Seven of the leading members of the Church Missionary Society in Sierra Leone and Nigeria...

It was whilst sitting under this oak tree in 1788 that William Wilberforce resolved to bring forward the bill to abolish the slave trade. The men in the photograph are, from left, an unidentified man, Rev. David Hinderer, Rev. Henry Johnson, Bishop Samuel Crowther, Nathaniel King, Rev. James Johnson and Rev. Henry Townsend. In the centre of the image sits Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther (c.1809-1891), the first African Anglican bishop of West Africa. Born in Nigeria, he and his family were enslaved when he was about twelve years old. On gaining his freedom he settled in Sierra Leone and adopted Christianity. He was ordained as a minister in England and gained a doctorate from Oxford University. A Yoruba linguist, he translated the Book of Common Prayer and the Bible into the language. The man lying to the right is Nathaniel King (1847- 1884), who at the time was studying to become a doctor. He was born in Sierra Leone, his Nigerian parents have been released from enslavement. After studying medicine at King's College, London and then the University of Aberdeen, King became a celebrated doctor in Lagos, Nigeria. Rev. Henry Johnson and Rev. James Johnson were also sons of former enslaved people.