Sherd of a cup

The British public resonated with Stowe’s novel so much that many editions were published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Notable editions include an illustrated edition published by John Cassell in 1852 and a children’s version, Uncle Tom’s cabin, told to children, published by Jack London in around 1904.6 Cassell presumably shared the author’s belief in the power of images. As Stowe wrote to Gamaliel Bailey, editor of the abolitionist newspaper The National Era, ‘There’s no arguing with pictures, and everyone is impressed by them, whether they mean to be or not’.7 The success of the novel in Britain may be attributed to growing anti-American sentiment and perhaps produced for readers an air of moral superiority. The Slavery Abolition Act had been passed in 1833, although this was not enacted instantly in Britain’s colonies, where slavery was still operating until around 1840 under the guise of the apprenticeship system. It is impossible to calculate the scale of slavery still operating on British soil after the Act had been passed as it was never legal in the first place. Nevertheless, as an abolitionist text, Uncle Tom’s Cabin was well received and it was arguably the children's editions which cemented the novel in the British literary canon.

Naturally, when a book becomes a bestseller, a canny publisher will produce merchandise in order to capitalise on its success. This is where the ceramic sherd comes into play. Staffordshire pottery refers to pottery produced in the region by a variety of different makers, often sharing similar styles and materials. An array of Uncle Tom’s Cabin memorabilia was produced. The majority of these items were figurines of Uncle Tom with Eva, echoing the popularity of their bond. Alongside figurines, children’s crockery was produced depicting scenes associated with the book. Children’s themed plates were a Victorian phenomenon that consisted of illustrations of moral stories decorated on lead-glazed earthenware or salt-glazed stoneware. Often, they were biblical stories, such as Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Children’s plates had two functions: firstly, to be visually appealing, a piece of memorabilia fit for the Victorian parlour; and, secondly, as an educational tool. If these were their functions, it raises the question: What does this tell us about the awareness of British children to the atrocities of slavery? V. A. Crewe & D. M. Hadley suggest that ‘these plates reflect awareness among this working-class community of the anti-slavery movement’.

There is earlier evidence, too, of Staffordshire ceramics being used to raise awareness of slavery and the true cost of sugar production. A plate produced in 1850, for example, portrays one enslaved man and two enslaved children carrying sugar cane and is emblazoned with the text ‘Sugar: How it grows & How it’s Made’ and Cane Mill’.8 Fifty-eight years before, in 1792, it was recorded by Katherine Plymley that many children had begun to boycott sugar in solidarity with enslaved people.9 Child abolitionists were militant in their approach; one seven-year-old, Panton, refused to have his shoes shined because he had heard that the polish contained sugar.10 These young activists were labelled anti-saccharists. The need for a label suggests that this was a large-scale movement. For many children, their anti-slavery sentiments will have been influenced by adults in their lives, be it teachers or parents. But this doesn’t mean that children themselves did not feel moved to contribute to the abolition movement. Regardless of whether the anti-slavery message came from illustrations of Uncle Tom’s Cabin on a plate or cup from an adult, it is clear that children up and down the country were not only aware of the abolitionist movement but were active participants in it. They were indeed on the right side of history.