<P> In 1823, the Anti-Slavery Society was founded in London . Members included Joseph Sturge, Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce, Henry Brougham, Thomas Fowell Buxton, Elizabeth Heyrick, Mary Lloyd, Jane Smeal, Elizabeth Pease, and Anne Knight . William Wilberforce had prior written in his diary in 1787 that his great purpose in life was to suppress the slave trade before waging a 20 - year fight on the industry . </P> <P> During the Christmas holiday of 1831, a large - scale slave revolt in Jamaica, known as the Baptist War, broke out . It was organised originally as a peaceful strike by the Baptist minister Samuel Sharpe . The rebellion was suppressed by the militia of the Jamaican plantocracy and the British garrison ten days later in early 1832 . Because of the loss of property and life in the 1831 rebellion, the British Parliament held two inquiries . The results of these inquiries contributed greatly to the abolition of slavery with the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 . </P> <P> The Act had its third reading in the House of Commons on 26 July 1833, three days before William Wilberforce died . It received the Royal Assent a month later, on 28 August, and came into force the following year, on 1 August 1834 . In practical terms, only slaves below the age of six were freed in the colonies . Former slaves over the age of six were redesignated as "apprentices", and their servitude was abolished in two stages: the first set of apprenticeships came to an end on 1 August 1838, while the final apprenticeships were scheduled to cease on 1 August 1840 . The Act specifically excluded "the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company, or to the Island of Ceylon, or to the Island of Saint Helena ." The exceptions were eliminated in 1843 . </P> <P> The Act provided for compensation for slave - owners . The amount of money to be spent on the compensation claims was set at "the Sum of Twenty Million Pounds Sterling". Under the terms of the Act, the British government raised £ 20 million (£ 2.020 billions in 2016 pounds) to pay out in compensation for the loss of the slaves as business assets to the registered owners of the freed slaves . In 1833, £ 20 million amounted to approximately 5% of the British GDP (5% of the British GDP in 2016 was around £ 100 billion). The names listed in the returns for slave compensation show that ownership was spread over many hundreds of British families, many of them of high social standing . For example, Henry Phillpotts (then the Bishop of Exeter), with three others (as trustees and executors of the will of John Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley), was paid £ 12,700 for 665 slaves in the West Indies, whilst Henry Lascelles, 2nd Earl of Harewood received £ 26,309 for 2,554 slaves on 6 plantations . Sir Edward Waterford - Mandeville and his family received £ 22,145 for 1,359 slaves on their Jamaican estates (Airy Castle Plantation and Bellevue Plantation). The majority of men and women who were awarded compensation under the 1833 Abolition Act are listed in a Parliamentary Return, entitled Slavery Abolition Act, which is an account of all moneys awarded by the Commissioners of Slave Compensation in the Parliamentary Papers 1837--8 Vol. 48 . </P>

When was the abolition of slavery in britain