William Morgan (abolitionist)

Infobox Person
name = William Morgan


image_size = 240px
caption = William Morgan in a detail from a painting at the National Portrait Gallery. [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp00069&rNo=0&role=sit# National Portrait Gallery] ]
birth_name =
birth_date = 1815
death_date = c. 1890 [http://www.search.connectinghistories.org.uk/engine/resource/default.asp?theme=153&originator=%2Fengine%2Ftheme%2Fdefault.asp&page=4&records=40&direction=1&pointer=998&text=0&resource=738 William Morgan] at Connecting Histories.org.uk, accessed 29 July 2008]

William Morgan (1815–c.1890) was a leading member of the Birmingham Anti-Slavery Society [http://www.connectinghistories.org.uk/Learning%20Packages/Anti%20Slavery/antislavery_lp_02.asp The Birmingham Anti-Slavery Society] , Connecting Histories.org.uk, accessed 29 July 2008] whose members were very influential in abolitionist movements in Britain. He became the Town clerk in Birmingham and gave a collection of books to Birmingham Library.

Biography

Morgan was the third son of the Reverent Thomas Morgan. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jOYRAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22william+morgan%22+++birmingham+third&lr=&client=firefox-a&pg=PA191&ci=461,1093,447,144&source=bookclip The Baptist Magazine] , Baptist Missionary Society]

Morgan was trained as a solicitor and worked in Birmingham.Civilising Subjects: Metropole and Colony in the English Imagination 1830-67, Catherine Hall, ISBN: 978-0745618210] He was an active member of the Birmingham Anti-Slavery Society which campaigned for abolition of slavery in the British Empire in 1838. On the anniversary of the abolition a celebration was again held in Birmingham and it was Morgan who distributed infomation and invitations to the local Sunday Schools. [ [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Zg9-q6n0PxgC&pg=PA93&lpg=PA93&dq=anti+slavery+%22William+Morgan+%22+-mason+-york&source=web&ots=Uk0A6W0ep_&sig=10t810uUePIhgSpNNdy8d2jJ8GM&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result#PPA93,M1 The Culture of English Antislavery, 1780-1860] , David Turley, 1991, p.93, ISBN:0415020085]

Morgan was a founder of the local Baptist Union and served as secretary to the Birmingham Anti-Slavery Society when British slavery was made illegal (in 1838). The picture above shows him at the 1840 Anti-Slavery Convention which was organised by Morgan's colleague Joseph Sturge. Morgan served as a secretary at the 1840 convention. He continued to work with Sturge during the 1850s.

In 1866, the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society sent Morgan to Jamaica.

Morgam had married Henrietta Barnard on 6 March 1841 from Nailsworth in Gloucestershire.

Works

* "The Arabs of tía City or a Plea for Brotherhood with the Outcast" - Address to the YMCA, Birmingham, 1853 (when he was Town Clerk of Birmingham), Hudson and Son, London

References