John Kimber

John Kimber was an English sea captain and slave trader who was tried for murder in 1792, after the abolitionist William Wilberforce accused him of torturing to death an enslaved teenaged girl on the deck of his ship. Kimber was acquitted, but the trial gained much attention in the press. The case established that slave ships' crew could be tried for murder of slaves. Publicity about the case contributed to growing opposition to the African slave trade, which the British parliament prohibited in its colonies by the Slave Trade Act 1807. Provided by Wikipedia