Birthday quote 24th August

William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce was an English politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to stop the slave trade.

Wilberforce was a small, sickly and delicate child, with poor eyesight. In 1767 he began attending Hull Grammar School but the death of his father in 1768 caused changes in his living arrangements. With his mother struggling to cope, the nine-year-old Wilberforce was sent to an uncle and aunt and attended a boarding school for two years before continuing at Pocklington School from 1771 to 1776. At the age of 17, Wilberforce went up to St John's College, Cambridge. The deaths of his grandfather and uncle in had left him wealthy and as a result he had little inclination or need to apply himself to serious study. Instead he immersed himself in the social round of student life and pursued a hedonistic lifestyle enjoying cards, gambling and late-night drinking sessions. He was a popular figure and made many friends including the more studious future Prime Minister William Pitt. Despite his lifestyle and lack of interest in studying he managed to pass his examinations and was awarded a B.A. in 1781 and an M.A. in 1788.

He began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming an independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire from 1784 until 1812). In 1785, he became an Evangelical Christian, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform. In 1787, he came into contact with Thomas Clarkson and a group of anti-slave-trade activists, including Granville Sharp, Hannah More and Charles Middleton. They persuaded Wilberforce to take on the cause of abolition, and he soon became one of the leading English abolitionists. He headed the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade for twenty years until the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.

Wilberforce was convinced of the importance of religion, morality and education. He championed causes and campaigns such as the Society for the Suppression of Vice, British missionary work in India, the creation of a free colony in Sierra Leone, the foundation of the Church Mission Society, and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. His underlying conservatism led him to support politically and socially controversial legislation, and resulted in criticism that he was ignoring injustices at home while campaigning for the enslaved abroad.

In later years, Wilberforce supported the campaign for the complete abolition of slavery, and continued his involvement after 1826, when he resigned from Parliament because of his failing health. That campaign led to the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which abolished slavery in most of the British Empire; Wilberforce died just three days after hearing that the passage of the Act through Parliament was assured. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to his friend William Pitt.

Born 24th August 1759 in Kingston upon Hull, England
Died 29th July 1833 in London, England

It is the true duty of every man to promote the happiness of his fellow creatures to the utmost of his power.

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