William Wilberforce

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William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce by Karl Anton Hickel, ca 1794
Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull
In office 1780 – 1784
Member of Parliament for Yorkshire
In office 1784 – 1812
Member of Parliament for Bramber
In office 1812 – 1825
Born	24 August 1759(1759-08-24) Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire
Died	29 July 1833, aged 73 London
Political party	Independent
Spouse	Barbara Spooner
Children	William, Barbara, Elizabeth, Robert, Samuel and Henry
Religion	Anglican

William Wilberforce (August 24, 1759 – July 29, 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780 and became the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire (1784–1812) and a close friend of Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger. In 1785 he underwent a conversion experience and became an evangelical Christian, resulting in changes in his lifestyle and in his interest in reform. In 1787 he came into contact with Thomas Clarkson and a group of anti-slave trade activists, including Granville Sharp, Hannah More and Lord Middleton. They persuaded Wilberforce to take on the cause of abolition; and he soon became one of the leading English abolitionists, heading the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade until the eventual passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.

Wilberforce was convinced of the importance of religion, morality, and education. He also championed other causes and campaigns, including the Society for Suppression of Vice, the introduction of Christianity to India, the creation of a free colony in Sierra Leone, the foundation of the Church Mission Society and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. His underlying conservatism led him to support politically and socially repressive legislation and resulted in criticism that he was ignoring injustices at home while campaigning for the enslaved abroad.

In later years, Wilberforce supported the campaign for complete abolition of slavery, and continued his involvement after his 1826 resignation from Parliament due to ill health. The campaign eventually led to the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833 which abolished slavery in most of the British Empire. Wilberforce died just three days after hearing that the passage of the Act through Parliament was secure. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to his friend William Pitt.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Early parliamentary career 3 Conversion 4 Abolition of the slave trade 4.1 Initial decision 4.2 Early parliamentary action 4.3 War with France 4.4 Final phase of the campaign 4.5 Emancipation of enslaved Africans 5 Marriage and family 6 Other concerns 6.1 Evangelical Christianity 6.2 Moral reform 6.3 Political and social reform 7 Last years 7.1 Funeral 8 Legacy 9 Memorials 10 Writings 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 Further reading 15 External links

[edit] Early life

William Wilberforce was born in Hull on 24 August 1759, the only son of Robert Wilberforce (1728–1768), a wealthy merchant, and his wife Elizabeth. His grandfather William (1690–1776) had made the family fortune through the Baltic trade and had been elected mayor of Hull on two occasions.^[1]

Wilberforce was described as a sickly and delicate child.^[2] In 1767 he began attending Hull Grammar School,^[3] at the time headed by a young, dynamic headmaster, Joseph Milner, who was to become a life-long friend.^[4] Wilberforce profited from the supportive atmosphere at his school until the death of his father in 1768. With his mother struggling to cope, the nine-year-old Wilberforce was sent to a prosperous uncle and aunt who lived in St James' Place, London and in Wimbledon, at that time a village to the south-west of London. He attended an "indifferent" boarding school in Putney for two years, spending his holidays in Wimbledon, where he grew extremely fond of his relatives^[5] and was influenced towards evangelical Christianity by his aunt Hannah, the sister of the wealthy Christian merchant John Thornton and a supporter of George Whitefield.^[6]

Wilberforce's staunchly Church of England mother and grandfather, concerned at these nonconformist influences and at his leanings towards evangelicalism, brought their 12-year-old son back to Hull in 1771 heartbroken to be separated from his aunt and uncle.^[7] His family opposed a return to Hull Grammar School because the headmaster had become a Methodist; Wilberforce therefore continued his education at nearby Pocklington School from 1771–76.^[8][9] Influenced by Methodist scruples, he initially resisted Hull's lively social life, but with his religious fervour diminishing, he embraced theatre-going, attending balls and playing cards.^[10]

In October 1776 at the age of seventeen, Wilberforce went up to St John's College, Cambridge.^[11] The deaths of his grandfather and uncle in 1776 and 1777 respectively had left him independently wealthy,^[12] and as a result he had little inclination or need to apply himself to serious study; instead, he immersed himself in the social round of the students.^[12][11] He pursued a hedonistic lifestyle for the time, enjoying playing cards, gambling and late-night drinking sessions – although he found the sexual excesses of some of his fellow students distasteful.^[13][14] Witty, generous, and an excellent conversationalist, Wilberforce was a popular figure. He made many friends, including the more studious future Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger.^[15][14] Despite his lifestyle and disinclination towards study, he managed to pass his examinations,^[16] and was awarded B.A. in 1781 and M.A. in 1788.^[6]

[edit] Early parliamentary career

Wilberforce began to consider a political career while still at university. During the winter of 1779–80 he and Pitt frequently watched House of Commons debates from the gallery. Pitt, already set on a political career, encouraged Wilberforce to join him as soon as they were both able to obtain seats.^[17][16] In September 1780, at the age of twenty-one and while still a student, he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Kingston upon Hull,^[6] spending over £8,000 on ensuring he received the necessary votes, as was the custom of the time.^[18][19] Free from financial pressures, Wilberforce sat as an independent, resolving to be "no party man".^[20][6] Criticised at times for inconsistency, he supported both Tory and Whig governments, working closely with the party in power, and voting on specific measures according to their merits.^[21][22] Wilberforce attended Parliament regularly, but he also maintained a lively social life, becoming a regular attendee at gentlemen's gambling clubs such as Goostree's in Pall Mall. Madame de Staël described him as the "wittiest man in England"^[23] and, according to the Duchess of Devonshire, the Prince of Wales said that he would go anywhere to hear Wilberforce sing.^[24][25] Wilberforce used his speaking voice to great effect in political speeches; James Boswell witnessed Wilberforce's eloquence in the House of Commons and noted: "I saw what seemed a mere shrimp mount upon the table; but as I listened, he grew, and grew, until the shrimp became a whale."^[26] During the frequent government changes of 1781–84 Wilberforce supported his friend Pitt in parliamentary debates,^[27] and in autumn 1783 Pitt, Wilberforce and Edward Eliot, later to become Pitt's brother-in-law, travelled to France.^[6] After a difficult start in Rheims, where their presence aroused police suspicion that they were English spies, they travelled to Paris, where they met Benjamin Franklin, General Lafayette, Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI, and joined the French court at Fontainebleau.^[28][29]

