Benjamin Lay

Benjamin Lay (January 26, 1682 – February 8, 1759) was an English-born writer, farmer and activist. Born in <a href="/facts/Copford/6REp39zg">Copford</a>, <a href="/facts/Essex/cuUqAlzH">Essex</a> into a <a href="/facts/Quakers/CQFqeKAJ">Quaker</a> family, he underwent an <a href="/facts/Apprenticeship/6K8BRMRQ">apprenticeship</a> as a <a href="/facts/Glove/EhHJHLTL">glovemaker</a> before running away to <a href="/facts/London/KozCCsy9">London</a> and finding work as a sailor. In 1718, Lay moved to the British colony of <a href="/facts/Barbados/ywYtqmRB">Barbados</a>, which operated a <a href="/facts/Plantation_economy/Gpo0pfL9">plantation economy</a> dependent on <a href="/facts/Slavery_in_the_British_and_French_Caribbean/aaF0JsSu">slave labour</a>. While working as a merchant, his shock at the brutal treatment of slaves in Barbados led Lay to develop lifelong <a href="/facts/Abolitionism/LDD5kEAc">abolitionist principles</a>, which were reinforced by his humanitarian ideals and Quaker beliefs.
Lay subsequently moved to the <a href="/facts/Province_of_Pennsylvania/5d7o3Qew">Province of Pennsylvania</a>, living in <a href="/facts/Philadelphia/2bFFCCTU">Philadelphia</a> before settling in <a href="/facts/Abington_Township%2c_Montgomery_County%2c_Pennsylvania/uzCAdCYa">Abington</a> with his wife, <a href="/facts/Sarah_Smith_Lay/lWl51Puk">Sarah Smith Lay</a>, who was also a Quaker and shared his humanitarian and abolitionist beliefs. Operating a small farm, which produced fruit, flax and wool, he refused to consume any product made from slave or animal labour and lived a frugal, vegetarian lifestyle, which continued after Sarah died in 1735. A <a href="/facts/Kyphosis/ctcRerHJ">hunchback</a> with a <a href="/facts/Pectus_carinatum/rS1FqAJ4">protruding chest</a>, Lay was roughly four feet tall and referred to himself as "Little Benjamin".
Lay was also a prolific writer, writing books and pamphlets that advocated the abolition of slavery. His 1737 book All Slave-Keepers That Keep the Innocent in Bondage: Apostates was one of the first abolitionist works published in the <a href="/facts/Thirteen_Colonies/H50dauTJ">Thirteen Colonies</a>. Lay developed a hostile relationship with American Quakers, many of whom owned slaves, frequently disrupting their meetings with demonstrations to protest against slavery. Lay died in early 1759, and his anti-slavery views would go on to inspire successive <a href="/facts/Abolitionism_in_the_United_States/GCRJLaJl">American abolitionists</a>.

Benjamin Lay open-in-new

Benjamin Lay