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'Notorious Firebrand'
Robert Wedderburn to be commemorated.
Robert Wedderburn, a mixed-race man who campaigned for the abolishment of slavery, is to be commemorated this weekend in Scotland.
Lord Wedderburn of Charlton will join hundreds of walkers who are set to follow the route taken by his fifth-generation grandfather Robert Wedderburn in Musselburgh more than 200 years ago.
Born in Jamaica in 1762 Robert Wedderburn was the son of a Jamaican slave Rosanna and James Wedderburn, a respected member of Edinburgh society who made a very handsome fortune from the Jamaican slavery trade.
Though born a free man due to a concession his mother sought whilst pregnant, Robert was never recognised by his rich father who had a servant turn his son away with a beer and a bent coin.
The walk - along the River Esk from Musselburgh to Inveresk Lodge - has been organised by Action of Churches Together in Scotland to commemorate the bicentenary of the passing of the abolition of slavery act in Britain.
Although William Wilberforce receives much of the acclaim for the abolishment of slavery, there were many ordinary people, many of them slaves who gave their lives fighting to get the abomination stopped, Robert Wedderburn was one of them.
He went on to become a leading activist against slavery and was imprisoned for attacking the government’s position on the slave trade. The Home Secretary called him a 'notorious firebrand' and he was put on the Government's secret list of 33 leading reformers. On release from his two-year sentence in Dorchester prison, Robert published The Horrors Of Slavery, a vivid record of the history, ideas and rhetoric of the movement to abolish slavery.
Lord Wedderburn of Charlton, hopes to make the walk a permanent attraction, he says,
'We've also been in touch with some Scottish heritage people about the possibility of making this walk a permanent attraction. We're hoping that it will be included in any future leaflets that document important walking routes in the area.'
It's a start, but we'd far prefer to see Robert Wedderburn's name along with many others aside that of william Wilberforce as being responsible for the abolition of slavery.
Robert Wedderburn died at the age of 73 in London, just one year after the abolition of the West Indian Slave Trade, and was still not accepted as a true Wedderburn. Two hundred years later it appears all is forgiven.
Related article: Mixed-Race Books Axe Laid To The Root
Click here for Mixed-Race Icons: Robert Wedderburn
Source:scotsman.com
