William Wilberforce was born on August 24, 1759 in Hull, Yorkshire England. He was Born into a rich Merchant family under his parents named Robert Wilberforce and Elizabeth Bird
As a child he lived with his Aunt and Uncle in London. He was once taken to hear John Newton preach which greatly impressed him causing him to later change to an evangelical Christian
William's grandfather served as mayor of Hull twice, in which William was also named after his grandfather also William
Wilberforce later enrolled to Cambridge University where he later made friends with William Pitt (The future Prime Minister)
At the age of 22 William Wilberforce meets James Ramsay who discusses slavery with him for the first time in William's life.
Wilberforce underwent an intense religious conversion while travelling with a friend. This caused him to debate leaving Parliament, but his mentor (John Newton) advised him against this.
Thomas Clarkson called upon Wilberforce with a copy of his “Essay on Slavery”. This is when they first meet in which they realized working together on this cause could benefit the Slave Trade substantially.
Wilberforce regularly introduced bills in the Parliament to ban slave trade. He was severely opposed to those making fortunes from the trades So he introduced the bill for the first time, however he lost the debate 163 votes to 88 votes. Although, he didn’t give up
Wilberforce became a member of Parliament when he was still a university student!
William Wilberforce married Barbara Spooner on 30th of May
On March 25th the Slave Trade Act abolished the Slave Trade in British Colonies. This was carried by 267 votes for, which rose the house to its feet and cheering wildly.
William did as much as his failing health could do in his later life for the Slave Trade
As he got older and became more ill he requested that Thomas Fowell Buxton to take over the leadership of the campaign in the commons for him. He soon, resigned his seat in parliament after a fatal illness
William had six children with Barbara spooner who one he named William again!
This year 2000 people meet in London at Freemasons’ hall, where Wilberforce was bent over with age and wore a metal girdle to stop him from slumping due to illness. Even though public wanted slavery to be abolished, parliament refused to ban it until, parliamentary reform removed many of its supporters
The Abolition Bill passed and Wilberforce later knew slavery had been abolished in British Colonies from a messenger. However, just 3 days later Wilberforce passed away
1. "BBC - History - William Wilberforce". 2018. Bbc.Co.Uk. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilberforce_william.shtml. 2. "William Wilberforce". 2018. Spartacus Educational. http://spartacus-educational.com/REwilberforce.htm. 3. "William Wilberforce (1759 -1833): The Politician: The Abolition Of Slavery Project". 2018. Abolition.E2bn.Org. http://abolition.e2bn.org/people_24.html. 4. "William Wilberforce". 2018. Mylearning.Org. http://www.mylearning.org/william-wilberforce/p-685/. 5. "William Wilberforce Biography". 2018. Wilberforceschool.Org. https://www.wilberforceschool.org/about-us/william-wilberforce.
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