Wilberforce, William ___ 1759-1833 ___ British ___ politician

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Wilberforce was born in Hull, the son of a wealthy merchant. After his father died he was looked after for a while by an aunt who was a strong supporter of John Wesley and the Methodist movement. Wilberforce studied at St John's College, Cambridge, where he met William Pitt, a future Prime Minister. He was elected as MP for Hull when only 21; but, thereafter, became one of the two MPs representing Yorkshire. In 1784 he converted to Evangelical Christianity, and joined the Clapham Set. In 1797, he married Barbara Ann Spooner, and they had four children, one of whom, Samuel, was also a diarist. After his conversion, Wilberforce became particularly interested in social reform and the abolition of the slave trade. In 1791, his first bill on the subject was easily defeated. However, he persisted, first winning support in the House of Commons, and then, eventually, the House of Lords: the Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill was passed in 1807. This did not end the slave trade, but is considered as the beginning of the end. It was only shortly after Wilberforce died (from falling off a horse) that the Slavery Abolition Act, giving all slaves in the British Empire their freedom, was brought into law. Wilberforce's only published diary appears to be that of a journey to the Lake District when he was still a young man, but diary entries are quoted extensively in a five volume biography compiled by Wilberforce’s sons, and in John Pollock's autobiography 'Wilberforce'.
A biography link
Wikipedia bio
The Diary Review - God's work against slavery

DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1779-1833 ___ religious political slavery

WEB TEXT LINKS
a few quotes
googlebooks
about

ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Bodleian Library, University of Oxford

SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Journey to the Lake District from Cambridge
 

May 2006, August 2008, April 2013
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IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS: 1) The first line of basic information may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown, or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British' a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies. 4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges, and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising. I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries.