William wilberforce biography timeline with paragraphs

  • Interesting facts about william wilberforce
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    • The Wilberforce Diaries Project

    Abolition

    William Wilberforce is most famous as an abolitionist. For thirty-five years after 1787 he was the parliamentary leader of the campaign to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. The diaries provide an unparalleled record of his networks and they are especially rich for the second half of his career (after the passing of the Abolition Act in 1807). But as personal diaries and journals, the texts are often focussed on Wilberforce’s inner life, his domestic life, and his social life. By contrast, his references to political business can be laconic and cryptic; to gain a fuller understanding of his abolitionism, one must examine his speeches and correspondence. An additional frustration is that key periods of the campaign to abolish the slave trade are not covered in the surviving manuscripts, namely the months in which he first became involved in autumn 1786 to spring 1787, the high tide of popular abolition in 1792, and the final years of the anti-slave trade campaign 1804-1807. 

    The first mention of slavery-related topics in the diary is 13 November 1783, when Wilberforce wrote: ‘supp’d at Goostree’s – Edwards – Ramsay – Negroes’, presumably indicating a conversation about Revd. James Ramsay, the author of numerous abolitionist pamphlets throughout the 1780s (in the Life it is suggested that Wilberforce met Ramsay on this occasion, but this is unclear from the diary entry). The next mention, in late January 1788, is of conversations about the slave trade at dinner at Braithwaite’s on two consecutive days. By this time, Wilberforce is already committed to abolition – the gap in the surviving manuscripts covers the whole period in which he was introduced to the nascent anti-slave trade campaign and agreed to lead the efforts in the House of Commons. During this time, Wilberforce was encouraged to do so by Sir Charles and Lady Middleton, and by Thomas Clarkson. Wilberforce reflected on the events o

    William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833)

    William Wilberforce  ©Wilberforce was a deeply religious English member of parliament and social reformer who was very influential in the abolition of the slave trade and eventually slavery itself in the British empire.

    William Wilberforce was born on 24 August 1759 in Hull, the son of a wealthy merchant. He studied at Cambridge University where he began a lasting friendship with the future prime minister, William Pitt the Younger. In 1780, Wilberforce became member of parliament for Hull, later representing Yorkshire. His dissolute lifestyle changed completely when he became an evangelical Christian, and in 1790 joined a leading group known as the Clapham Sect. His Christian faith prompted him to become interested in social reform, particularly the improvement of factory conditions in Britain.

    The abolitionist Thomas Clarkson had an enormous influence on Wilberforce. He and others were campaigning for an end to the trade in which British ships were carrying black slaves from Africa, in terrible conditions, to the West Indies as goods to be bought and sold. Wilberforce was persuaded to lobby for the abolition of the slave trade and for 18 years he regularly introduced anti-slavery motions in parliament. The campaign was supported by many members of the Clapham Sect and other abolitionists who raised public awareness of their cause with pamphlets, books, rallies and petitions. In 1807, the slave trade was finally abolished, but this did not free those who were already slaves. It was not until 1833 that an act was passed giving freedom to all slaves in the British empire.

    Wilberforce's other efforts to 'renew society' included the organisation of the Society for the Suppression of Vice in 1802. He worked with the reformer, Hannah More, in the Association for the Better Observance of Sunday. Its goal was to provide all children with regular education in reading, personal hygiene and religion. He was closely involved with

    Wilberforce

    Wilberforce

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    Introduction

    William Wilberforce, the politician and religious writer, was instrumental in the abolition of slavery in Britain. This course explores Wilberforce’s career and writings and assesses their historical significance. In particular it examines the contribution that Evangelicalism, the religious tradition to which Wilberforce belonged, made in the transitions between the Enlightenment and Romanticism. Throughout it relates Wilberforce’s career and writings to wider social and cultural developments in Britain, with special regard for British reaction to the French Revolution.

    This OpenLearn course provides a sample of Level 2 study in Arts and Humanities.

    Learning outcomes

    After studying this course, you should be able to:

    • understand the key aspects of William Wilberforce’s political career and writings, and have an appreciation of their historical and religious significance

    • demonstrate an awareness of the relationship of Evangelicalism to cultural transitions between the Enlightenment and Romanticism

    • understand the contribution of religion to cultural, social and political change in Britain in the years after the French Revolution.

    1 Wilberforce’s early career

    1.1 Early influences

    In the early summer of 1771, the clergyman and writer John Newton (1725–1807) was visited at Olney by two of his admirers, William and Hannah Wilberforce, a wealthy childless couple, and their 11-year-old nephew and heir, also named William. Newton made a profound impression on the boy. In 1785 it was to Newton that the younger William Wilberforce (1759–1833), now Member of Parliament for Yorkshire and a close friend of Prime Minister William Pitt (the Younger), turned for counsel in the midst of a period of spiritual crisis. Wilberforce’s commitment to Evangelicalism was t

    The abolition of the slave trade in Britain

    • From the 1770s in Britain, a movement developed to bring the slave trade to an end. This is known as the abolitionist movement.
    • The work of politicians, ordinary workers, women and the testimonies of formerly enslaved people all contributed to the British abolitionist movement.
    • In 1807, the British Parliament passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act. This ended the buying and selling of enslaved people within the British Empire, but it did not protect those already enslaved. Many enslavers continued to trade illegally.
    • Hundreds of thousands of people remained enslaved. It took a further 30 years of campaigning before slavery was abolished in most British colonies.

    Video about the abolition of the slave trade

    Narrator: In the 18th century, the movement to end the slave trade emerged. In Britain a powerful abolition movement inspired by activists and politicians from around the world began to bring about change.

    Olaudah Equiano: I was enslaved for many years in the West Indies and America. I bought my freedom in 1766 and settled in Britain. I became friends with many of the British abolitionists such as Granville Sharp and Thomas Clarkson. They encouraged me to write my autobiography and I travelled the country giving talks about my experiences and telling people first-hand about the horrors of slavery.

    Toussaint Louverture: In Saint-Domingue I led the fight for our freedom from French oppression and enslavement, but also for the recognition that we were equal to the Europeans. Our struggle inspired others around the world that they too could be free from the slave trade and colonial control.

    Lord Grenville: It was a long battle. There were hundreds of petitions to Parliament led by William Wilberforce and his allies. People from all over the country had signed over 500 petitions. In 1807 I was the prime minister when Parliament finally passed the Slave Trade Act, which abolished the buying a

      William wilberforce biography timeline with paragraphs