James Stephen (British politician) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
James Stephen
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| Member of Parliament for Tralee | |
| In office 1808–1812 |
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| Member of Parliament for East Grinstead | |
| In office 1812–1815 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 30 June 1758 |
| Died | 10 October 1832 (aged 74) |
| Political party | Tory |
James Stephen (born June 30, 1758 – died October 10, 1832) was a very important English lawyer. He is best known for his work in the movement to end slavery, called abolitionism. Stephen was born in Poole, England. His family later moved to Stoke Newington. He married twice and had several children. His son, Sir James Stephen, and his great-granddaughter, the famous writer Virginia Woolf, also became well-known.
Contents
Early Life and Career
James Stephen was born to James and Sibella Stephen. He started his career by reporting on what happened in parliament for a newspaper called the Morning Post. He studied law and became a lawyer in 1782. He also studied law at Marischal College in Aberdeen, Scotland, but had to stop because he ran out of money.
The next year, he moved with his family to the West Indies, a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. They lived there for 11 years. Stephen became a lawyer there and was even the top legal officer (called the solicitor-general) for St. Kitts, which was a British colony at the time.
While visiting Barbados, another island, Stephen saw a trial where four enslaved Black men were found guilty of murder. Many people thought this trial was very unfair. The men were sentenced to death by burning. Stephen was so horrified by the trial and the punishment that he promised he would never own enslaved people himself. He also decided to join the movement to end slavery.
Stephen was against using slave labour to develop Trinidad when it became a British island in 1797. Instead, he suggested that land should only be given to estates that would bring in free African workers. He believed that ending slavery would not only be morally right but also make the British West Indian islands safer from countries like France.
Stephen was a very skilled lawyer, especially in laws about Britain's foreign trade. He supported a system where the government controlled trade. In 1805, he wrote a book called War in Disguise. In this book, he argued that neutral countries, like America, should not be allowed to carry goods between France's Caribbean islands and Europe. His ideas later became the basis for Britain's Orders in Council. These rules placed limits on American ships and eventually led to the War of 1812 between Britain and America.
Fighting for Abolition
In 1800, James Stephen married Sarah, who was the sister of William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was a very famous leader in the anti-slavery movement. Through this marriage, Stephen met many important people who were also fighting to end slavery. Many of his abolitionist friends lived in Clapham, a place known for the Clapham Sect, a group of evangelical Christians who worked for social reform.
Other connections were made in Stoke Newington, a village north of London, where Stephen's father had a family home. Close by lived three important Quaker abolitionists: William Allen, Joseph Woods the elder, and Samuel Hoare Jr. These last two were founding members of the group that later became the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. William Wilberforce often visited Stoke Newington to meet with his sister Sarah, James, and his Quaker friends.
Stephen became known as the main person behind the Slave Trade Act 1807. This law made the slave trade illegal in the British Empire. Stephen provided Wilberforce with the legal knowledge he needed to write the law. To make sure there were no loopholes, Stephen became a director of the Africa Institution. He suggested creating a central registry, managed by the British government, to record all enslaved births, deaths, and sales. He believed that "any unregistered black would be presumed free." Although he had many successful ideas to help the abolitionist cause, this idea of a central registry was never put into action. His last public speech was at a meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society in 1832.
Member of Parliament
From 1808 to 1815, James Stephen served as a Member of Parliament (MP). He first represented Tralee and then East Grinstead. In 1811, he also became a Master in Chancery, a type of judge.
Stephen was a powerful speaker, even though he didn't have a formal university education. In 1826, he wrote a paper called An Address to the People and Electors of England. In it, he encouraged people to vote for MPs who would not support the "West India interest." This term referred to people who owned plantations in the West Indies and wanted to keep slavery. His efforts helped pave the way for the second Abolition Bill, which successfully ended slavery in the British Empire in 1833.
Family Life
James Stephen had three sons from his first marriage to Anna Stent in 1783. All three sons became well-known in law, the abolition movement, and government service. They were Sir James Stephen (1789–1859), Henry John Stephen (1787–1864), and Sir George Stephen (1794–1879).
Stephen's second wife was Sarah Wilberforce (who died in 1816), the older sister of William Wilberforce. James Stephen died in 1832. He, his first wife, his parents, and two of his infant daughters were all buried at St Mary's churchyard in Stoke Newington, London. The Stephen family also has connections to a famous legal family in Australia.
Works
- The Crisis of the Sugar Colonies (1802)
- Buonaparte in the West Indies; : or, The history of Toussaint Louverture, the African hero (1803)
- The Opportunity or Reasons for an immediate alliance with St Domingo (1804)
- Reasons for Establishing a Registry of Slaves (1815)
- A defence of the bill for the registration of slaves (1816)
- An Inquiry into the Right and Duty of Compelling Spain to Relinquish Her Slave Trade in Northern Africa (1816)
- England Enslaved by Her Own Slave Colonies: An Address to the People and Electors of England (1826)
- The Slavery of the British West Indies (1824)
Images for kids
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Grave of James Stephen, Stoke Newington
