William wilberforce biography summary

Wilberforce believed that government was best left to the propertied and educated, so he was always uncomfortable with mass expressions of political opinion, and he opposed the idea of boycotting sugar. He recognised that some form of public pressure on parliament was essential, and, despite their differences on other issues, he and Clarkson were friends and colleagues for more than 40 years.

An army of rebel enslaved Africans had defeated the army of the world's superpower, and the largest slave-trading nation. Wilberforce was most comfortable with his fellow Anglicans, but it was Clarkson who had forged the essential alliance with the Quakers, which brought financial support to the movement and a nationwide network of volunteers from the first religious denomination in Britain to take a stand against slavery.

The huge slave rebellions that shook the West Indies are another factor that helped to end British slavery, but they have received little attention in Britain until recently. The first time the British army faced a slave revolt beyond its control was actually not on British territory. The British army wanted to seize this lucrative colony for itself and to suppress a vast slave uprising taking place in St Domingue before it could spread to the nearby British colony of Jamaica.

The army failed. Five years and more than 12, British deaths later, the redcoats withdrew. The humiliation of this defeat sent a shock wave through the British establishment and, indirectly, strengthened the forces in parliament that voted to abolish the slave trade in New uprisings shook the British Caribbean in later years. The greatest of them erupted in Jamaica at the end of More than 20, captives seized control of much of the northwest corner of the island, setting planters' houses on fire.

Many of these were on ridges or hilltops, and as they burst into flames, they acted like beacons to spread the revolt. It took the British army and militia a month to get the country under control. Some enslaved Africans and 14 white people died in the fighting. At least more slave rebels were hanged or shot afterwards. In Britain, news of the revolt almost certainly hastened the coming of emancipation.

Both private correspondence and testimony before parliament showed that colonial officials and high-ranking military men expected more revolts - and feared that the British military might not be able to contain them. Wilberforce resigned from parliament in due to ill health. He followed the final stages of the battle for emancipation from a distance.

He died in the summer of , just before the emancipation measure became law. Hull, England, Aug. London, July 29, Wilberforce was educated at Cambridge where he began a lifelong friendship with William Pitt , later prime minister. Both entered parliament in At Pitt's suggestion, Wilberforce became leader of the antislavery campaign. He continued to champion this cause in and out of parliament until slavery was completely abolished in the British Empire — just a few weeks before his death.

William wilberforce biography summary

He was buried in Westminster Abbey. Although famous chiefly as an emancipator of slaves, Wilberforce also exercised a profound religious influence. As a young man in London he moved in the privileged circles, light-hearted and self-satisfied, that dominated social and political life. After an intensive study of the New Testament , he was converted to Evangelicalism, abandoned worldly ambitions, and devoted himself to philanthropic works.

His Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians won wide popularity, and argued convincingly that reform of society must begin with individual sanctification. His famous diary shows how sincerely he applied this to himself. As leader of the Evangelical and antislavery movements, Wilberforce linked these two causes.

With great skill he used Evangelicalism to help wage the antislavery campaign. At the same time, the Evangelical movement raised the debased public morality of the 18th century to the higher standards of the Victorian Age. After his death, the Evangelical movement began to lose ground, but it had contributed to the abolition of slavery and raised moral standards under Wilberforce's guidance.

During the oxford movement a generation later, three of Wilberforce's four sons were among the many followers of newman who entered the Catholic Church. Bibliography: r. Wilberforce, William gale. Learn more about citation styles Citation styles Encyclopedia. William Wilberforce gale. William Wilberforce The English statesman and humanitarian William Wilberforce was a prominent antislavery leader.

Additional Sources Catherwood, H. Wilberforce, William oxford. Wilberforce, William — Evangelical philanthropist and anti-slavery campaigner. Following his conversion —85 he became a leading evangelical, helping found the Proclamation Society to prosecute blasphemy and vice , the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor , the Church Missionary Society , and the Bible Society In 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 In he joined the anti-slavery Society , though ill health forced his retirement from public life in Edward Royle.

Evangelical Anglican and reformer. Born in Hull, he became MP for the city in He later took the county seat for Yorkshire and worked tirelessly in Parliament for the abolition of the slave-trade. Wilberforce, William — English social reformer. He was elected to Parliament in In , he converted to evangelicalism. Wilberforce led the abolitionist cause in Parliament for more than 20 years.

His campaign led to the abolition of the slave trade in , but Wilberforce continued to work for abolition throughout the British Empire. His works include A Practical View He died in , just three days after Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act , which effectively banned slavery in the British Empire. William Wilberforce was born in Hull, to a wealthy family.

At a young age, he moved to London where he lived with some nonconformist relatives. These puritan ideals appealed to the young William, and he became closely attached to his London relatives. However, at the age of 12, his mother brought him back to Hull. His mother was keen to see William brought up in the traditional Anglican Church tradition and was not keen on her son having a nonconformist upbringing.

As a student he lived a carefree life, his early religious intensity had diminished, and he was an active participant in the social life of University. However, he distanced himself from some of the social and drinking excesses his student colleagues participated in. William was not the best student he had come into an inheritance and so felt little need to work very hard However, he was well liked; he was an excellent conversationalist with a pleasing voice and renowned singing voice.

It was at Cambridge that he became friends with William Pitt the younger. William Pitt, a future Prime Minister, would remain a good friend and mostly a loyal supporter of William in later life. As his time at University was drawing to a close, William decided to run for parliament. He decided to be an independent, although he would lean towards the reform element of the Tory party.

After four years in Parliament, William travelled to Europe with his sister and Mother. 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.