Medal commemorating the ‘Emancipation in the West Indies’

Medal commemorating ‘Emancipation in the West Indies’. Obverse: An African man shakes hands with a European man attended by an African woman and child and a European woman wearing a bonnet. Legend: ‘WE ARE ALL BRETHREN’. Exergue: ‘EMANCIPATION/ AUG. 1. 1838’. Reverse: Legend: ‘THEIR NAMES SHALL BE SACRED IN THE MEMORY OF THE JUST’. Inscription within a palm wreath: ‘PENN/ GRAN. SHARP/ WILBERFORCE/ BENEZET/ CLARKSON/ BUXTON/ BROUGHAM/ STURGE/ SLIGO’.

The medal was produced to commemorate the ending of slavery in the British Empire on 1 August 1838. On the reverse side of the medal, there is a list of names associated with emancipation. All of these men – Penn, Granville Sharp, Wilberforce, Benezet, Buxton, Brougham, Sturge and Sligo – represent the European contribution to the anti-slavery campaigns.

Object Details

ID: ZBA2812
Collection: Coins and medals; Special collections
Type: Medal
Display location: Display - Atlantic Gallery
Creator: Halliday, Thomas
Date made: 1838
Exhibition: The Atlantic: Slavery, Trade, Empire; Enslavement and Resistance
People: Halliday, Thomas; Clarkson, Thomas
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Michael Graham-Stewart Slavery Collection. Acquired with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund
Measurements: Overall: 42 mm
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