Plaque for Leeds Quaker abolitionists
Quaker activists Mary and Wilson Armistead have been commemorated in Leeds
A blue plaque has been installed at the former home of two Quaker abolitionists to mark Leeds’ anti-slavery links.
Lyddon Hall, now a student residence for the University of Leeds, is where Quaker activists Mary and Wilson Armistead lived during the 1800s. The couple were leading members of the Leeds Anti-Slavery Association, with Wilson as president and Mary the association’s librarian. Founded in 1853, the association admitted men and women as equal members.
Leeds Quakers welcomed the plaque, which was initiated by Leeds Civic Trust. Robert Keeble, co-clerk of Carlton Hill Meeting, who attended the event, said: ‘Leeds Quakers were very involved with the abolitionist movement, particularly the Armistead family, who were prominent in promoting the cause, with Wilson, who was a merchant with a flax and mustard business. Their home, Virginia Cottage, was previously owned and built by a tobacco manufacturer… in all probability, from profits made from tobacco imported from “slave grown” tobacco plantations in Virginia. In the 1860s, the Armisteads used their house as a collecting point for money and goods to be sent to support newly-emancipated enslaved individuals. Wilsons book A Tribute for the Negro was first published in 1848 and was both a denunciation of the “terrible institution” of slavery in the United States and a celebration of the achievement of Africans in America.’
The book is still in print, added Robert, and widely known among American abolitionist scholars.
The plaque also commemorates Ellen and William Craft, who stayed with the Armisteads after fleeing the US when the Fugitive Slave Act was introduced in 1850. The couple famously escaped enslavement by crossing the US with Ellen disguised as a rich white man and William her assistant. Armistead Wilson described his guests in the 1851 census as ‘fugitive slaves’.
Also listed is Henry ‘Box’ Brown, who escaped slavery in Virginia by concealing himself in a box posted to Philadelphia. The journey was re-enacted in 1851 to campaign against slavery when he took the train from Bradford to Leeds in a box. Other black American abolitionists named on the plaque include: William Wells Brown, Frederick Douglass, Sarah Parker Remond, and Moses Roper, who visited the association to give lectures.
The plaque was installed after years of campaigning and research, including by Bridget Bennett, a professor at the university’s English department. ‘Leeds should be better known for its connection to the history of abolition and anti-slavery in the United States,’ she said.
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