Autograph Letter Signed to Andrew REED (Sir Thomas Fowell, 1786-1845, Philanthropist, Slave Trade Reformer)

(1787-1862, Congretional minister and hymnwriter) teling him that he will "be absent from town on the 28th inst, the day appointed for the dinner of the Orphan Asylum & consequently shall be prevented attending on that occasion...", 1 side 8vo., with integral autograph address leaf, Northrepps Hall, 19th March Together with a contemporary print of an engraving by W. Holl. Reed became a prominent philanthropist and social reformer. His name is permanently associated with a long list of philanthropic achievements, including the London Orphan Asylum (now Reed's School), the Infant Orphan Asylum, Wanstead, and the Reedham Orphanage, which he undertook on non-denominational lines because the governors of the other institutions had made the Anglican Catechism compulsory. Besides these he originated in 1847 an asylum for idiots at Highgate, afterwards moved to Earlswood in Surrey with a branch at Colchester, and in 1855 the Royal Hospital for Incurables at Putney. Buxton was married to Hannah Gurney and Elizabeth Fry was his sister in law. The slave trade had been abolished in 1807, but existing slavery remained and Buxton joined in the campaign to abolish it. In 1823, he helped to found the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (later the Anti-Slavery Society). In May 1823, Buxton introduced in the House of Commons a resolution condemning the state of slavery as "repugnant to the principles of the British constitution and of the Christian religion", and called for its gradual abolition "throughout the British colonies". He also pressured the government to send dispatches to the colonies to improve the treatment of slaves. Buxton took over as leader of the abolition movement in the British House of Commons after William Wilberforce retired in 1825.