Join Manchester historian Ed Glinert for a guided tour exploring the city’s connections to slavery and its important role in the campaign for abolition.
Manchester’s rapid growth and prosperity were closely connected to the cotton industry, which relied heavily upon cotton produced by enslaved people in the Americas.
However, the town also became an important centre of Britain’s abolition movement, with campaigners, religious leaders and local residents organising meetings and gathering support for an end to the transatlantic slave trade.
Led by historian and author Ed Glinert, this annual guided tour explores Manchester’s complicated relationship with slavery and the people and places connected to the city’s abolitionist movement.
The tour will examine the importance of a meeting held at Manchester Collegiate Church, now Manchester Cathedral, on 28 October 1787. Addressed by prominent abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, the gathering helped strengthen local opposition to slavery.
Clarkson later recalled arriving to find the church full, with a large group of Black people gathered around the pulpit.
Manchester went on to collect an exceptionally large number of signatures for a petition against the slave trade presented to Parliament. The original petition was later lost when the Houses of Parliament were destroyed by fire in 1834.
The walk considers how Manchester benefited from an economic system connected to enslavement while also becoming a centre of organised resistance to the slave trade.
Ed Glinert is the founder of New Manchester Walks and the author of Manchester: The Biography. He has researched and presented tours exploring Manchester’s history and connections to slavery for many years.
The meeting point is beside the wall map at Manchester Victoria Station. Please arrive before the advertised starting time.
For enquiries, contact info@newmanchesterwalks.com.
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