In a letter to an abolitionist friend he wrote, “it will be my great objective to encourage the extensive propagation of our religion among the negroes, as well as to improve the impression which has already been made on the white inhabitants.

It was not until 1818 that, under the pressure of the ameliorative policies of the British government, local political circles were forced to accept that attitudes had changed back in Britain.

Towards the end of 1821 Thomas Cottle, a former President of the Island Council and a prominent planter, came forward with a proposal to build this church.

This was a signal to the local plantocracy that the British government was now fully committed to the policy of improving the condition of slaves in its colonies and was conscious that full freedom could not be very long delayed.

The most active promoters of the new society’s first meeting were Thomas Cottle and Norton Herbert, the nephew of Frances, Lady Nelson.

Fierce to the end in attacking racial prejudice from whatever quarter it appeared, Davis died in London, aged 70, in 1857.