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THE HONEST MP When William Wilberforce was at school, his teacher made him stand on the desk to read his essays so everyone could hear his eloquence. And he wrote a letter to the newspaper protesting against slavery. Right: Wilberforce as a young MP. |
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  What is the story of the slave trade? Click here for a quick summary, plus quotes from people who were there. |
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Here was his whole career as an MP in embryo. He was one of the greatest orators in the age of orators, and he dedicated 45 years to fighting slavery and the slave trade. William was 10 when his father died and his mother sent him from Hull to Wimbledon to live with his aunt. She was a kind friend to him, and brought him up in her evangelical Christianity. His mother disapproved strongly enough to take him home and made sure his new religion wore off. Being from a wealthy trading family, William had enough money never to have to work, and became MP for Hull in 1780, aged 21. But he had strong principles, and in an age of political corruption, where MPs used parliament to make their fortune, he did not let wealthy sponsors buy his seat and votes. He was the most fiercely independent politician of his time, considering his only duties to be to public service and personal conscience. He was a very close friend of William Pitt the Younger, who became the most important prime minister of the age when he was 24, in 1784. That year, Wilberforce astonished the country by winning the seat for Yorkshire, the most prestigious, powerful and protected in the country, not through the purses of leading nobles, but merely on the strength of his personality. Next: A new purpose – click here! |
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