Slave Emancipation Society medallion in ‘pâte de verre’, with an applied figure in black of a kneeling slave and the legend ‘Am I not a man and a brother?’.

The master potter and industrialist Josiah Wedgwood was a key member of the abolition campaign and first produced his famous medallion for the London Abolition Committee in 1787. The design was based on a seal created by an eight-man sub-committee. William Hackwood, an expert sculptor and moulder who worked for the Wedgwood company for 63 years, translated the image into the famous medallion. The design proved immediately popular and served as a rallying icon for the campaign, being adapted into many forms. Wedgwood, with his commercial skills and many useful contacts, joined the London Abolition Committee in 1791.