Pitt became prime minister in December 1783, with Wilberforce a key supporter of his minority government.^[30] Despite their close friendship, there is no record that Pitt offered Wilberforce a ministerial position in this or future governments. This may have been due to Wilberforce's wish to remain an independent MP. Alternatively, Wilberforce's frequent tardiness and disorganisation, as well as his chronic eye problems, may have convinced Pitt that his trusted friend was not ministerial material.^[31] When Parliament was dissolved in spring 1784 Wilberforce decided to run as a candidate for the county of Yorkshire in the 1784 General Election.^[6] On 6 April, when the Whigs were defeated, he was returned as MP at the age of twenty-four.^[32]

[edit] Conversion

In October 1784 Wilberforce embarked upon a tour of Europe which would change his life and, ultimately, his future career. He travelled with his mother and sister in the company of Isaac Milner, the brilliant younger brother of his former headmaster, who had been Fellow of Queens' College, Cambridge in the year that Wilberforce first went up. They visited the French Riviera, enjoying the usual pastimes of dinners, cards, and gambling.^[33] However, in February 1785 Wilberforce returned temporarily to United Kingdom in order to support Pitt’s proposals for parliamentary reforms, later rejoining the party in Genoa, Italy, and continuing the tour to Switzerland. Milner accompanied him to England, and on the journey, they read Philip Doddridge's Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul.^[34]

Wilberforce is thought to have started his spiritual journey at this time. He began to rise early to read the Bible and pray, and he kept a personal private journal.^[35] He underwent an evangelical conversion, regretting his past life and resolving to commit his future life and work to the service of God.^[6] His conversion changed some of his habits but not his nature: he remained outwardly cheerful, interested, and respectful, tactfully urging others towards his new faith.^[36] Inwardly, he became relentlessly self-critical, harshly judging his spirituality, use of time, vanity, self-control, and relationships with others.^[37]

At the time, religious enthusiasm was looked down upon in polite society. The few Evangelicals in politics were exposed to contempt and ridicule,^[38] and Wilberforce's conversion led him to question whether he should remain in public life. Wilberforce sought guidance from John Newton, a leading Evangelical Anglican clergyman of the day and Rector of St Mary Woolnoth in the City of London.^[39][40] Both Newton and Pitt counselled him to remain in politics, and he resolved to do so "with increased diligence and conscientiousness."^[6] Thereafter, his politics were informed by his faith and the desire to promote Christianity and Christian ethics in private and public life.^[41] His views were often deeply conservative, opposed to radical changes of a God-given political and social order, and focused on issues such as the observance of the Sabbath, and immorality.^[42] As a result, he was often distrusted by progressive voices for his conservatism, and regarded with suspicion by many Tories who regarded Evangelicals as radicals, bent on the overthrow of church and state.^[43]

In 1786 Wilberforce leased a house in Old Palace Yard, Westminster, in order to be near parliament. He began his parliamentary campaign for social reform by introducing the Registration Bill, proposing changes to parliamentary election procedures.^[6][44] He also brought forward a bill to extend the measure permitting the dissection after execution of convicted murderers: the bill proposed including other criminals, such as rapists, arsonists and thieves. It also advocated reducing the sentences for women convicted of treason, a crime that at the time included a husband's murder. The Commons passed both bills only to be defeated in the Lords.^[45][46]

[edit] Abolition of the slave trade

[edit] Initial decision

The British had become involved in the slave trade during the 16th century, and by 1783 it had come to represent about 80 percent of Great Britain's foreign income. The triangular trade took British-made goods to Africa to buy slaves, transported the slaves from Africa to the West Indies, and then brought slave-grown produce such as sugar, tobacco, cotton and coffee to Britain.^[47][48] British ships dominated the slave trade, supplying French, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and British colonies, and in peak years carrying forty thousand enslaved men, women and children across the Atlantic in the horrific conditions of the middle passage.^[49] Of the estimated 11 million Africans transported into slavery, about 1.4 million died during the voyage.^[50]

The movement to abolish the slave trade is generally considered to have begun in the 1780s with the establishment of Quakers' antislavery committees, and their presentation of the first slave trade parliamentary petition in 1783.^[51][52] The same year, Wilberforce, while dining with his old Cambridge friend Gerard Edwards at his home in Curzon Street, London,^[53] had met Rev. James Ramsay, a former ship's surgeon who had become a clergyman on the island of St. Christopher (later St. Kitts) and a medical supervisor of the plantations there. What Ramsay had witnessed of the conditions of the slaves, both at sea and on the plantations, horrified him and, returning to England fifteen years later, he accepted the living of Teston, Kent in 1781. At Teston, Ramsay met with Sir Charles Middleton, Lady Middleton, Thomas Clarkson, Hannah More and others, a group who later became known as the Testonites.^[54] The Teston circle were interested in promoting Christianity and in moral improvement in Britain and in the British West Indies. They were horrified by Ramsay's reports of the depraved lifestyles of slave owners, the cruel treatment meted out on the enslaved, and the lack of Christian instruction provided to them.^[55] With their encouragement and help, Ramsay published a 1784 essay highly critical of slavery in the West Indies. The book was to have an important impact in raising public awareness and interest, and excited the ire of West Indian planters who attacked both Ramsay and his ideas in a series of pro-slavery tracts in the coming years.^[56]

