William was mixed-race, the son of an English woman from Gillingham, Kent, Juliana Fox, and a man of African heritage, Chatham Cuffay, who was previously enslaved and originally from Saint Kitts (then a British colony).

[1] Born in 1788 in Old Brompton, an area of the Medway Towns that is now in Gillingham, William Cuffay was apprenticed to a tailor, and later worked for Matthews and Acworth, on Chatham High Street.

Their only daughter, Ann Juliana Cuffay, was baptised at St Mary Magdalene's Church, Gillingham, but she also died shortly afterwards.

[6][7] He was a significant player in having the Master and Servant Act amended, so employers could no longer have their employees imprisoned if they left their jobs without permission[8] In 1839, Cuffay was involved in the campaign which led to the Chartists presenting a petition to the parliament, which called for universal adult suffrage, no property qualification, annual parliaments, equal representation, payment of members, and vote by ballot.

In response to the protests, the government commuted the sentences against Frost and his colleagues from death to transportation for life to Tasmania.

Cuffay signed a letter to the Northern Star newspaper, seeking to raise funds for the prisoners on behalf of the Metropolitan Chartists.

[10] In 1843, at a Chartist meeting in High Holborn, Cuffay addressed the crowd, and thanked the working classes, on behalf of his relatives who were now freed slaves, for their support in helping to abolish slavery in the colonies.

[14] Several hostile newspapers, including the Times, the Illustrated London News, and the Standard used racist language in their attempts to denigrate the activism of Cuffay.

[22] Though he was pardoned three years after his conviction, Cuffay elected to stay in Tasmania, working as a tailor and involving himself in local politics.

[17][26][27] Although Cuffay died a pauper, seven Australian newspapers in three states – Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria – published obituaries.

[28] Cuffay was the subject of a 2010 BBC Radio 4 programme entitled Britain's Black Revolutionary written and presented by the former trades union leader Bill Morris.

During the summer of 2013, a small exhibition was mounted in the UK Houses of Parliament, marking the 175th anniversary of the publication of the People's Charter.

It included, poignantly, the copy of Byron's collected poetry that London Chartists had given to Cuffay when he was transported, "as a token of their sincere regard and affection for his genuine patriotism and moral worth".