Introduction
William Wilberforce’s retirement in 1825 left a vacancy for the Commons’ leading anti-slavery campaigner. The man who stepped into his shoes, decrying slavery as ‘repugnant to the principles of the British constitution and of the Christian religion’, was Fowell Buxton (1786-1845), and few who knew him as a child could have believed it.
AT fifteen, Fowell Buxton was illiterate, idle and self-willed. Yet his mother always insisted, ‘You will see it will turn out well in the end’, and after he was befriended by the family of banker John Gurney, Fowell justified her faith.
He graduated from Dublin University, took a job in his uncle’s brewery, and married Hannah Gurney. In 1818, he was elected MP for Weymouth, and campaigned alongside Hannah’s sister Elizabeth Fry for prison reform. He saw the death penalty cut from over two hundred offences, leaving just eight. In 1824, he became founding Chairman of the RSPCA.*
But his life’s work had been settled in 1821, when his sister-in-law Priscilla had spent her last breath begging Fowell to free the Empire’s remaining slaves. On 1st August, 1834, the day that Fowell’s daughter Priscilla was married, Parliament’s Act emancipating all slaves came into force.
“The bride is just gone”, he wrote to a friend; “and there is not a slave in the British colonies!”
Strictly speaking, Buxton, Wilberforce and others founded the SPCA, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. ‘R’ for ‘Royal’ was added by Queen Victoria in 1840.
Précis
Fowell Buxton MP was the driving force behind the emanicipation, in 1834, of the last remaining slaves in the British Empire. A lazy and wilful boy, his character was transformed by the Gurneys, a wealthy family involved in a range of social causes. He became a prominent campaigner for prison reform, and against both capital punishment and cruelty to animals. (60 / 60 words)
Fowell Buxton MP was the driving force behind the emanicipation, in 1834, of the last remaining slaves in the British Empire. A lazy and wilful boy, his character was transformed by the Gurneys, a wealthy family involved in a range of social causes. He became a prominent campaigner for prison reform, and against both capital punishment and cruelty to animals.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: although, because, just, may, since, until, whereas, who.
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Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Act. Friend. Have.
2 Find. Justify. Over.
3 Family. John. Sister.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Add Vowels Find in Think and Speak
Make words by adding vowels to each group of consonants below. You may add as many vowels as you like before, between or after the consonants, but you may not add any consonants or change the order of those you have been given. See if you can beat our target of common words.
spng (5)
espionage. seeping. soaping. souping. sponge.
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