York Election ticket, Henry Lascelles

York election ticket. Obverse: Legend: 'LASCELLES' inscribed above two leafy branches 'FOR EVER'. Reverse: Inscription: 'IN MIND INDEPENDENT IN EXERTION INDEFATIGABLE'. Pierced with a suspension hole.

The 1807 Yorkshire parliamentary election had three candidates competing for two seats: the two sitting MPs, William Wilberforce and the Hon. Henry Lascelles, and a challenger, Charles Fitzwilliam, Lord Milton.
Wilberforce led the abolition movement in Parliament, while Lascelles was the son of the Earl of Harewood, whose vast wealth was based on his Caribbean plantations.
Wilberforce was elected at the head of the poll, narrowly defeating Milton (who was also elected) with Lascelles in third. Although Lascelles and Wilberforce were on opposing sides on the issue of the slave trade, they shared similar views on many other issues.

Object Details

ID: ZBA2813
Collection: Coins and medals; Special collections
Type: Token
Display location: Display - Atlantic Gallery
Creator: Thomason, E.
Date made: 1807
Exhibition: The Atlantic: Slavery, Trade, Empire; Enslavement and Resistance
People: Thomason, E.
Credit: National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London, Michael Graham-Stewart Slavery Collection. Acquired with the assistance of the Heritage Lottery Fund
Measurements: Overall: 40 mm