After the abolition of slavery in Britain and its colonies, was there any similar popular movement against the Royal Navy's practice of kidnapping free Britons for hard labor through press-ganging?

by WileECyrus

I've always found the concept of impressment to be pretty disgusting, but surely there must have been people in the 18th-19th centuries who agreed. Was there any kind of coherent movement around this? Did those supporting the movement use abolitionist arguments? Or was there such national sentiment in favor of the navy that there was no way for a strong anti-press attitude to take hold?

jschooltiger

It seems rather odd that you would compare the practice of chattel slavery, in which the enslaved person had absolutely no rights under law, to the practice of impressment, in which a man would be required to serve at sea under nautical discipline but in full possession of his rights as a person, and recourse to naval authorities for grievances.

But to answer your question, no, there was not, because impressment was not practiced after 1814 and slavery was not outlawed in the British empire (except in Sri Lanka) until 1833.

I've written about impressment here before:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2oo91z/during_the_age_of_sail_how_reliable_were/

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2xwhrj/how_did_press_gangs_determine_eligibility_for/