Westminster Abbey politicians, doctors and scientists such as Isaac Newton, buried on 4 April 1727, Charles Darwin, buried on 26 April 1882, and Stephen Hawking, buried on 15 June 2018. Another was William Wilberforce who led the movement to abolish slavery in the United Kingdom and the Plantations, buried on 3 August 1833. Wilberforce was buried in the north transept, close to his friend, the former Prime Minister, William Pitt. During the early 20th century it became increasingly common to bury cremated remains rather than coffins in the abbey. In 1905 the actor Sir Henry Irving was cremated and his ashes buried
Slavery in South Africa slaver with 500 Angolan slaves, and 250 were taken to the Cape. Two months later, a further 228 slaves arrived from Guinea. Britain invaded the Cape and later passed the Slave Trade Act 1807. It was enforced from 1808, ending the external slave trade. Slaves were permitted to be traded only within the colony. The first large wave of British settlers, the 1820 Settlers, were not permitted to own slaves. In 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act received Royal Assent; this paved the way for the abolition of slavery within the British Empire and its colonies. On 1 August 1834, all