In the 18th century many people of African descent in Britain played an important role in developing the political and cultural life of Britain, especially in the area of politics. Robert Wedderburn was born on a plantation in Jamaica in 1762. He was the son of a slave and her slave master. As a child, Wedderburn witnessed both his mother and his grandmother being whipped. His father was James Wedderburn, a respected member of Edinburgh society. Robert Wedderburn was very politically active and was one of many radical thinkers of the time and attended meetings to discuss political ideas. But these meetings were also attended by a Government spy and Wedderburn was arrested for his views and spent time in prison. In 1824 he published a book called The Horrors of Slavery. He described the connections between the evils of slavery and the life of the working classes in Britain and campaigned for people’s rights and freedom of speech.

Robert Wedderburn was not acknowledged as part of his father’s family but he did try to visit his father, James, at the family home, Inveresk House in Mussleburgh, Scotland. This is what Robert wrote about it:

“I visited my father, who had the inhumanity to threaten to send me to gaol if I troubled him. He did not deny me to be his son, but called me a lazy fellow and said he would do nothing for me. From his cook I had one draught of small beer, and his footman gave me a cracked sixpence”.

This was a common experience for descendants of slave masters, but these experiences have not reached the attention of a wider public very often.

The date of Robert Wedderburn’s death is not recorded.