Biography william wilberforce

British Broadcasting Corporation Home. A biography of William Wilberforce, a social reformer whose Christian faith led him to spend his political career campaigning to bring an end to slavery. William Wilberforce campaigned for the abolition of the British slave trade. He was an MP, a Christian writer and a social reformer.

In , following his conversion to Christianity, Wilberforce became the voice in Parliament of the Abolition Movement; joining campaigners such as the Quakers , Thomas Clarkson and the former enslaved African Olaudah Equiano.

William wilberforce religion

For Wilberforce the slave trade was a sin for which Britain had to repent or be damned. It took twenty years to end the British trade in enslaved people and almost thirty more before slavery itself became illegal. Visit BBC Webwise for full instructions. His family were merchants trading with Russia and the Baltic States. He had a privileged background going to Cambridge University before becoming the MP for Hull at just He was the youngest member of the House of Commons.

He went on to become the MP for the whole of Yorkshire. His aim was to achieve personal success. He confessed to a friend " He was close friends with the Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger , and the two of them were the political celebrities of the s: their charm, wit and position made them greatly sought after in up-market drawing-rooms and social circles.

Wilberforce was popular in Parliament too. He was known as the 'Nightingale of the House of Commons' because he had such a distinct and melodious speaking and singing voice!