Wilberforce did not, it appears, follow up on his meeting with Ramsay.^[53] However, three years later, and inspired by his new faith, Wilberforce was increasingly interested in humanitarian reform. In November 1786 he received a letter from Sir Charles Middleton (who was his friend Gerard Edwards' father-in-law) that re-awakened interest in the slave trade.^[57][58] At the urging of Lady Middleton, Sir Charles suggested Wilberforce should bring forward the cause of the abolition of the slave trade in Parliament. Wilberforce responded that "he felt the great importance of the subject, and thought himself unequal to the task allotted to him, but yet would not positively decline it".^[59] He began to read widely on the subject, and met with the Testonites at Middleton’s home at Barham Court in Teston in the early winter of 1786–87.^[60]

In early 1787 Thomas Clarkson, a fellow graduate of St. John's, Cambridge, who had become convinced of the need to end the slave trade after writing an prize-winning essay on the subject while studying at Cambridge,^[54] called upon Wilberforce at Old Palace Yard with a published copy of work.^[61][62] The MP's response was "that the subject had often employed his thoughts, and that it was near his heart."^[63] This was the first time the two men had met; their collaboration would last nearly fifty years.^[64][65] Clarkson began to visit Wilberforce on a weekly basis, bringing first-hand evidence he had obtained about the slave trade.^[64] The Quakers already working for abolition also recognised the need for influence within Parliament and urged Clarkson to secure a commitment from Wilberforce to bring forward the case for abolition in the House of Commons.^[66][67]

It was arranged that Bennet Langton, a Lincolnshire landowner and mutual acquaintance of Wilberforce and Clarkson, would organise a dinner party in order to ask Wilberforce formally to lead the movement in Parliament.^[68] The dinner took place on 13 March 1787, other guests including Charles Middleton, Sir Joshua Reynolds, William Windham, MP, James Boswell and Isaac Hawkins Browne, MP. By the end of the evening, they had elicited the response that they sought, and Wilberforce had agreed in general terms that he would bring forward the abolition of the slave trade in Parliament, "provided that no person more proper could be found".^[69]

The same spring, on 12 May 1787, the still hesitant Wilberforce held a conversation with William Pitt and the future Prime Minister William Grenville as they sat under a large oak tree on Pitt's estate in Kent.^[6] Under what came to be known as the 'Wilberforce Oak' at Holwood, Pitt challenged his friend: "Wilberforce, why don’t you give notice of a motion on the subject of the Slave Trade? You have already taken great pains to collect evidence, and are therefore fully entitled to the credit which doing so will ensure you. Do not lose time, or the ground will be occupied by another."^[70] This meeting was critical in Wilberforce’s decision to take up the cause, and, although his response is not recorded, he later declared in old age that he could "distinctly remember the very knoll on which I was sitting near Pitt and Grenville."^[71]

[edit] Early parliamentary action

On 22 May 1787, the first meeting of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade took place, bringing together Quakers and Anglicans for the first time.^[72] The committee chose to campaign against the slave trade rather than slavery itself; many members believed that slavery would disappear as a natural consequence of the abolition of the trade.^[73] Wilberforce, though involved informally, did not join the committee officially until 1791.^[74][75] The Society were highly successfully in raising public awareness and support, and local chapters sprang up throughout the country.^[51][76] Clarkson travelled the country researching and collecting first-hand testimony and statistics, while the committee promoted the campaign, pioneering techniques such as the use of lobbying, pamphlets, public meetings, gaining press attention, boycotts and even the use of a campaign logo: an image of a kneeling slave beneath the motto "Am I not a man and a brother" designed by the renowned pottery-maker Josiah Wedgwood.^[77][51][78] The committee also sought to influence other slave-trading nations such as France, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Holland and the United States, and so corresponded with anti-slavery activists in other countries as well as organising the translation of English-language books and pamphlets.^[79] These included the works of former slaves Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano who published influential books on slavery and the slave trade in 1787 and 1789 respectively. They and other free blacks, collectively known as "Sons of Africa", spoke at debating societies and wrote spirited letters to newspapers, periodicals and prominent figures, as well as public letters of support to campaign allies.^[80][81][82] Hundreds of parliamentary petitions opposing the slave trade were received in 1788 and following years, with hundreds of thousands of signatories in total.^[51][78] The campaign proved to be the world's first grassroots human rights campaign, in which men and women from different classes and backgrounds volunteered to work to end the injustices suffered by others.^[83]

Wilberforce had planned to move a motion giving notice to bring forward a bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade during the 1789 parliamentary session. However, in January 1788 he was taken ill with a probable stress-related condition, thought to be ulcerative colitis.^[84][85] It was some months before he was able to resume work, and he spent time convalescing at Bath and Cambridge. His regular bouts of gastro-intestinal illnesses precipitated the use of moderate quantities of opium, which proved effective in alleviating his condition,^[86] and which he continued to use for the rest of his life.^[87]

During Wilberforce's absence, Pitt, long supportive of abolition, introduced the preparatory motion himself, and ordered a Privy Council investigation into the slave trade, followed by a House of Commons review.^[88][89] With the publication of the Privy Council report in April 1789 and after months of planning, Wilberforce commenced his parliamentary campaign.^[86][90] On 12 May 1789, he made his first major speech on the subject of abolition in the House of Commons, in which he reasoned that the trade was morally reprehensible and an issue of natural justice. Drawing on Thomas Clarkson's evidence, he described in detail the appalling conditions in which slaves travelled from Africa in the middle passage, and argued that abolishing the trade would also bring an improvement to the conditions of existing slaves in the West Indies. He moved twelve resolutions condemning the slave trade, but made no reference to the abolition of slavery itself, instead dwelling on the potential for reproduction in the existing slave population should the trade be abolished.^[91][92] With the tide running against them, the opponents of abolition delayed the vote by proposing that the House of Commons hear its own evidence, and Wilberforce, in a move that has subsequently been criticised for prolonging the slave trade, reluctantly agreed.^[93][94] The hearings were not completed by the end of the parliamentary session, and were deferred until the following year. In the meantime, Wilberforce and Clarkson tried unsuccessfully to take advantage of the egalitarian atmosphere of the French Revolution to press France's abolition of the trade.^[95]

