Britain abolished the slave trade in 1807 and slavery in 1834. In the United States of America, the slave trade was abolished in 1808, but slavery continued until 1865. In Britain, the Abolitionists started a new campaign in 1839, to end slavery throughout the world, and many British people were involved.
Harriet Beecher Stowe's book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, was a moving account of American slavery. The market for these Staffordshire earthenware figures of Uncle Tom shows the support in Britain for the American emancipation campaign. When William Wells Brown, born into slavery in America, visited Bristol in 1850, he praised the Clifton Ladies' Anti-Slavery Society for their work for the cause.