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- For the Scottish poet, see Robert Wedderburn (poet)
Robert Wedderburn (1762 – 1835/6?) was born in Jamaica, the son of an enslaved African called Rosanna and a sugar planter, James Wedderburn of Inveresk, near Edinburgh. James Wedderburn sold Rosanna when she was five months pregnant,1 to Lady Douglas, stipulating that the child (Robert) should be free from birth.
Wedderburn arrived to the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1778 and became a tailor. He was converted to Christianity by a Wesleyan preacher, and later was converted to Methodism.
Politically, he was influenced by Thomas Spence and published a book against slavery, The Horrors of Slavery, in 1824.
When Wedderburn visited his father at Inveresk on the outskirts of Edinburgh, his father disavowed him and he was sent away with some small beer and a bent sixpence.
Robert Wedderburn was able to open his own Unitarian chapel in Hopkins Street in Soho in London to promote his message.
He campaigned for freedom of speech and in 1831, at the age of 68, he was arrested and sent to Giltspur Street Prison. Wedderburn wrote a letter to Francis Place from prison that serves as his last mention in the historical record. He might have died in prison but the exact year is unknown.
References
Notes
- ^ Chase, Malcolm (2008), Wedderburn, Robert (1762–1835/6?), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.), Oxford University Press, http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/47120. Retrieved on 17 August 2008.
External links
- Robert Wedderburn - 100 Great Black Britons website
- Robert Wedderburn - short biography
- A genealogical study: Robert Wedderburn
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- This page was last modified on 5 November 2008, at 17:45.
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