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FREEDOM! With the abolition of the slave trade being enforced, Wilberforce was free from around 1820 to move on to the abolition of slavery itself. But at 60, he was increasingly weak and unwell and could not drive the campaign as he had before. Right: William Wilberforce. |
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  Who were the other major figures in the abolitionist cause? Click here for a who's who of those who fought against slavery. |
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In 1823, Wilberforce published a book arguing for emancipation, and along with the younger Thomas Fowell Buxton formed the Society for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery. He quit Parliament two years later, and Buxton took over the campaign there. His last public appearance was chairing a meeting of the society in 1830. Three years later, and three days before he died, the House of Commons passed the emancipation bill, freeing slaves throughout the British Empire. Some were angry that plantation owners had managed to add an enormous compensation to the bill (for themselves, of course, not the slaves), but Wilberforce died happy... "Thank God that I have lived to witness a day in which England is willing to give twenty millions sterling for the abolition of slavery." William Wilberforce is buried in Westminster Abbey, near his friend, William Pitt. |
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