After a wonderful week-end of snapping as many churches as possible in the snow, we attended a small piano concert this afternoon in Wisbech. As we drove over the bridge, the sun shone straight on to the Thomas Clarkson monument and I really saw it for the first time, mind you it was cleaned last year. After a very enjoyable afternoon, I talked my husband into making a quick stop, as my camera had accompanied us to the concert…..well you never know when you are required to take a snap. It was the first time that I had really looked at Thomas …..I have sat on the steps many times at the Rose Fair or the Wisbech Carnival with the floats passing by, but never really looked at Thomas until to-day in the bitter cold with the sun shining.
A very impressive monument to a very impressive man. Thomas Clarkson was a local boy, born in Wisbech on 28th March 1776 and the oldest of 3 children. Thomas’s father was a local headmaster, but he died when Thomas was 6 years old. Red headed Thomas went to the local grammar school and went on to study at Cambridge.
It was at Cambridge that Thomas, when researching slavery, realised how evil the Slave Trade was and he was shocked at what he discovered. Thomas decided that he would devote the rest of his life to abolishing the Slave Trade. It was to take the rest of his life, he passed away on the 26th September 1846 at Playford Hall aged 86. Thomas is buried at the local church, St Mary’s Playford and I think that is a must to visit. I think that this is a very fitting memorial to one of the main architects of the anti-slavery movement.
Echoes of the Past 