing influence in the slave states writing that ''"Considerable alarm has been felt in the southern states since Mr Cropper's publications have been circulated amongst the slaves there."'' The Cropper family scrapbook was filled with anti-slavery literature and contained a list of contacts in the United States who had already been shipped large packets of his abolitionist pamphlets from Liverpool. The pamphlets, usually up to 20 pages long would be commonly read out loud at meetings and make their way to the slave states. The earliest list (c.1827-9) included editors of all three American antislavery newspapers. Fellow Quaker, Benjamin Lundy edited the Genius of Universal Emancipation and regularly acknowledged his debt to his sponsors in Liverpool. John Brown Russwurm edited the first black newspaper, Freedom's Journal (1827-9). Russwurm was only the third African American to graduate from an American College. Quaker Enoch Lewis was editor of the African Observer (1827-8). Cropper replaced Russwurm as the main contact in the New York's free black community with the African American Peter Williams, Jr. Williams was an Episcopalian bishop and a future member of the board of the interracial American Antislavery Society. Cropper also sent pamphlets to William Lloyd Garrison. Cropper's 1830s list included James McCune Smith, a young black intellectual and militant. Smith was the first African American to gain a medical degree having graduated in Glasgow, Scotland. The pamphleteering activities of James Cropper also began to take effect in New York City, and they would not go unnoticed amongst the local free black population. ==Influence on the black activist James McCune Smith==

On 9 September 1832 the nineteen-year-old black activist and intellectual James McCune Smith sailed into Liverpool and spent nearly a week in the city. On 11 September 1832, Smith paid a visit to James Cropper at Dingle Bank. The obvious dedication of James Cropper to the antislavery cause had a profound effect on James McCune Smith. At a slavery debate in Liverpool, James Cropper also introduced McCune Smith to the militant Liverpool-born abolitionist George Thompson, much to McCune Smith's delight. The works of James McCune Smith Liverpool's George 'notorious' Thompson (1804–78) was a celebrated activist and anti-slavery lecturer on both sides of the Atlantic and he later became the Member of Parliament for Tower Hamlets in London. Thompson's first lecture tour of the United States in 1834, at the invitation of his lifelong friend William Lloyd Garrison, coincided with that of Captain Charles Stuart. Thompson's vitriolic denunciations of slavery were often met with death threats.  Thompson was also a lifelong friend of the black abolitionist Nathaniel Paul– all of these activists had very strong ties to James Cropper at Dingle Bank. In 1853, James McCune Smith, along with his great friend Frederick Douglass, helped start the National Council of Colored People, the first permanent national organization for African Americans. Frederick Douglass called McCune Smith "the single most important influence on my life". Smith wrote the Introduction to Douglass's book My Bondage and My Freedom. in 1855. ==Relationship with the American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison.==

In 1833 the American abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison was invited to Dingle Bank, south Liverpool and the success of his lecture trip would depend heavily on Cropper's stage managing. Garrison arrived in Liverpool in 1833 as the Abolition of Slavery Act was being read in Parliament. Garrison would become the leading American abolitionist prior to the American Civil War. Garrison stayed at Dingle Bank for three days before heading to London. Upon arriving in Liverpool in May 1833 Garrison wrote; Garrison also credited James Cropper with persuading William Wilberforce to cease his support for the American Colonization Society and its aim of encouraging the voluntary repatriation of black people back to the free African state of Liberia. Cropper had previously written a pamphlet criticizing his friend Thomas Clarkson's support for the self-same society. ==Involvement in the premature ending of the slave apprenticeship scheme==

In 1833 slavery in the Caribbean was replaced by a six-year 'apprenticeship' scheme, James Cropper suspected that apprenticeship was no better than slavery. In 1836 his son-in-law Joseph Sturge was dispatched to Jamaica to report on conditions in the plantations. Joseph Sturge travelled to the Caribbean, and his report to Parliament resulted in the apprenticeship scheme being scrapped two years early and true freedom coming to 800,000 enslaved people on 1 August 1838. ==Other works==

Successful in business, Cropper became the founder of Cropper, Benson, & Co., merchants, and made a personal fortune. He worked for the repeal of the orders of council which, up to 1811, restricted British commerce with the US, He also became involved with the port of Liverpool. In 1833 he decided to start an industrial school for boys, in the area of agriculture; and after visiting Germany and Switzerland, he built a school and orphan-house on his estate at Fearnhead, near Warrington, with a house for himself. ==Death and tribute from William Lloyd Garrison==

James Cropper resided at Fearnhead until his death in February 1840. He was buried in the Quaker burial-ground at Liverpool by the side of his wife. The house at Fearnhead bore the following inscription: ==Tribute from the American author Harriet Beecher Stowe==

