Frederick William Chesson (1833 – 29 April 1888) was an English journalist and prominent

anti-slavery Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The Britis ...

campaigner. He was active in the London Aborigines' Protection SocietyJames Heartfield, ''The Aborigines' Protection Society,'' London, Hurst, 2011 and Emancipation Committee, and met

Harriet Jacobs Harriet Jacobs (1813 or 1815 – March 7, 1897) was an African-American writer whose autobiography, '' Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl'', published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, is now considered an "American classic". Born int ...

when she was in England in 1858; and was a vocal supporter of the Union side during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. In 1855 he married Amelia Thompson, daughter of activist George Thompson (1804–1878). He was also a leading supporter of Sir Charles Dilke, his

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

, during Dilke's scandalous divorce case. In 1859, Chesson and Thompson founded the London Emancipation Society which strongly supported the Unionist side in the

. He wrote on

Richard Cobden Richard Cobden (3 June 1804 – 2 April 1865) was an English Radical and Liberal politician, manufacturer, and a campaigner for free trade and peace. He was associated with the Anti-Corn Law League and the Cobden–Chevalier Treaty. As a you ...

, for his major biography.

References

External Resources

Thompson Chesson Scrapbooks
From the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

1833 births 1888 deaths British male journalists English abolitionists 19th-century British journalists 19th-century British male writers {{UK-journalist-stub