William Wilberforce: The Real Abolitionist?

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• 1. The only hero?
• 2. A man of his time
• 3. A clumsy strategist
• 4. Pressures outside parliament
• 5. The final years
• 6. Find out more
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The only hero?

William Wilberforce is the name that most people in Britain immediately associate with the fight against slavery. Although he favoured a more cautious and gradual eradication of slavery, he was a key representative of the anti-slave trade forces. Gracious, witty, and devoutly religious, he was also a great orator who was beloved by almost everyone who knew him.

'Admirers today invoke his spirit to support causes ranging from banning abortion to the need for an Evangelical revival.'

Wilberforce has become a convenient national hero, with 20,000 people attending a ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of his death. His house has been turned into a museum and his larger-than-life statue has a prominent place in Westminster Abbey.

Admirers today invoke his spirit to support causes ranging from banning abortion to the need for an Evangelical revival.

Wilberforce certainly deserves some credit for the banning of the British slave trade in 1807 and the act that emancipated Britain's slaves that was finally passed in 1833.

His charm, personal kindness, reputation for integrity and deep conservatism on most issues gave him influence with his fellow MPs that few others in parliament had.

But was the abolition of the slave trade and slavery primarily the work of this likeable, saintly man and his circle of similarly religious friends? Today, most historians see the long struggle to end the slave trade as much more complex and unruly than simply being the work of Wilberforce alone.

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Published: 2007-01-26