In January 1790 Wilberforce succeeded in speeding up the hearings by gaining approval for a smaller Parliamentary select committee to consider the vast quantity of evidence.^[96] Wilberforce's house in Old Palace Yard became a centre for the abolitionists' campaign, and a focus for many of the principal strategy meetings.^[6] Petitioners for other causes also besieged him there, his ante-room thronged from an early hour, like "Noah's Ark, full of beasts clean and unclean," according to Hannah More.^[97][98][25]

Interrupted by a general election in June 1790 ^[99] the committee finally finished hearing witnesses, and in April 1791 with a closely reasoned four-hour speech, Wilberforce introduced the first Parliamentary Bill to abolish the slave trade.^[100] However, after two evenings of debate, the bill was easily defeated by 163 votes to 88, the political climate having swung in a conservative direction in the wake of the French Revolution, and in reaction to an increase in radicalism and slave revolts, such as those in French West Indies.^[101][102] Such was the public hysteria of the time that Wilberforce himself was suspected by some of being a Jacobin agitator.^[103]

This was the beginning of a protracted parliamentary campaign, during which Wilberforce's commitment never wavered, despite frustration and hostility. He was supported in his work by fellow members of the so-called Clapham Sect, among whom was his best friend and cousin Henry Thornton.^[104][105] Holding evangelical Christian convictions, and consequently dubbed "the Saints", the group lived in large adjoining houses in Clapham, then a village south of London. Wilberforce accepted an invitation to share a house with Henry Thornton in 1792, moving into his own home after Thornton's marriage in 1796.^[106] The "Saints" formed in an informal community, characterized by considerable intimacy as well as a commitment to practical Christianity and opposition to slavery. They developed a relaxed family atmosphere, wandering freely in and out of each other's homes and gardens, and discussing the many religious, social, and political topics that engaged them.^[107]

Pro-slavery advocates claimed that enslaved Africans were lesser human beings who benefited from their bondage.^[108] Wilberforce, the Clapham Sect and others were anxious to demonstrate that Africans, and particularly freed slaves, had human and economic abilities beyond the slave trade, and were capable of sustaining a well-ordered society, trade and cultivation. To this end, inspired in part by the utopian vision of Granville Sharp, they became involved in the establishment in 1792 of a free colony in Sierra Leone with black settlers from the United Kingdom, Nova Scotia and Jamaica, as well as native Africans and some whites.^[108][109] They formed the Sierra Leone Company, with Wilberforce subscribing liberally to the project in money and time.^[110] The dream was of an ideal society in which races would mix on equal terms; the reality was fraught with tension, crop failures, disease, death, war and defections to the slave trade. Initially a commercial venture, the British government assumed responsibility for the colony in 1808.^[108] The colony, while troubled at times, became a symbol of anti-slavery, with residents working with African chiefs and communities to prevent enslavement at source, while a British navy blockade was to stem slavery from the region.^[111][112]

On 2 April 1792, Wilberforce again brought a bill calling for abolition. The memorable debate that followed drew contributions from the greatest orators in the house, William Pitt and Charles James Fox, as well as from Wilberforce himself.^[113] Henry Dundas, as home secretary, proposed a compromise solution of so-called 'gradual abolition' over a number of years. This was passed by 230 to 85 votes, but the compromise was little more than a clever ploy, with the intention of ensuring that total abolition would be delayed indefinitely.^[114]

[edit] War with France

The outbreak of war with France in February 1793 effectively prevented further serious consideration of the issue, as politicians concentrated on the national crisis and the threat of invasion. On 26 February 1793, a vote to abolish the slave trade was narrowly defeated by eight votes.^[115] The same year, and again in 1794 Wilberforce unsuccessfully brought before parliament a bill to outlaw British ships from supplying foreign colonies with slaves.^[116][108] He voiced his concern at the war and urged Pitt to make greater efforts to end hostilities.^[117] Growing more alarmed, on 31 December 1794, Wilberforce moved that the government seek a peaceful resolution with France, a stance that created a temporary breach in his long friendship with Pitt.^[118]

Abolition had become associated in the public consciousness with the French Revolution and with the radical societies in the United Kingdom, and public support declined.^[119] In 1795, the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade ceased to meet, and Clarkson retired in ill-health to the Lake District.^[120][121] However, despite the decreased support for abolition, Wilberforce continued to introduce abolition bills throughout the 1790s.^[122][123]

The early years of the nineteenth century once again saw increased public interest in abolition. In 1804, Clarkson resumed his work and The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade began meeting again, strengthened with prominent new members such as Zachary Macaulay, Henry Brougham and James Stephen.^[124][120] In June 1804, Wilberforce's bill to abolish the slave trade had successfully passed all its stages through the House of Commons. However, it was too late in the parliamentary session for it to complete its passage through the House of Lords. On its reintroduction during the 1805 session it was defeated, with even the usually sympathetic Pitt failing to support Wilberforce.^[125] On this occasion and throughout the campaign, abolition was at times held back by Wilberforce's trusting, even credulous, nature and his deferential attitude towards those in power.^[123]

[edit] Final phase of the campaign

With the death of Pitt in February 1806 Wilberforce began to collaborate more with the Whigs, especially the abolitionists in that party. He gave general support to the Grenville-Fox administration, which brought more abolitionists into the Cabinet;^[126][108] Wilberforce and Charles Fox led the campaign in the House of Commons, while Lord Grenville advocated the cause in the House of Lords.

