William Wilberforce and the fight to abolish the slave trade

He was born in Hull on 24 August 1759 to a wealthy merchant family, and his grandfather, also named William Wilberforce, had been a successful merchant and former mayor of Hull.

After inheriting wealth from both his father and later a significant fortune from his uncle, Wilberforce gained the financial independence that allowed him to pursue politics without the need for official office.

He received his education at St John’s College, Cambridge, where he became close friends with William Pitt the Younger, who would later become prime minister.

The two men entered Parliament together in 1780. After experiencing a religious conversion in 1785 during a journey with his former tutor Isaac Milner, he embraced evangelical Christianity and began to see political life as a means to promote moral improvement within British society.

His faith influenced his commitment to social causes, which included animal welfare, educational reform, and especially the abolition of the slave trade.

In 1797, he published A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians, which became an influential evangelical work. 

The campaign against slavery gained momentum in the 1780s because growing public awareness of the brutality of the trade inspired activists to organise petitions and distribute pamphlets.

Thomas Clarkson’s 1785 prize-winning essay had already helped energise the movement by presenting a powerful moral argument against slavery.

Abolitionists such as Clarkson collected eyewitness accounts, evidence from ship logs, and testimonies from sailors to expose the horrific conditions endured by enslaved Africans on the Middle Passage.

In particular, Olaudah Equiano’s autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, published in 1789, provided a first-hand account that deeply swayed public opinion.

Wilberforce became the parliamentary leader of the movement after meeting with Clarkson and other members of the abolitionist network, including Granville Sharp and Equiano.

In 1789, he delivered his first major speech to the House of Commons in which he detailed the moral and humanitarian reasons for ending the trade.

He first introduced an abolition bill in 1791, and over the following years, he repeatedly brought similar measures before Parliament despite strong opposition from wealthy merchants, plantation owners, and MPs who argued that abolition would harm Britain’s economic interests. 

By 1792, a large number of people boycotted sugar produced by enslaved labour, and abolitionist societies distributed powerful visual propaganda such as the diagram of the slave ship Brookes, which showed enslaved Africans packed into inhumane conditions.

Public pressure on Parliament intensified as petitions that bore hundreds of thousands of signatures reached Westminster in the 1790s, and in 1788, the House of Commons heard disturbing testimony from sailors and ship surgeons about the trade.

Wilberforce persisted despite setbacks that included the outbreak of war with Revolutionary France in 1793, which shifted political attention away from reform.

However, his personal commitment remained steady, and he often worked late into the night drafting speeches, writing pamphlets, and corresponding with allies across the country. 

Parliament finally passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act on 25 March 1807 after years of relentless effort.

The final vote saw 283 MPs in favour and 16 against, and supporters in the House of Commons reportedly stood and cheered Wilberforce as the result was announced.

The bill made it illegal to engage in the trade of enslaved people throughout the British Empire and authorised heavy fines for anyone caught trafficking Africans across the Atlantic.

The passage of the act finally established a legal precedent for humanitarian reform at a national level.

In the years that followed, Wilberforce continued to campaign for the complete abolition of slavery itself as he worked with younger politicians such as Thomas Fowell Buxton.

Unfortunately, ill health forced him to retire from Parliament in 1825, yet he remained an active advocate until the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833.

He died on 29 July 1833, just three days after hearing that the act had passed its final reading in the Commons.

He was buried in Westminster Abbey near his old friend William Pitt the Younger. 

Wilberforce’s dedication to the abolitionist cause showed how moral conviction and political skill combined with public activism to achieve lasting change.

His work transformed Britain’s role in the Atlantic world because the Royal Navy, through the West Africa Squadron that the Royal Navy established in 1808, began to intercept slave ships and free their human cargo.

The campaign also inspired abolitionist movements in other countries, and Wilberforce supported initiatives such as the establishment of Sierra Leone as a colony for freed slaves.

Ultimately, the life of William Wilberforce illustrated the power of persistent advocacy in the face of firm economic and political interests, and his actions laid the basis for later social reformers who fought against injustice in the nineteenth century.