Marking the Bicentenary - Abolition of the slave trade
It is over 200 years since the ‘Abolition of the Slave Trade’ Act - a piece of legislation which transformed the face of world history. England is set to mark this historic occasion with a number of national, regional and local events taking place around the country in cities such as Hull, Liverpool, Bristol and Portsmouth.
Find out more about the calendar of bicentenary events
William Wilberforce, best known for his work on the abolition of slavery, was born in Hull in 1759. He was educated at Hull Grammar School until he went to live with an uncle and aunt in London after his father died in 1768. During this time he was educated in Putney, but in 1771 he was returned to Hull, where he continued his education.
Wilberforce began studying at St John's College in Cambridge in 1776, where he befriended the young William Pitt. On graduating with a BA (1781) and an MA (1788), Wilberforce made the decision to seek election to Parliament. In September 1780, at the age of twenty-one, he was elected MP for Hull.
In 1787 Wilberforce was introduced to Thomas Clarkson and the growing group campaigning against the slave trade. He was persuaded to become leader of the parliamentary campaign and after months of planning, he made his first major speech on the subject of abolition in the House of Commons on 12 May 1789.
Clarkson and Wilberforce were, over subsequent years, responsible for generating and sustaining a national movement which mobilised public opinion on this issue as never before. Wilberforce was re-elected for Yorkshire in 1806 (after the death of Fox) and spent the latter part of the year writing A Letter on the Abolition of the Slave Trade; an essay in which he presented a huge volume of evidence against slavery. Published on 31 January 1807, this book formed the basis for the final phase of abolition. The book was reputedly written at The Chateau on Wilford Lane, Nottingham.