Lieutenant John Clarkson, RN (1764–1828) was the younger brother of
Thomas Clarkson, one of the central figures in the abolition of slavery in England and the British Empire at the close of the 18th century. As agent for the
Sierra Leone Company, Lieutenant Clarkson was instrumental in the founding of
Freetown, today
Sierra Leone’s capital city, as a haven for chiefly former American slaves first relocated to
Nova Scotia by the British military authorities following the
American Revolutionary War.