in Britain, few ever visited the plantations and the brutal treatment of slaves; it was this distance from the harsh reality of slavery that led to many of them to regard slavery with indifference. William Wilberforce was faced with the enormous challenge of depicting the reality of slavery to the British people in an age without photography or film. After joining ‘The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade’ in 1791, Wilberforce persuaded his close friend from Cambridge University and Prime Minister William Pitt (the Younger) to appoint a parliamentary committee to investigate the conditions on board slave ships. The results of this enquiry successfully opened the eyes of Britons to the horrors of the slave trade; the inquiry estimated that of the 11 million slaves transported to the Americas 1.4 million had died during transportation. Diagrams of slave ships which had emerged from the inquiry showed around 500 slaves crammed into one small ship and examples of thumbscrews and shackles where circulated around the country by Wilberforce and his abolitionists. This was crucial to changing public opinion on slavery by revealing to all ranks of society the realities of the slave trade. Wilberforce in 1789 made his first major speech to parliament on the subject of the slave trade describing in detail the conditions slaves were transported, he also stated 12 resolutions condemning the trade. Furthermore the involvement of former African slaves such as Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano in Wilberforce’s campaign gave first-hand accounts of experience of Slavery to ordinary Britons.
However, despite the turnaround in public opinion, the First Abolition Bill was defeated in parliament in 1791 by 163 to 88 votes, which was largely as result of MPs having stakes in the trade or connections with the slave traders. The slave revolt in the French colony of St. Domingue further discouraged members from taking a reforming stance. Wilberforce, whom had successfully persuaded the public in favour of abolition, now had the hugely difficult task
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