‘I was an Eye-witness’: John Newton, Anthony Benezet, and the Confession of a Liverpool Slave Trader

This article investigates a forgotten moment in the pre-history of British abolitionism: the publication of an anonymous ‘Relation’ written by a penitent Liverpool slave trader and printed in Anthony Benezet’s A Short Account (1762). The article suggests that the Philadelphia Quaker acquired the Liverpool ‘Relation’ via the London Dissenting publishers of Two Dialogues on the Man-Trade (1760). Identifying close parallels between events described in the ‘Relation’ and the voyage of the Brownlow in 1748-49, it builds a cumulative case argument that identifies the author as the Brownlow’s first mate, John Newton, subsequently famous as an Anglican divine, abolitionist, and author of ‘Amazing Grace’. The conclusion considers potential implications for our understanding of Newton’s career and the origins of British abolitionism.