Royal Commission Poster to be Auctioned in London

A poster that was part of the campaign in Britain for a Royal Commission into the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865 and the actions of the British Governor of Jamaica at that time, Edward Eyre, is up for auction .
Described as ‘a very large poster-size broadside’, and printed in Birmingham in 1866, it will be auctioned during the prestigious Bonhams’ Printed Books, Maps and Manuscripts sale on March 23, in London.
The poster, by the Committee of the British and Foreign Anti Slavery Society, features a petition from Jamaica, signed by, among many others, Senior Baptist Missionary, James Phillippo. The petition was a response to a letter from Governor Eyre to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, Edward Cardwell, that sought to ‘blacken’ the name of National Hero, George William Gordon.
The petition reads: “The undersigned having resided in the island for many years and having had very considerable opportunities of knowing and forming an estimate of the late Mr. Gordon’s character in his various relations in life, so hereby protest against the foregoing allegations as made by Mr. Eyre and declare them to be utterly without any foundation.”
The Bonhams catalogue described the poster as a remarkable survival of the clamour in England for a Royal Commission to investigate Eyre’s administration and actions. The guide price for the auction is between