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
Percy Freke (politician) in May 1707. He married his second cousin Elizabeth, the daughter of Ralph Freke of Hannington, Wiltshire, in a secret ceremony in 1672, and publicly in 1673 at St Margaret's, Westminster. Their only son, Ralph, named after Elizabeth's father, was born shortly after; he followed his father into politics and was created a baronet in 1713. Elizabeth died at age 69 or 73 on 7 April 1714, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where her two sisters, Judith and Frances, were also later buried. Percy Freke (politician) Percy Freke (died May 1707) was an Irish politician. His first name is