In 1853 the celebrated American author Harriet Beecher Stowe came to Liverpool at the start of her speaking tour of major British Cities. Stowe's major work'', Uncle Tom's Cabin'' (1852) depicted the harsh conditions of slavery in the United States in the decades leading up to the American Civil War. The book sold over 300,000 copies in the United States and over one and a half million copies in the United Kingdom. It was the best-selling novel of the 19th century. In her memoirs Stowe would write about her thoughts on the late James Cropper and his extended Dingle family as being the initiators of the 'abolitionist revival' that had resulted in the 1833 Abolition of Slavery Act and the freeing of some 800,000 people within the British Empire. In her memoirs Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands. (1854). Stowe would write. On 13 April 1853, Harriet Beecher Stowe gave a public speech in Liverpool. The Chairman of the meeting, the Liverpool merchant and abolitionist, Mr. Adam Hodgson presented Stowe with a petition signed by 21,953 women of Liverpool in support of her cause. Harriet Beecher Stowe then thanked the people of Liverpool for the warmth of her welcome… Harriet Beecher Stowe once again congratulated James Cropper and his extended Dingle family, for initiating the 'abolitionist revival' that led to the total abolition of slavery within the British Empire in 1833. ==Legacy and the further work of the 'Liverpool Dingle Group' of abolitionists==

John Cropper (1797-1874) – son of James Cropper James Cropper died just a few months before the first World Anti-Slavery Convention was held in London. His son, John Cropper would attend along with his brother-in-law and Convention organizer Joseph Sturge. In organizing the World's First Anti- Slavery Convention in 1840, Joseph Sturge and the extended 'Dingle Group' had finally succeeded in uniting the major British and American abolitionists. John Cropper would welcome the American author Harriet Beecher Stowe to Dingle Vale on several occasions. Known as the most generous man in Liverpool, John Cropper was made the subject of Edward Lear's nonsense poem "He Lived at Dingle Bank" and is mentioned in Elizabeth Gaskell's novel Mary Barton (1849). The sandy bay in front of Dingle Bank known as 'Knott's Hole down the Dingle' is also claimed to have inspired ''Kitt's Hole ...down the Dingle'' in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island John Cropper had subsidized Thomas Clarkson's abolitionist tour of Great Britain by £100 in 1823 (£13,000 in 2022 values). Edward Cropper (1799-1877) – son of James Cropper Edward Cropper like his brother John was a committed abolitionist and had also subsidized Thomas Clarkson's abolitionist tour of Great Britain by £100 in 1823. As Quakers, the Croppers tended to marry into families of the same religious beliefs and commitment to abolishing the evils of slavery. Edward's first wife, Isabella Wakefield (1801–30) died at the age of 29 in 1830. Isabella was the sister of John Cropper's wife Anne Wakefield. Edward's second wife, Margaret Macauley (1812–34) was the daughter of the prominent abolitionist . Margaret Macaulay died of scarlet fever in 1834. Edward's third wife Margaret Denman (1815–99) was the daughter of the abolitionist Peer Lord Denman. Margaret had previously been married to William Macaulay (1806–46) the son of the prominent abolitionist Zachary Macaulay, William Macaulay had died at the age of just 40. The marriages of Edward Cropper would serve to widen the influence of the extended Cropper family as a 'Dingle Group' of abolitionists. Eliza Cropper (1800-1835) – daughter of James Cropper. Eliza Cropper was a leading member of the ''Liverpool Ladies' Anti-Slavery Association,'' founded in the city in 1827 and gave supported to her father, James Cropper's abolitionist activities. According to Joshua Civin's the Revival of Antislavery in the 1820s at the Local, National, and Global Levels (2001) James Cropper could not have exerted such influence without the help of the ladies of the household. Eliza sent pamphlets to William Lloyd Garrison and others in the United States. Eliza Cropper also developed an Anglo-American women's antislavery and feminist network. It was the female abolitionists who disseminated propaganda aimed at dissuading the use of West Indian sugar. Eliza Cropper was pivotal to the boycott of slave-grown produce and made-up parcels of East-Indies sugar and coffee grown by free labour which were then distributed amongst Members of Parliament. In April 1834 Eliza Cropper had married the abolitionist Joseph Sturge, however on 18 Feb 1835 Eliza died in childbirth, the baby was also lost. Margaret Macauley Cropper (1812–34) – second wife of Edward Cropper Margaret Macauley Cropper (1812–34) was the daughter of the abolitionist Zachary Macauley (1768-1838) and the sister of the prominent historian and politician 1st Baron Macaulay (1800–59) Secretary of War (1839-41) and Paymaster General (1846-48). Margaret was the second wife of Edward Cropper and died at the age of 22 in 1834.   