Slavery in Britain His conversion to Evangelical Christianity in 1784 played a key role in interesting him in this social reform. William Wilberforce's Slave Trade Act 1807 abolished the slave trade in the British Empire. It was not until the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 that the institution finally was abolished, but on a gradual basis. Since land owners in the British West Indies were losing their unpaid labourers, they received compensation totaling £20 million. The Royal Navy established the West Africa Squadron (or Preventative Squadron) at substantial expense in 1808 after Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act of 1807. The squadron's task was
Act Against Slavery while all slaves in the province would remain enslaved until death, no new slaves could be brought into Upper Canada, and children born to female slaves after passage of the act would be freed at the age of 25. This law made Upper Canada "the first British colony to abolish slavery". The Act remained in force until 1833 when the British Parliament's "Slavery Abolition Act" abolished slavery in most parts of the British Empire. In 1798, Christopher Robinson introduced a bill in the Legislative Assembly to allow the importation of additional slaves. The bill was passed by the Assembly, but