Life

William Smeal was born in 1792. William and his brother James were both grocers and interested in anti-slavery in Scotland. William is credited with founding the Glasgow Emancipation Society

Glasgow Emancipation Society

The Glasgow Emancipation Society was a group of Glaswegians who formed an anti-slavery abolitionist group. Prominent members included James McCune Smith and William Smeal....

. William is also noted as a tea merchant.

Smeal attended the week long World Anti-Slavery conference in 1840. He was captured in a portrait with other Quakers like Josiah Forster

Josiah Forster

Josiah Forster was a teacher and philanthropist. He was an early member of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1839 and a supporter of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Both he and his wife were senior figures in the British Quakers.-Biography:Forster was born in 1782...

, businessmen like Tapper Cadbury

Richard Tapper Cadbury

Richard Tapper Cadbury came to Birmingham in 1794 and started a linen draper's business in partnership with a fellow Quaker His children included John Cadbury who was given help to start a tea and coffee business that would develop into Cadbury's.-Biography:Cadbury came from Exeter and he was born...

 and Samuel Fox, bankers such as George Head Head

George Head Head

George Head Head was a mayor, magistrate, banker in Carlisle. The bank was started by his father, but was improved and rebuilt in his lifetime. He attended an important convention in 1840 on Anti-Slavery, where a painting records his involvement....

 and other prominent abolitionists from a number of countries including America, South Africa and Jamaica. The meeting had been organised by Joseph Sturge

Joseph Sturge

Joseph Sturge , son of a farmer in Gloucestershire, was an English Quaker, abolitionist and activist. He founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society . He worked throughout his life in Radical political actions supporting pacifism, working-class rights, and the universal emancipation of...

from Birmingham.

Legacy

William Smeals family were unusual in Scotland for being quakers. In 1851 a census found that there were less than 400 practising quakers in Scotland.

Smeal died in 1877. His obituary recorded his interests in opposing injustice throughout his life. He opposed the corn laws, alcohol, stamp duties, capital punishment, war and slavery. He has been considered a model of a quaker's contribution to public life. Smeal's daughter Jane was a noted campaigner for anti-slavery and her step daughter Eliza Wigham was a noted campaigner for women's rights.