Wilberforce biography
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William Wilberforce ( - )
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 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 , Wilberforce became member of parliament for Hull, later representing Yorkshire. His dissolute lifestyle changed completely when he became an evangelical Christian, and in 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 b
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In one of the last letters of his life, year-old John Wesley, founder of Methodism, wrote to a young member of England’s parliament: “Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you?” Wesley was referring to William Wilberforce’s hope of abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire. At the time of the letter, Wilberforce had been pursuing the cause in parliament for nearly four years. It would take 16 more years before the slave trade would be outlawed, and the rest of his lifetime before slavery itself was abolished.
Wilberforce was born August 24, , into a prosperous Yorkshire merchant family. His father died before William was nine, securing the boy’s financial independence. At the age of 17 he enrolled at Cambridge University, where he was well liked for his parties and his warm and fun-loving nature. In fact, he preferred socializing and playing cards to attending cla
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William Wilberforce
English politician and abolitionist (–)
For his eldest son, a lawyer and Member of Parliament, see William Wilberforce (–).
William Wilberforce (24 August – 29 July ) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in , and became an independentMember of Parliament (MP) for Yorkshire (–). In , he underwent a conversion experience and became an Evangelical Anglican, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform.
In , Wilberforce came into contact with Thomas Clarkson and a group of activists against the slave trade, including Granville Sharp, Hannah More and Charles Middleton. They persuaded Wilberforce to take on the cause of abolition, and he became a leading English abolitionist. He headed the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade for 20 years until the passage of the Slave Tra