Quick Facts
Biography
William Dillwyn, (1743, Philadelphia - 28 September 1824), was an American-born Quaker active in the abolitionist movement in colonial America and after 1774, Great Britain. He was one of the twelve committee members of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade when it was formed in 1787.
William was the son of John Dillwyn and Susanna Painter. He attended the Friends' English School of Philadelphia where he was taught by Anthony Benezet.
Family
William married Sarah Logan Smith on 19 May 19, 1768 in Burlington County, New Jersey. Together they had a daughter Susanna, born in Houghton, New Jersey on 31 March 1769. She married Samuel Emlen on April 16, 1795.
William remarried on 27 November 1777, to Sarah Weston in Tottenham, then in Middlesex. Their children were:
- Lewis Weston Dillwyn (1778 - 1855)
- John Crook Dillwyn (1780 - 1781)
- Judith Nickolls (Dillwyn) Bevan (1781 - 1868)
- Ann Dillwyn (1783), married Richard Dykes Alexander of Ipswich
- Lydia (Dillwyn) Sims (1785 - 1830) married John Sims – William Dillwyn Sims was their son.
- George Dillwyn (1787)
- Sarah Musgrave Dillwyn (1790)
- Gulielma Dillwyn (1792)
Dillwyn Street, Ipswich is named after him. His son-in-law, Richard Dykes Alexander stipulated that some street names should commemorate leading abolitionists when he provided the land for the development of which this road was a part.