THIS IS THE DIARY JUNCTION - DATA AND LINKS FOR OVER 500 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY DIARISTS
PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT ALSO TO LOOK AT KIP FENN, A MAJOR NOVEL ABOUT THE 21st CENTURY
- freely available on this site
Wilberforce, William ___ 1759-1833
___ British ___ politician
BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY
Wilberforce was born in Hull, the
son of a wealthy merchant. After his father died he was looked after for
a while by an aunt who was a strong supporter of John Wesley and the Methodist
movement. Wilberforce studied at St John's College, Cambridge, where he
met William Pitt, a future Prime Minister. He was elected as MP for Hull
when only 21; but, thereafter, became one of the two MPs representing Yorkshire.
In 1784 he converted to Evangelical Christianity, and joined the Clapham
Set. In 1797, he married Barbara Ann Spooner, and they had four children,
one of whom, Samuel, was also a diarist. After his conversion, Wilberforce
became particularly interested in social reform and the abolition of the
slave trade. In 1791, his first bill on the subject was easily defeated.
However, he persisted, first winning support in the House of Commons, and
then, eventually, the House of Lords: the Abolition of the Slave Trade Bill
was passed in 1807. This did not end the slave trade, but is considered
as the beginning of the end. It was only shortly after Wilberforce died
(from falling off a horse) that the Slavery Abolition Act, giving all slaves
in the British Empire their freedom, was brought into law. Wilberforce's
only published diary appears to be that of a journey to the Lake District
when he was still a young man, but diary entries are quoted in John Pollock's
autobiography 'Wilberforce'.
One biography link
DIARY DATES, CONTENT DESCRIPTORS
1779-1833 ___ religious political
slavery
WEB TEXT LINKS
several
short quotes
oak tree quote
about
ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT LINKS
Bodleian
Library, University of Oxford
SOME PUBLISHED TITLES
Journey to the Lake District from Cambridge
May 06
THIS IS THE DIARY JUNCTION - DATA AND LINKS FOR OVER 500 HISTORICAL AND LITERARY DIARISTS
Please
email if you have any corrections, additions or comments. |
IMPORTANT NOTES AND CAUTIONS:
1) The first line of basic information
may be incomplete in several ways: some historical figures have different
names (titles, pen-names); their birth and death dates may be unknown or
uncertain (g - guess, c - circa); similarly, their occupations may be unknown,
or they may have had other jobs; and, for early diarists, I've used 'British'
a bit too freely. 2) The biographical summary may not be accurate. It was
compiled quickly from various sources, mostly on the internet, and the facts
were not checked anywhere near as rigorously as they would have been if
they'd been intended for publication in a printed form. 3) The journal dates
and descriptors (which are in no particular order) must be treated with
caution: since I have not examined the diaries myself, the descriptors are
only guesses based on bibliographies, anthologies and internet biographies.
4) For the biography and etext links, I have ignored any sites with charges,
and I have avoided, wherever possible, those with pop-ups or too much advertising.
I have limited myself to providing three etext links where there is some
variety between them. 5) For the original manuscript links, I have limited
myself to providing a maximum of two (although, for a few diarists, their
original diaries are held in more than two places). 6) I have provided the
titles - chosen randomly - for up to three printed editions of the diaries. |