Margaret Denman Cropper (1815–99) – third wife of Edward Cropper Margaret Denman Cropper (1815–99) welcomed the author Harriet Beecher Stowe on her visits to Dingle Bank. Margaret Denman Cropper corresponded at length with the author Charles Dickens over her father, Lord Denman championing Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin. She also corresponded with the freed American slave, orator and politician, Frederick Douglass, sending him presents of the book Dr Livingstone's Travels'' and a scarf for his wife. Douglass thanked Margaret Cropper for money donated by the Liverpool Anti-slavery Society of which Margaret Cropper was the president. Lord Thomas Denman (1779-1854). Father-in-law of Edward Cropper. Lord Thomas Denman (1779-1854) was an abolitionist politician, and Queen Victoria's first Lord Chief Justice between 1837 and 1850. He corresponded with and met Calvin and Harriet Beecher Stowe as early as 1836. Denman's daughter Margaret (1815–99) was married to Edward Cropper of Dingle Vale. In the House of Lords Denman had proposed a motion in favour of black emancipation as early as March 1826 and supported an inquiry into slavery in the West Indies (May 1826). was instrumental in making Harriet Beecher Stowes antislavery novel ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' the best-selling book of the 19th century and the book that Abraham Lincoln is said to have started the American Civil War. After his praise for ''Uncle Tom's Cabin Lord Denman hoped the novel would...Urge abolition as a paramount duty to God; and even in selfish, insolent, cruel, mean, and uncivilised slave states, the cry will prevail, and emancipation will be achieved.'' Harriet Beecher Stowe would pay her own tribute to Denman ... Harriet Beecher Stowe would also comment on the strong family ties that Lord Denman had with Dingle Bank. Rear Admiral Joseph Denman (1810–74). Brother of Margaret Cropper, brother-in-law of Edward Cropper Rear Admiral Joseph Denman (1810–74) was Lord Denman's son, the brother of Margaret Denman Cropper of Dingle Bank and the brother-in-law of Edward Cropper. Denman was a Commander in the West Africa Squadron, a Royal Navy squadron set up to intercept slave ships off the west coast of Africa. In 1839, Denman's sloop HMS Wanderer captured five slave ships in six months and freed their captive cargo. Spanish and Portuguese slavers were still operating on the West African coast – particularly in the Gallinas Kingdom of King Siaka in modern-day Sierra Leone. In November 1840, Sir Richard Doherty, the Governor of Sierra Leone discovered that Prince Mauna, the son of King Siaka, was holding two black British subjects hostage. Governor Doherty ordered Captain Joseph Denman to rescue the mother (Fry Norman) and her child. Denman took three British warships, the Wanderer, Rolla and Saracen and with a force of 120 men, he went on a ruthless and systematic campaign along the African coast, burning 'slave factories' to the ground. After freeing Fry Norman and her child, Captain Denman unilaterally drafted a treaty abolishing slavery in the Gallinas region and forced King Siaka to sign it. In total Denman destroyed eight slave factories, liberated 841 slaves and secured the expulsion of all slave traders, from the Gallinas Kingdom. One of the slave factories purported to have been destroyed by Denman was that at Lomboko, at the head of the Gallinas River. The Stephen Spielberg film Amistad depicts the destruction of Lomboko and according to Melissa Eisen Azarian (1997) The burning of the slave factories, almost cost Denman his naval career when he was sued by the slave trader, John Thomas Buron who claimed for 'damages and trespass'. Prosecutors claimed between £100,000 and £500,000, as well as a claim for the refunding of a payment on the 13,000 further slaves that had already been given to inland African tribes. Denman was recalled to Great Britain to face trial and the case of Buron vs Denman was heard in the British Court of Exchequer in 1848 – the court found in Denman's favour. While awaiting trial, Denman drew up detailed instructions for the suppression of the 'Middle Passage' carrying slaves from Africa to the Americas. Denman's anti-slavery plan became government policy in 1844.         The Royal Navy was encouraged to destroy any slave factory they could find and stop any ship that was thought to be a slaver. The newfound powers drafted by Denman saw a sudden and dramatic drop in slave ship numbers on the 'Middle Passage' in the late 1840s and 1850s. By the time the American Civil War started in 1861 the 'Middle Passage' and slave trade had basically come to an end on the west African Coast. Joseph Denman finally ended his career as an admiral in command of the Pacific Squadron. As a favourite of Queen Victoria, Denman acted as the Queen's groom in waiting and commanded her royal yacht, Victoria and Albert, from 1853 to 1860. Joseph Denman's died on 26 November 1874. ==Modern counter narratives on the Dingle Group and Liverpool's contribution to the abolition of slavery==

Modern commentators have a largely dismissive view of the contribution made by James Cropper, the Dingle Group, and Liverpool to the abolition of slavery in 1833. The narrative tends to focus upon the Slave Trade Act 1807, which did not free a single slave, unlike the far more important and largely Liverpool initiated Abolition of Slavery Act 1833. The view of National Museums Liverpool to the visit of Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1853 in particular, is totally at odds with Harriet Beecher Stowe's own published diary words in her Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands (1854). ==Publications by James Cropper==

Cropper published many pamphlets on the condition of the West Indies, and on the sugar bounties and other protective duties. His major publications (all issued at Liverpool) were: • Letters to William Wilberforce, M.P., recommending the cultivation of sugar in our dominions in the East Indies, 1822. Against protectionist duties imposed on sugar from the East Indies or elsewhere, in the interests of the West India slaveowners. • The Correspondence between John Gladstone, Esq., M.P., and James Cropper, Esq., on the present state of slavery, 1824. • Present State of Ireland, 1825. • {{cite book ==Notes==