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Pumphrey, Thomas, and Emma R. Pumphrey.
Henry and Anna Richardson. In Memoriam.
Publisher: [For private distribution]; Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
Date of Publication: 1892
Stock Code: 14884
Square duodecimo, pp., 48, [2] appendix. With frontispiece, lithographic portrait of Henry, and two photographic plates of Henry and Anna. Original chocolate cloth, titled in gilt to upper board within black-stamped frame, vignette of Josiah Wedgwood’s anti-slavery medallion stamped to lower board; edges sprayed red. Corners rubbed and slightly bumped, slight rubbing to joints and spine-tips. Occasional spots of foxing but contents generally clean and neat. A very good copy. An exceedingly rare memorial volume for two prominent Newcastle Abolitionist Quakers who in 1846, paid the deed of enfranchisement for Frederick Douglass. Henry and Anna Richardson were grocers and Quakers, who were lifelong advocates of Abolitionism, peace, and ethical trade. The couple, along with other British Quakers, financially supported Douglass’ two-year speaking tour of the UK, and hosted the Abolitionist at their home in Summerhill in Newcastle. In 1846, the couple raised £150 to purchase Douglass’ freedom from his American owner, Hugh Auld. The act was not without controversy, as some Abolitionists viewed the purchase as tantamount to validating the trade in enslaved people. Douglass corresponded with the Richardsons for the rest of his life. The Richardsons regularly hosted black Abolitionists such as James W. C. Pennington and Henry Highland Garnet at their home. Through local presses, the pair supported the publication of anti-slavery prints, broadsides, pamphlets, and two books. In 1849, Henry and Anna sailed to Paris to attend the General International Peace Congress alongside Elihu Burritt, Victor Hugo, William Wells Brown, and other major radical figures from across the world. This volume, compiled by friends and family in the year of Anna’s death, celebrates both their abolitionism and their peace activism. A section recalling their time with Douglass partially reproduces the deed of enfranchisement. In describing the route of the Richardson’s lives, this short memorial work describes their various encounters with black Abolitionists, with original material from Henry Richardson’s journal. £250.00