Researcher hunts for anti-slavery campaigner photo

Frederick Douglass was a leading anti-slavery campaigner

An academic is hunting for the first photo in England of a famed anti-slavery campaigner.

Frederick Douglass, a former slave, was a leading member of the abolitionist movement and is regarded as one of the most influential people in the 19th Century.

Newcastle University researcher Dr Fionnghuala Sweeney uncovered newspaper clippings which suggest Mr Douglass was present at the laying of the university's foundation stone in 1887 and that a photo was taken.

But so far, she has been unable to find the photo. It would be the "holy grail", she said.

Dr Sweeney made the discovery while looking into the anti-slavery movement's links to north-east England.

The abolitionist made three visits to Newcastle following his escape from slavery in the US, she said.

'Hub of activism'

Mr Douglass was able to buy his freedom after two Newcastle Quaker sisters-in-law fundraised the money.

Ellen and Anna Richardson were part of a "radical political Quaker family", said Dr Sweeney.

The pair raised the £150 needed at the time to buy Mr Douglass's freedom.

He wrote to Anna in 1847, saying: "I landed on your shores a slave, and came back a free man."

The women also fundraised to help Mr Douglass buy a printing press, which he then used to set up anti-slavery newspaper The North Star.

"The city, and the North East in general, was a hub of radical anti-slavery activism," she said.

Dr Sweeney has now discovered newspaper clippings from Mr Douglass's final visit to Newcastle in 1887, which suggest the writer was present at the laying of Newcastle University's foundation stone.

The weather for the event "was all that could be desired", according to the clipping from the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle.

She said Mr Douglass would have been at the height of his fame at the time.

A clipping suggests Mr Douglass was at the ceremony

Another clipping, from the Newcastle Evening Chronicle, also says a group photo was taken by James Bacon, of Northumberland Street, of all those who attended the ceremony.

Dr Sweeney said she had looked at multiple archives across the region for the photo, but had been unable to find it.

If found, as far she knew, it would be the first photo of Mr Douglass in England, she said.

"That would be the holy grail of this particular piece of research," she said.

Prof David Blight at Yale University, who wrote a Pulitzer Prize winning biography of Mr Douglass, said if the photo was ever found "it would be truly important."