Elizabeth
Coltman
was born in Leicester in 1769. Her father,
John Coltman, a committed Unitarian,
was a successful worsted manufacturer. Coltman held progressive political
views and as a young women was introduced to the ideas of Tom
Paine.
In 1787 Elizabeth married John Heyrick, a Methodist
lawyer. Elizabeth Heyrick was still childless when her husband died
of a heart-attack eight years later. After the death of her husband
Elizabeth moved back into her parents home. Elizabeth, now a member
of the Society of Friends, renounced all
worldly pleasures and devoted herself to social reform. She campaigned
against bull-baiting and became a prison visitor. Elizabeth also wrote
eighteen political pamphlets on a wide variety of subjects including,
the Corn Laws and the harsh treatment of
vagrants.
Heyrick's main concern was the campaign against slavery. Elizabeth
organised a sugar boycott in Leicester
and with the help of Lucy Townsend, Mary Lloyd,
Sarah Wedgwood and Sophia Sturge helped to form the Birmingham
Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves. (later the group
changed its name to the Female Society for Birmingham).
In 1824 Elizabeth Heyrick published her
pamphlet Immediate not Gradual Abolition.
In her pamphlet Heyrick argued passionately in favour of the immediate
emancipation of the slaves in the British colonies. This differed
from the official policy of the Anti-Slavery
Society that believed in gradual abolition. The leadership of
the organisation attempted to suppress information about the existence
of this pamphlet and William Wilberforce
gave out instructions for leaders of the movement not to speak at
women's anti-slavery societies.
Most of the Women's
Anti-Slavery groups in Britain supported Heyrick's call for the
immediate emancipation of slaves. In 1830, Heyrick who was the leader
of the Leicester Ladies' Anti-Slavery
Society and treasurer of the Female Society for Birmingham, had helped
to establish a network of women's anti-slavery groups and her pamphlet,
Immediate not Gradual
Abolition, was distributed and
discussed at meetings all over the country.
In 1830, the Female
Society for Birmingham submitted a resolution to the National Conference
of the Anti-Slavery Society calling
for the organisation to campaign for an immediate end to slavery in
the British colonies. Heyrick, who was treasurer of the organisation
suggested a new strategy to persuade the male leadership to change
its mind on this issue. She suggested that the society should threaten
to withdraw its funding of the Anti-Slavery
Society if it did not support this resolution. This was a serious
threat as it was one of the largest local society donors to central
funds, and also had great influence over the network of ladies associations
which supplied over a fifth of all donations.
At the conference in May 1830, the Anti-Slavery
Society agreed to drop the words "gradual abolition"
from its title. It also agreed to support Female Society's plan for
a new campaign to bring about immediate abolition.
Elizabeth Heyrick died
in 1831 and therefore did not live to see the passing of the 1833
Abolition of Slavery Act.
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