William Wilberforce
24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833
William Wilberforce was a British politician and philanthropist who led the parliamentary campaign to abolish the British slave trade. A Member of Parliament for over four decades, he headed the abolitionist cause for twenty years until the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. He died just days after learning that the Slavery Abolition Act, ending slavery in most of the British Empire, was assured of passage.
Lived at the same time
Well-documented people whose lives overlapped with William Wilberforce.
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Life events
William Wilberforce was born in Kingston upon Hull to a wealthy merchant family.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWilberforce entered St John's College, Cambridge, where he began a lifelong friendship with the future prime minister William Pitt the Younger.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAt the age of twenty-one, Wilberforce won election as MP for Kingston upon Hull, beginning a parliamentary career of more than four decades.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWilberforce underwent a religious conversion that reshaped his life and led him to devote his career to moral and social reform.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgEncouraged by Thomas Clarkson and other abolitionists, Wilberforce agreed to lead the campaign in Parliament against the British slave trade.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWilberforce married Barbara Ann Spooner in Bath; the couple had six children.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgAfter twenty years of campaigning, Wilberforce saw the Slave Trade Act receive royal assent, outlawing the slave trade throughout the British Empire.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgFailing health led Wilberforce to resign his parliamentary seat, though he continued to support the campaign against slavery itself.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgThree days before his death, Wilberforce heard that the bill to abolish slavery in most of the British Empire had passed its decisive stage in Parliament.
Source: en.wikipedia.orgWilberforce died in London and was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to his friend William Pitt.
Source: en.wikipedia.org