Wedgwood and Ackworth

It was a very special experience to see the original Wedgwood medallion of the chained slave in the flesh today. I had a quiet moment thinking about the Quaker girls who stitched this emblem and knitted it for pinballs to bring the anti-slavery cause to people's attention. It was so powerful and so compelling. What a wonderful occupation for one's knitting and stitching needles. And then I remembered also, that following the abolition of slavery, another cause was taken up by the Quakers, and deeply involved the Quaker women - the goal of this new endeavour was to bring to light the suffering of people in India under the regime of the East India Company and to show how mismanagement had virtually beggared a once independent and self-sufficient confederation of people. In this cause, they were ultimately unsuccessful. Women really did not want to give up wearing the pretty chintzes and muslins produced and exported by the East India Company - and also the vested interests were far stronger than those concerned with the trade in sugar in the West Indies.

Another item that impressed me today was this urn with the form of script often seen on Quaker samplers.
The Wedgwood Museum is a wonderful place to visit - and if you live too far away, then their multilingual website with many images and downloadable information packs is a terrific substitute.