Josiah Wedgwood was a founder member of the Committee [later Society] for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, established by Thomas Clarkson in 1787. At his Staffordshire factory Wedgwood produced ceramic medallions based on the Committee's seal and bore the costs of producing and distributing thousands of them. They developed into a fashion item among supporters of abolition, who had them inlaid in snuffboxes, bracelets and brooches, and the image of the kneeling slave became the emblem of the British anti-slavery campaign. Thomas Clarkson credited the medallions with engaging the interest of the general population in the cause of enslaved Africans and promoting justice and humanity.