His campaign and ultimate success stand as one of the most noble and notable efforts in human history.
From HillFaith.org:
Today is the birthday of William Wilberforce. Abraham Lincoln once said Wilberforce’s name is one that every schoolboy should know. Yet I suspect it is a name that many of you will not recognize.
Wilberforce was a member of the British Parliament for nearly three decades in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Over his long career in Parliament he enjoyed many accomplishments.
However, he is best remembered as the person most responsible for the slave trade being outlawed in the British Empire, which proved to be the beginning of the end of legalized slavery throughout the world.
Wilberforce was an unlikely political hero. He was born to a wealthy merchant family and gained admission to St. John’s College at Cambridge through his family connections. While he was brilliant, he was more of a bon vivant than a serious student throughout his college career. After school, he was elected as one of the youngest members of Parliament.
However, in his mid-20’s Wilberforce experienced a religious conversion. After that, he devoted himself to a series of humanitarian causes, with abolition being his principal passion.
He also founded what we now know as the SPCA, the Bible Society, was an early advocate of women’s suffrage and a patron of dozens of other charities and causes on which he spent almost his entire inherited fortune.
Poor Health Did Not Stop Him:
Wilberforce suffered from poor health for most of his life. His health was complicated by addiction to opium, which was an ingredient of laudanum, a medication which his physician prescribed. His various afflictions only add to the wonderment at all he accomplished in his life....
....MUCH MORE
Makes the whole finance thing seem a bit tawdry eh?
If interested see also September 2020's "The Royal Navy’s Triumph over Slavery":
Slavery was practiced by people of all colors.
And had been for thousands and thousands of years.
It was a worldwide phenomena.....
