John Newton (4 August 1725 – 21 December 1807) was an Anglican cleric with evangelical beliefs and an advocate for the abolition of slavery. He had formerly been a captain of slave ships and involved in the slave trade as an investor. Newton served as a sailor in the Royal Navy after being forcibly recruited and experienced enslavement himself in West Africa. He is best known for composing the hymns “Amazing Grace” and “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.”

Newton embarked on a maritime career at a young age, spending several years working on slave ships. In 1745, he became a slave of Princess Peye, a member of the Sherbro people in present-day Sierra Leone. After being rescued, he returned to the sea and continued in the trade, ultimately becoming the captain of multiple slave vessels. Upon retiring from sailing, he still financed the slave trade. Following a conversion to Christianity during his rescue, Newton eventually rejected his involvement in the trade and became a staunch supporter of abolitionism. Now an evangelical Christian, he was ordained as a cleric in the Church of England and served as the parish priest at Olney, Buckinghamshire, for twenty years, during which he also wrote hymns.

Newton lived to witness the British Empire’s abolition of the African slave trade in 1807, occurring just months before his death.