George Stacey (abolitionist)

George Stacey

from left:Stacey, William Forster and William Morgan in a detail from an 1840 painting.[1]
Born 1787
Kendal
Died 1857
Nationality British
Occupation Business
Known for Abolitionist
Religion Quaker
Spouse(s) Deborah Lloyd

George Stacey (1787–1857) was a leading English Quaker and abolitionist.

Biography

Stacey was born in Kendal.[2]

Stacey married a fellow Quaker and cousin, Deborah Lloyd, of the Lloyds banking family. Stacey was then living in Tottenham. He was a business partner in a Chemists business called Corbyn,Beaumont, Stacey and Messer.[2] The Stacey's involvement in this partnership dated from 1772 when Thomas Corbyn took in another George Stacey; who were both Quakers.[3] That George Stacey died in 1816.[4]

In 1823 the Anti-Slavery Society was formed with Stacey as a leading member.[5] The society had many Quaker members and Stacey was also joining his fellow Quakers in business ventures like the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825.[6]

Between 1830 and 1850 he was chosen twelve times as the clerk to the influential yearly meeting of the Quakers in London.[2] This may in part be due to Stacey's method of speaking. Stephen Grellet, the French Quaker reported that Stacey said that he would express his views as clearly as he could once, but would not repeat them as this was unlikely to convince others who did not agree.[7] The Quakers as a whole were committed to ending slavery and Stacey was a leading figure in this endeavour. His business dealt with America and the West Indies[4] and this involvement must have been more than theoretical.

Isaac Crewdson (Beaconite) writer Samuel Jackman Prescod - Barbadian Journalist William Morgan from Birmingham William Forster - Quaker leader George Stacey - Quaker leader William Forster - Anti-Slavery ambassador John Burnet -Abolitionist Speaker William Knibb -Missionary to Jamaica Joseph Ketley from Guyana George Thompson - UK & US abolitionist J. Harfield Tredgold - British South African (secretary) Josiah Forster - Quaker leader Samuel Gurney - the Banker's Banker Sir John Eardley-Wilmot Dr Stephen Lushington - MP and Judge Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton James Gillespie Birney - American John Beaumont George Bradburn - Massachusetts politician George William Alexander - Banker and Treasurer Benjamin Godwin - Baptist activist Vice Admiral Moorson William Taylor William Taylor John Morrison GK Prince Josiah Conder Joseph Soul James Dean (abolitionist) John Keep - Ohio fund raiser Joseph Eaton Joseph Sturge - Organiser from Birmingham James Whitehorne George Bennett Richard Allen Stafford Allen William Leatham, banker William Beaumont Sir Edward Baines - Journalist Samuel Lucas Samuel Fox, Nottingham grocer Louis Celeste Lecesne Jonathan Backhouse Samuel Bowly William Dawes - Ohio fund raiser Robert Kaye Greville - Botanist Joseph Pease, railway pioneer M.M. Isambert (sic) Mary Clarkson -Thomas Clarkson's daughter in law William Tatum Saxe Bannister - Pamphleteer Richard Davis Webb - Irish Nathaniel Colver - American not known John Cropper - Most generous Liverpudlian Thomas Scales William James William Wilson Thomas Swan Edward Steane from Camberwell William Brock Edward Baldwin Jonathon Miller Capt. Charles Stuart from Jamaica Sir John Jeremie - Judge Charles Stovel - Baptist Richard Peek, ex-Sheriff of London John Sturge Elon Galusha Cyrus Pitt Grosvenor Rev. Isaac Bass Henry Sterry Peter Clare -; sec. of Literary & Phil. Soc. Manchester J.H. Johnson Thomas Price Joseph Reynolds Samuel Wheeler William Boultbee Daniel O'Connell - "The Liberator" William Fairbank John Woodmark William Smeal from Glasgow James Carlile - Irish Minister and educationalist Rev. Dr. Thomas Binney John Howard Hinton - Baptist minister John Angell James - clergyman Joseph Cooper Dr. Richard Robert Madden - Irish Thomas Bulley Isaac Hodgson Edward Smith Sir John Bowring - diplomat and linguist John Ellis C. Edwards Lester - American writer Tapper Cadbury - Businessman not known Thomas Pinches David Turnbull - Cuban link Edward Adey Richard Barrett John Steer Henry Tuckett James Mott - American on honeymoon Robert Forster (brother of William and Josiah) Richard Rathbone John Birt Wendell Phillips - American M. L'Instant from Haiti Henry Stanton - American Prof William Adam Mrs Elizabeth Tredgold - British South African T.M. McDonnell Mrs John Beaumont Anne Knight - Feminist Elizabeth Pease - Suffragist Jacob Post - Religious writer Anne Isabella, Lady Byron - mathematician and estranged wife Amelia Opie - Novelist and poet Mrs Rawson - Sheffield campaigner Thomas Clarkson's grandson Thomas Clarkson Thomas Morgan Thomas Clarkson - main speaker George Head Head - Banker from Carlisle William Allen John Scoble Henry Beckford - emancipated slave and abolitionist Use your cursor to explore (or Click "i" to enlarge)
Stacey is in the left foreground of this painting of the 1840 Anti-Slavery Convention. There are dozens of women shown in the very far background. Move your cursor to identify him or click the icon to enlarge

During the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention there was a disagreement with the American convention who had taken literally the instruction to send delegates. The British organising committee were surprised to find there were female delegates asking to sit in the main hall. It was Stacey who was called on to address the issue on behalf of the organising committee. Stacey noted that the women were valued in the work that they did, but that the committee felt that women were not normally included unless their contribution was essential.[8] The women from America, and England, were asked to sit away from the main area. The commemorative painting of the event shows Stacey in the important foreground of the painting and women with the exception of the main speakers daughter, Mary Clarkson, the women are huddled to the right and to the back of the assembled crowd.

Stacey was trying to deal with a difficult issue and Rachel Stacey did take a leading role as secretary of the London Ladies' Negro Friend Society,[8] but it was said that the 1840 Anti-Slavery \Convention laid the foundations for later fights for the rights of women.[9]

In 1841, Forster's wife Dorothy died.[2]

In 1842-3 a schism developed in the Society of Friends in Salum in Iowa over the ways that the society should support slavery, which was still an important part of the American economy. A rival meeting house had been created, and a separate burial ground which was separated from the older Quaker burial ground by a mere two feet of space. Four delegates were sent from Britain: Stacey, Josiah Forster, his brother William and John Allen. The group did not manage to heal the divide immediately but it was resolved by 1848.[10]

References

  1. ↑ National Portrait Gallery
  2. 1 2 3 4 The Quaker Lloyds in the Industrial Revolution, Humphrey Lloyd, 1975, ISBN 0-415-38161-4, accessed April 2009
  3. ↑ Association of Business History, accessed April 2009
  4. 1 2 The Pharmaceutical Industry, Lesley Richmond et al, ISBN 0-7546-3352-7, 2002, accessed April 2009
  5. ↑ Untitles, Haringey Council, London, accessed April 2009
  6. ↑ Religion, business, and wealth in modern Britain, David J. Jeremy, 1998, ISBN 0-415-16898-8, accessed April 2009
  7. ↑ Memoirs and Life of Stephen Grellet, Stephen Grellet, Benjamin Seebohm, 1863, accessed April 2009
  8. 1 2 Women Against Slavery, Claire Midgely
  9. ↑ A Time for Silence: William Lloyd Garrison and the “Woman Question” at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention. L.S. Hogan, Springer Link, accessed April 2009
  10. ↑ The Anti-Slavery Friends in Salem, Iowa, Lewis D. Savage, accessed 16 July 2008
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