Born 24 August 1759 in Hull, Yorkshire England, Wilberforce became a politician at 21 and made a turning point in his life in 1794, when he converted to evangelicalism. Within 2 years after his conversion, he became the tireless champion and impassioned spokesman in the House of Commons for the abolition of slavery, helping to finance publicity for the cause.
Wilberforce sponsored the establishment of the Anti"Slavery Society in 1823. His failing health forced him to relinquish leadership of the emancipation crusade to Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton. He died 29 July 1833 in London, one month before the final passage of the Act of Parliament that abolished slavery throughout the British Empire, and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
His life exemplified practical
Christianity, the principles of which
he expressed in A Practical View of the
Prevailing Religious System of
Professed Christians (1797). His
Appeal to the Religion, Justice and
Humanity of the Inhabitants of the
British Empire on Behalf of the Negro
Slaves in the West Indies appeared in
1823.