A radical change of tactics, which involved the introduction of a bill to ban British subjects from aiding or participating in the slave trade to the French colonies, was suggested by maritime lawyer James Stephen.^[127] It was a smart move as the majority of ships were now flying American flags, though manned by British crews and sailing out of Liverpool, and supplying foreign colonies with whom Britain was at war.^[128] A bill was introduced and approved by the Cabinet, and Wilberforce and other abolitionists maintained a self-imposed silence, so as not to draw attention to the effect of the bill.^[129][130] The approach proved successful, and the new Foreign Slave Trade Bill was quickly passed, and received the Royal Assent on 23 May 1806.^[131] Wilberforce and Clarkson had collected a large volume of evidence against the slave trade over the previous two decades, and Wilberforce spent the latter part of 1806 writing A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, which was a comprehensive restatement of the abolitionists' case. The death of Fox in September 1806 was a blow, and was followed quickly by a general election in the autumn of 1806.^[132] Slavery became a election issue, bringing more abolitionist MPs into the House of Commons, including former military men had who had personally experienced the horrors of slavery and slave revolts.^[133] Wilberforce was re-elected for Yorkshire,^[134] after which he returned to finishing and publishing his Letter, in reality a 400-page book which formed the basis for the final phase of the campaign.^[135]

Lord Grenville, the Prime Minister, determined to introduce an Abolition Bill in the House of Lords rather than the House of Commons, taking it through its greatest challenge first.^[134] When a final vote was taken, the bill was passed in the House of Lords by a large margin.^[136] Sensing a breakthrough that had been long anticipated, Charles Grey moved for a second reading in the Commons on 23 February. As tributes were made to Wilberforce, whose face streamed with tears, the bill was carried by 283 votes to 16.^[131][137] Excited supporters suggested taking advantage of the large majority to seek the abolition of slavery itself but Wilberforce made clear that total emancipation was not the immediate goal: "They had for the present no object immediately before them, but that of putting stop directly to the carrying of men in British ships to be sold as slaves"^[138] and was well aware that emancipation would only be possible when they had the support of the colonial assemblies.^[139] The Slave Trade Act received the Royal Assent on 25 March 1807.^[140]

[edit] Emancipation of enslaved Africans

The hopes of the abolitionists notwithstanding, slavery did not wither with the end of the slave trade in the British Empire, nor did the living conditions of the enslaved improve. The trade continued, with most countries not immediately following suit with abolition, and with some British ships disregarding the legislation. Wilberforce worked with the members of the African Institution to ensure the enforcement of abolition and to promote abolitionist negotiations with other countries.^[141][142] In particular, the USA had abolished the slave trade in 1808, and Wilberforce lobbied the American government to more strongly enforce its own prohibition.^[143] The Royal Navy patrolled the Atlantic intercepting slave ships from other countries.^[144]

Wishing to be more involved with his family, in 1808 Wilberforce moved his family from Clapham to a sizeable mansion with a large garden in Kensington Gore, closer to the Houses of Parliament. In ill-health, and after considerable reflection Wilberforce resigned his Yorkshire seat, and became Member for the rotten borough of Bramber in Sussex, a seat with little or no constituency obligations,^[145] although he continued to be deeply involved in parliamentary matters, including pressing British ministers to insist on abolition in treaties and negotiations with France, Portugal, Spain, Holland and Brazil.^[146][147] In order to attempt to control the illegal importation of foreign slaves by British owners who were attempting to circumvent the new legislation, from 1816 Wilberforce introduced a series of bills requiring the compulsory registration of slaves, together with details of their country of origin, thus permitting violations of the Act to be detected.^[148] Later in the same year he was publicly denouncing slavery itself, though he did not demand immediate emancipation, as "They had always thought the slaves incapable of liberty at present, but hoped that by degrees a change might take place as the natural result of the abolition."^[149]

By 1820, after a further period of poor health, and with his eyesight failing, Wilberforce took a decision to limit his public activities,^[150] although he nevertheless became embroiled in unsuccessful mediation attempts between the former Prince of Wales, now King George IV, and his estranged wife Caroline of Brunswick, who had sought her rights as queen.^[6] Wilberforce still hoped "to lay a foundation for some future measures for the emancipation of the poor slaves", which he believed should come about gradually in stages.^[151] Aware that the cause would need younger men to continue the work, in 1821 he asked fellow MP Thomas Fowell Buxton to take over leadership of the campaign in the Commons.^[150] But by 1822 his language had changed: "my conscience reproaches me with having too long suffered this horrible evil to go on. We must now call upon all good men throughout the kingdom to join us in abolishing this wicked system."^[152]

The year 1823 saw the founding of the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery (later the Anti-Slavery Society),^[153] and the publication of Wilberforce's 56-page Appeal to the Religion, Justice and Humanity of the Inhabitants of the British Empire in Behalf of the Negro Slaves in the West Indies.^[154] In his treatise, Wilberforce urged that total emancipation was morally and ethically required, and that slavery was a national crime that must be ended by parliamentary legislation to gradually free slaves.

