Wilberforce, William

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WILBERFORCE, WILLIAM

WILBERFORCE, WILLIAM (1759–1833), British statesman, philanthropist, and religious leader.

William Wilberforce led the campaign in the British Parliament against slavery and was an influential philanthropist and religious leader. He was born in Hull, Yorkshire, the son and grandson of merchants who had grown rich through the town's trade with the Baltic. Wilberforce was educated at Hull Grammar School, Pocklington School, and St John's College, Cambridge. Due to the early deaths of his father and uncle, he inherited considerable wealth while still a teenager. In 1797 he married Barbara Spooner and had two daughters and four sons, including Samuel Wilberforce (1805–1873), later Bishop of Oxford.

In 1780 Wilberforce became member of Parliament (MP) for Hull, and in 1784 was elected for Yorkshire, the largest constituency in England, which gave him an important political power base. He was also very well connected at Westminster, being a close friend of the prime minister, William Pitt the Younger (1759–1806), and of other leading figures. In 1785–1786, Wilberforce experienced a period of spiritual crisis, which resulted in his conversion to evangelical Christianity and his subsequent conviction that "God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners" (Wilberforce and Wilberforce, vol. 1, p. 149). Wilberforce commenced his parliamentary campaign against the slave trade in May 1789. In January 1790 he secured a Select Committee to examine the evidence, and in April 1791 moved for leave to bring in an abolition bill. Insecurity arising from the context of the French Revolution made Parliament fear such a measure could have subversive consequences, and Wilberforce was initially decisively defeated. An extensive campaign of popular agitation and petitioning ensued, causing the House of Commons to vote in 1792 for gradual abolition, but this measure was blocked by the House of Lords. Wilberforce's efforts had to be maintained for a further sixteen years, until eventual victory was secured in 1807.

Meanwhile, Wilberforce was also pursuing his agenda for moral and spiritual reform. In 1787 he had helped to secure a Proclamation for the Encouragement of Piety and Virtue and worked hard to disseminate and implement it. In 1797 he published A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes of this Country Contrasted with Real Christianity. This was a critique of nominal Christianity and a call to widespread conversion to evangelicalism, as a means of both personal and national salvation. The book was widely read and very influential in contributing to an ongoing process of religious revival. During the 1790s and 1800s, Wilberforce was a central figure in the so-called Clapham Sect of wealthy lay evangelicals that supported parliamentary campaigns on the slave trade and other matters and was instrumental in the formation of numerous religious societies.

After the abolition of the slave trade in 1807, Wilberforce continued to have a prominent independent role in Parliament, particularly as a kind of national moral arbiter. In 1813 he played a significant part in securing the admission of missionaries to India, and from 1814 campaigned for the abolition of the slave trade by other nations. He enjoyed only limited immediate success, but ensured that the matter would remain firmly on the diplomatic agenda.

In 1823 a parliamentary campaign for the abolition of slavery itself was initiated. Wilberforce gave it strong moral support, but he was aging fast and unable to take a significant active part. He retired from Parliament in 1825 and died in 1833, just three days after hearing that the abolition bill had passed its third and final reading in the House of Commons.

Wilberforce's career has given rise to controversy on two specific issues. First, there is debate regarding the real importance of his personal role in the campaign against the slave trade. It is generally agreed, however, that he provided crucial parliamentary leadership, although the wider extraparliamentary campaign was primarily the work of others. Second, there is an acknowledged tension between his advocacy of the abolition of slavery and other reforming causes, and his willingness to countenance repression of political radicalism, both in the 1790s and in the disturbed years following the restoration of peace in 1815. It was also alleged that his preoccupation with slaves in the West Indies blinded him to the sufferings of the poor at home.

Nevertheless, Wilberforce's achievements were undeniably substantial. In addition to specific legislation, he was important in demonstrating how an independent political campaign pursued with great consistency and integrity could eventually bring striking results, and in providing a moral and spiritual example that stimulated significant changes in cultural attitudes.

See alsoGreat Britain; Slavery.

bibliography

Primary Sources

Wilberforce, Robert Isaac, and Samuel Wilberforce. The Life of William Wilberforce. 5 vols. London, 1838. A detailed account by two of Wilberforce's sons, containing much rich material, but stronger on religious than political aspects.