Henry Brougham is praised by black ex-slaves for his part in their liberation, but criticized by children factory employees, on whom he turns his back. Lithograph by H.H. (Henry Heath).

The ex-slaves are saying "Ah! Massa Bro'am! You be poor Negro best friend. We no like work; climate too hot, poor negro too fat - ha! ha! ha!". Brougham says "Poor unhappy negro! I have caused twenty millions of money, taken from the pockets of my fellow countrymen, to be spent in purchasing your freedom, but am woefully disappointed in its mis-application." The factory children are saying "Cruel Lord! to turn his back on us poor factory children."

"Throughout his life Brougham continued to speak out, in parliament and in public, against the evils of the slave trade and slavery, and he remained proud of his own contribution to the cause of the abolitionists" (Oxford dictionary of national biography). In the print, Brougham wears tartan trews: the ODNB says that in the 1830s "Many began to comment that the often dishevelled-looking Brougham was not entirely of sound mind. He began to sport tartan trousers, buying enough material to last for the rest of his life"

[London] (380, Strand) : W. Soffe, Pub'd May 26th [1832?] ([London] (22 Denmark St., Soho) : Lith. W. Kohler)

1 print : lithograph ; image and border 27.4 x 37.2 cm.

Slavery at home and abroad. HH "End slavery at home and abroad" was a slogan used in the 1830s to remind people that the conditions of some factory workers in England were similar to those of slaves before emancipation

Bears vignette, lower right: a black man (or a chimney-sweep) cocking a snook

Wellcome Collection 669498i