Parliamentarians did not quickly agree, and government opposition in March 1823 stymied Wilberforce’s call for abolition.^[155] On 15 May 1823, Buxton moved another resolution in Parliament for gradual emancipation.^[156] Subsequent debates followed on 16 March and 11 June 1824 in which Wilberforce made his last speeches in the Commons, and which again saw the abolitionists outmanoeuvred by the government.^[157][158]

Wilberforce's health was continuing to fail, and he suffered further illness in 1824 and 1825. With his family concerned that his life was endangered, he declined a peerage and resigned his seat in Parliament, leaving the campaign in the hands of others.^[159][160] Thomas Clarkson continued to travel, visiting anti-slavery groups all around Britain, motivating activists and acting as an ambassador for the anti-slavery cause to other countries,^[61] and Buxton pursued the crusade for reform in Parliament.^[161] Public meetings were held in various parts of the country and petitions from local groups were sent to parliament demanding emancipation, with an increasing number demanding immediate abolition rather than the gradual approach favoured by Wilberforce, Clarkson and their colleagues.^[162][163] As the 1820s wore on, Wilberforce increasingly took on a figurehead role in the abolitionist movement, though continuing to appear at anti-slavery meetings, welcoming visitors, and maintaining a busy correspondence on the subject.^{[164][165][166]}

Wilberforce approved of the election victory of the more progressive Whigs, who came to power in 1830, though concerned about the implications of their Reform Bill which would take parliamentary seats away from rotten boroughs and redistribute them to major populations as well as extending the franchise. However, in the event, the Reform Act of 1832 was to bring more abolitionist MPs into parliament, the result of intense and increasing public agitation. In addition, the 1832 slave revolt in Jamaica convinced government ministers that abolition was essential to avoid further rebellion.^[167] On 14 May 1833, the Whig government introduced the Bill for the Abolition of Slavery, formally saluting Wilberforce in the process. ^[168] On 26 July, they made major concessions during the passage of the bill, ensuring its success. The news was rushed to the failing Wilberforce, who was in London. Three days later he died.^[169] One month later, the House of Lords passed the Slavery Abolition Act which abolished slavery in the British Empire from August 1834, voting plantation owners £20 million in compensation and giving full emancipation to children younger than six, and instituting a system of apprenticeship requiring other enslaved peoples to work for their former masters for four to six years in the British West Indies, South Africa, Mauritius, Sri Lanka, British Honduras and Canada. Nearly 800,000 African slaves were freed, the vast majority from the Caribbean.^[170][171]

[edit] Marriage and family

Wilberforce had shown little interest in women, but, in his late thirties, twenty-year-old Barbara Ann Spooner (1777–1847) was recommended as a potential bride by his friend Thomas Babington.^[172] Wilberforce met her two days later on 15 April 1797, was immediately smitten,^[6] and following an eight-day whirlwind romance, proposed.^[173] Despite the urgings of friends to slow down, the couple were married in Bath, Somerset, on 30 May 1797.^[6] The couple were devoted to each other, and Barbara was very attentive and supportive to Wilberforce in his increasing ill health, though showing little interest in his political activities.^[6] They had six children in less than ten years: William, (b. 1798), Barbara (b. 1799), Elizabeth (b. 1801), Robert Isaac Wilberforce (b. 1802), Samuel Wilberforce (b. 1805) and Henry William Wilberforce (b. 1807).^[6] Wilberforce was an indulgent and adoring father who revelled in his time at home and at play with his offspring.^[174]

[edit] Other concerns

[edit] Evangelical Christianity

A supporter of the evangelical wing of the Church of England, Wilberforce believed that the revitalisation of the Church and individual Christian observance would lead to a harmonious, moral society.^[142] He wished to elevate the status of religion in public and private life, making piety fashionable in middle and upper classes of society.^[175] In April 1797 Wilberforce completed A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes of This Country Contrasted With Real Christianity, on which he had been working since 1793. This was an exposition of New Testament doctrine and teachings and a call for a revival of Christianity, as a response to the moral decline of the nation. It was an influential work and illustrated his own personal testimony and the views which inspired him in his life's work.^[176]

Wilberforce believed in the importance of missionary activity, and was a founding member of the Church Missionary Society (since renamed the Church Mission Society).^[177] In 1793 Wilberforce used the renewal of the British East India Company's charter to propose the addition of clauses requiring the company to provide teachers and chaplains and to commit to the "religious improvement" of Indians. The plan was unsuccessful due to the lobbying by the directors of the company, who feared that their commercial interests would be damaged.^[178] Wilberforce tried again in 1813, when the charter next came up for renewal. Using petitions, meetings, lobbying, and letter writing, he successfully campaigned for changes to the charter.^[142][179] Speaking in favour of the Charter Act 1813, he condemned aspects of Hinduism including the caste system, infanticide, polygamy and suttee. "Our religion is sublime, pure beneficent," he said, "theirs is mean, licentious and cruel". At the same time, he criticised the British in India for their hypocrisy and racial prejudice.^[179][180]

[edit] Moral reform

Greatly concerned by what he perceived as the degeneracy of British society, Wilberforce was also active in matters of moral reform.^[179] He wrote in his personal journal, "God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners [moral values]".^[181][182] At the suggestion of Wilberforce, together with Bishop Porteus, the King was requested by the Archbishop of Canterbury to issue in 1787 his Proclamation for the Discouragement of Vice, which they saw as a remedy for the rising tide of immorality and vice.^[183][184] The proclamation led to the creation of the Society for Suppression of Vice in 1802.^[185] This and other societies of which Wilberforce was a prime mover, such as the Proclamation Society, mobilised support for the prosecution of those who had been charged with violating relevant laws. Those prosecuted included brothel keepers, distributors of pornographic material, and those who did not respect the Sabbath.^[142] The societies were not highly successful in terms of membership and support, but their activities did lead to the imprisonment of the publisher of Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason.^[122]

[edit] Political and social reform

Wilberforce was deeply conservative when it came to challenges to the existing political and social order. He promoted change in society through Christianity and improvement in morals, education and religion, and feared and opposed radical causes or revolution.^[42] To this end he supported the suspension of habeas corpus in 1795 and in 1817 and, when war and a poor harvest led to public demonstrations, voted for Pitt's "Gagging Bills", which banned meetings of more than 50 people, allowed speakers to be arrested and imposed harsh penalties on those who attacked the constitution.^[186][142]

