Wilberforce, William

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Wilberforce, William (1759–1833). Evangelical philanthropist and anti-slavery campaigner. Born in Hull, the son of a merchant, and educated at St John's College, Cambridge, he was MP for Hull (1780), Yorkshire (1784–1812), and Bramber (1812–25). Following his conversion (1784–85) he became a leading evangelical, helping found the Proclamation Society to prosecute blasphemy and vice (1787), the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor (1796), the Church Missionary Society (1799), and the Bible Society (1804). His Practical View of Christianity (1797) went through 15 English and 25 American editions by 1825. In 1787 he joined the campaign against the slave trade, which he promoted in Parliament through his friendship with Prime Minister Pitt, though his inept tactics may have delayed success, which came only in 1807. In 1823 he joined the anti-slavery Society, though ill health forced his retirement from public life in 1825.

Edward Royle

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