yr9_William_Wilberforce


 * __William Wilberforce. [[image:207px-William_wilberforce.jpg width="237" height="271" align="right"]]__**


 * By Grace Ogden **

 ''So enourmous, so dreadful, so itrremediable did the Trade's wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for Abolition. Let the consequentces be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest until i had effected it's abolition.'' - **William Wilberforce**

God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade, and the reformation of manners. - **William Wilberforce**

William Wilberforce, was born on August 24 1759 in Hull, Yorkshire. He was a British politician and philanthropist (somebody who dedicates their time and money towards charatible causes). He began his political career in 1780 and became the independant Member of Parliament for Yorkshire (1784 - 1812). In 1785, Wilberforce decided to undergo a conversion experience and became an evangelical christian. Not long after, William Willberforce came into contact with Thomas Clarkson and a group of anti-slave trade activists, who convinced him to take on the cause. He then became one of the leading English abolitionists, heading the parliamentary campaign against the British Slave Trade, which he saw through to the eventual passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.

William Wilberforce was a very genorous man, using his power to help many other causes and cmpaigns, including the Society for Suppresion of Vice, Charity Schools, the Introduction of Christianity to India, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Foundation of the Church Mission Society.   But supporting other causes, that didn't prevent Wilberforce from supporting the Campaign ablition, which eventually led to the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. A strong campaigner for the abolition of slavery, sadly he died three days after hearing that the passage of the Act through Parliament was secure. He was buried next to a close friend of his, William Pitt in Westminster Abbey.