Wilberforce was opposed to workers' rights to organise into unions, and in 1799 he spoke in favour of the Combination Act, which suppressed trade union activity throughout the United Kingdom, calling unions "a general disease in our society."^[187][142] He opposed an enquiry into the Peterloo Massacre in which eleven protesters were killed at a political rally demanding reform, despite deploring the loss of life.^[188] His main concern again was that the tragedy would give opportunities to those who sought to undermine the state, and instead approved of new legislation to further limit public meetings and seditious activities.^[189]

Wilberforce disapproved of women anti-slavery activists such as Elizabeth Heyrick who organized women's abolitionist groups in the 1820s, protesting that "for ladies to meet, to publish, to go from house to house stirring up petitions – these appear to me proceedings unsuited to the female character as delineated in Scripture."^[190][191]

The radical writer William Cobbett was among those who attacked what they saw as Wilberforce's hypocrisy in campaigning for better working conditions for slaves while British workers lived in terrible conditions at home.^[192] "Never have you done one single act, in favour of the labourers of this country," he wrote.^[193] The essayist William Hazlitt also criticised Wilberforce, describing him as one "who preaches vital Christianity to untutored savages, and tolerates its worst abuses in civilised states."^[194] Wilberforce initially strongly opposed bills for Catholic emancipation which would have allowed Catholics to become MPs, hold public office and serve in the army,^[195] but by 1813 he had changed his views, and spoke in favour of such a bill.^[196]

More progressively, from the late 1780s onward Wilberforce campaigned for parliamentary reforms, such as the abolition of rotten boroughs and the redistribution of Commons seats to growing towns and cities. By the time similar measures were passed in 1832 however, he feared that they went too far.^[197][142] Wilberforce advocated legislation to improve the working conditions for chimney-sweeps and textile workers, engaged in prison reform, supported campaigns to restrict capital punishment and the severe punishments meted out under the Game Laws.^[198] With others, Wilberforce founded the first animal welfare organisation in the world, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (later the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals).^[159] He was opposed to duelling, which he described as the "disgrace of a Christian society" and was appalled when his friend Pitt engaged in a duel in 1798, particularly as it occurred on a Sunday, the Christian day of rest.^[199][200]

While staying with Hannah More at Cowslip Green in north Somerset in August 1789, Wilberforce visited Cheddar Gorge and was appalled by the poverty he saw amongst the people of the area and supported and encouraged More's attempts to establish a Sunday school there. It was his financial support which was to help her and her sister Patty found at least a dozen similar schools in the Mendips which, when at their most prosperous, attracted over 1,000 children.^[201][202] She was to face much opposition, especially from local landowners, and during the next ten years Wilberforce urged her to persevere with her vision of educating the poor and disadvantaged in rural communities, and later gave her assistance and support when her reputation was maligned and she was accused of being a "Methodist" by Anglican clergy in 1802.^[203]

Wilberforce was generous with his time and money, believing that those with wealth had a duty to give a significant portion of their income to the needy. Yearly, he gave away thousands of pounds, much of it to clergymen to distribute in their parishes. He paid off the debts of others, supported education and missions, and in a year of food shortages gave to charity more than his own yearly income. He was exceptionally hospitable, and could not bear to fire any of his servants. As a result, his home was full of old and disabled servants kept on in charity. Though he was often months behind in his correspondence, Wilberforce responded to numerous requests for advice or for help in obtaining professorships, military promotions, and livings for clergymen, or for the reprieve of death sentences.^[204][205]

[edit] Last years

In 1826, following his resignation, Wilberforce moved from his large house in Kensington Gore to a smaller house in the countryside of Mill Hill, north of London,^[159] where he was soon joined by his son William and family. William had tried a series of educational and career paths, and a venture into farming led to huge losses in 1830, which his father repaid in full despite offers from others to assist. This left Wilberforce with little income, and he was obliged to let his home and spend the rest of his life visiting families and friends.^[206] He also continued his support for the anti-slavery cause, including attending and chairing meetings of the Anti-Slavery Society,^[207] making his last speech in spring, 1833 at a public meeting in Maidstone, Kent,^[208] and sending a message of encouragement to Buxton.

By 1833 his health had again declined; he suffered a severe attack of influenza and never fully recovered.^[6] On 26 July 1833, he heard of government concessions that guaranteed the passing of the Bill for the Abolition of Slavery.^[209] On the following day he grew much weaker, and he died early on the morning of 29 July at his cousin's house in Cadogan Place, London.^[210]

[edit] Funeral

Wilberforce had left instructions that he was to be buried with his sister and daughter at Stoke Newington. However, the leading members of both Houses of Parliament urged that he be honoured with a burial at Westminster Abbey. The family agreed and, on 3 August 1833, Wilberforce was buried in the north transept, close to his friend William Pitt.^[211] The funeral was attended by many Members of Parliament, as well as members of the public. The pallbearers included Henry Brougham, Lord Chancellor, and the Duke of Gloucester.^[212]

[edit] Legacy

Five years after his death, sons Robert and Samuel Wilberforce published a five-volume biography about their father in 1838 and a collection of his letters in 1840. The biography was controversial in that the authors emphasised Wilberforce's role in the abolition movement and played down the important role of Thomas Clarkson in the early days of the movement. Incensed, Clarkson came out of retirement to write a book refuting their version of events, and the sons eventually made a private apology to him and removed the offending passages in a revision of their biography.^[213][214] However, for a century, Wilberforce's role in the campaign dominated the history books. Subsequent historians have noted the warm and highly productive relationship of Clarkson and Wilberforce, and have termed it one of history's great partnerships: without both the parliamentary leadership supplied by Wilberforce and the research and public mobilisation organised by Clarkson, abolition could not have been achieved.^{[215][216][61]}

