History of slavery many years of lobbying by the abolitionist movement, led primarily by William Wilberforce, the British Parliament voted to make the slave trade illegal anywhere in the Empire with the Slave Trade Act 1807. Thereafter Britain took a prominent role in combating the trade, and slavery itself was abolished in the British Empire with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. Between 1808 and 1860, the West Africa Squadron seized approximately 1,600 slave ships and freed 150,000 Africans who were aboard. Action was also taken against African leaders who refused to agree to British treaties to outlaw the trade. Akitoye, the 11th Oba
1932 Westminster Abbey by-election 1932 Westminster Abbey by-election The Westminster Abbey by-election, 1932 was a parliamentary by-election held on 12 July 1932 for the British House of Commons constituency of Westminster Abbey in London. The seat had become vacant when the Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) Otho Nicholson resigned from the Commons by becoming the Steward of the Manor of Northstead on 4 July 1932. He had held the seat since a 1924 by-election. The Conservative candidate, Sidney Herbert, previously MP for Scarborough and Whitby, was returned unopposed and remained the seat's MP until his death in 1939 when a further by-election was held.