How did Thomas get involved in the abolition of the Slave Trade?
In 1785 Thomas entered a Latin essay-writing competition at Cambridge University. The subject was Anne Liceat Invitos In Servitvtem Dare? (is it lawful to make slaves of others against their will?) At the time he, like many people in Britain, knew little about the horrors of slavery and the slave trade. For the next two months he read widely on the subject of slavery and the slave trade. He later described his feelings as he became immersed in the reading. “It was but one gloomy subject from morning to night. In the daytime I was uneasy. In the night I had little rest. I sometimes never closed my eye-lids for grief. It became now not so much a trial for academical reputation, as for the production of a work, which might be useful to injured Africa” (3) In June 1785 Thomas was awarded first prize for his essay which he read out in the Senate House, to generous applause. He then road down to London, still very agitated by his findings and on the old A10 at Wadesmill, Hertfordshire he sto