As his sons had desired and planned, Wilberforce has long been described as a Christian hero, a statesman-saint held up as a role model for putting faith into action.^{[217][6][218]} More broadly, he has been regarded as a humanitarian reformer who contributed to reshaping of the political and social attitudes of the time, laying the groundwork for concepts of social responsibility and action in the Victorian era.^[142] In the 1940s, the role of Wilberforce and the Clapham sect in abolition was downplayed by historian Eric Williams who argued that abolition was motivated not by humanitarianism but by economics, as the West Indian sugar industry was in decline.^[219][51] His approach strongly influenced historians for much of the latter part of the twentieth century. However, more recent historians have noted that the sugar industry was still making large profits at the time of abolition, and this has led to a renewed increase of interest in Wilberforce and the Evangelicals, as well as recognition of the anti-slavery movement as a prototype for subsequent humanitarian campaigns.^[51][220]

[edit] Memorials

Wilberforce's life and work has been commemorated in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In Wilberforce's home town of Hull, a public subscription in 1834 funded the Wilberforce Monument in what is now Queen's Gardens, a 102 foot (31 m) Greek Doric column, topped by a statue of Wilberforce.^[221] In Westminster Abbey, a seated statue of Wilberforce by Samuel Joseph was erected in 1840 bearing an epitaph praising his Christian character and his long labour to abolish the slave trade and slavery itself.^[222] Wilberforce Memorial School for the Blind in York was established in 1833 in his honour.^[223] Wilberforce's birthplace in Hull was acquired by the city corporation in 1903 and, following renovation, Wilberforce House was opened as Britain's first slavery museum.^[224]

Various churches within the Anglican Communion commemorate Wilberforce in their liturgical calendars,^[225] and Wilberforce University in Ohio, United States, founded in 1856, is named after William Wilberforce. The university was the first owned by African-American people, and is historically a black college.^[226][227]

Amazing Grace, a film about Wilberforce and the struggle against the slavery trade and directed by Michael Apted, with Ioan Gruffudd as William Wilberforce, was released in 2007 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the date on which Parliament voted to ban the transport of slaves by British subjects.^[228][229]

[edit] Writings

• A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade, Addressed to the Freeholders of Yorkshire, 1807
• An Appeal to the Religion, Justice, and Humanity of the Inhabitants of the British Empire in behalf of the Negro slaves in the West Indies, 1823
• A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System, 1829

[edit] See also

• Abolitionists
• The Clapham Sect
• Isaac Milner
• Yorkshire election, 1807
• Slave Trade Act, 1807
• Slavery Abolition Act, 1833
• History of Slavery

[edit] Notes

[edit] References

• Ackerson, Wayne (2005), The African Institution (1807–1827) and the antislavery movement in Great Britain, Lewiston, N.Y: E. Mellen Press, ISBN 978-0773461291, OCLC 58546501 
• Brown, Christopher Leslie (2006), Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, ISBN 978-0807856987, OCLC 62290468 
• D'Anjou, Leo (1996), Social Movements and Cultural Change: The First Abolition Campaign Revisited, New York: Aldine de Gruyter, ISBN 978-0202305226, OCLC 34151187 
• Hague, William (2007), William Wilberforce: The Life of the Great Anti-slave Trade Campaigner, London: HarperPress, ISBN 978-0007228850, OCLC 80331607 
• Hochschild, Adam (2005), Bury the Chains, The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery, London: Macmillan, ISBN 978-0330485814, OCLC 60458010 
• Oldfield, Adam (2007), Chords of freedom: Commemoration, ritual and British transatlantic slavery, Manchester: Manchester University Press, ISBN 978-0719066641, OCLC 132318401 
• Pollock, John (1977), Wilberforce, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 978-0094607804, OCLC 3738175 
• Tomkins, Stephen (2007), William Wilberforce – A Biography, Oxford: Lion, ISBN 978-0094607804, OCLC 72149062 

[edit] Further reading

• Belmonte, Kevin. Hero for Humanity: A Biography of William Wilberforce (Navpress Publishing Group, 2002) ISBN 978-1576833544
• Carey, Brycchan. British Abolitionism and the Rhetoric of Sensibility: Writing, Sentiment, and Slavery, 1760-1807 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005) ISBN 978-1403946263
• Furneaux, Robin. William Wilberforce (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1974 reprinted 2006) ISBN 978-1573833431
• Hennell, Michael. William Wilberforce, 1759–1833: the Liberator of the Slave (London: Church Book Room, 1950)
• Metaxas, Eric. Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery (New York: HarperSanFrancisco, 2007) ISBN 0-06-117300-2
• Pura, Murray Andrew. Vital Christianity: The Life and Spirituality of William Wilberforce (Toronto: Clements, 2002) ISBN 1894667107
• Rodriguez, Junius, ed. Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World. (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2007)
• Stott, Anne. Hannah More: The First Victorian. (Oxford: University Press, 2003) ISBN 0-19-924532-0
• Vaughan, David J. Statesman and Saint: The Principled Politics of William Wilberforce (Nashville, Tennessee: Cumberland House, 2001) ISBN 1-58182-224-3
• Walvin, James. A Short History of Slavery (London: Penguin, 2007) ISBN 978-0141027982
• Wilberforce, R.I. and Wilberforce, S. The Life of William Wilberforce (5 vols, London: John Murray, 1838)

[edit] External links

• 200th Anniversary of the Abolition of the British and U.S. Slave Trade
• BBC historic figures: William Wilberforce

Persondata
NAME	Wilberforce, William
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Politician, Abolitionist, Philanthropist
DATE OF BIRTH	24 August 1759(1759-08-24)
PLACE OF BIRTH	Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire
DATE OF DEATH	29 July 1833
PLACE OF DEATH	London