William Wilberforce 1759-1833

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William Wilberforce 1759-1833
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William Wilberforce was born on the 24th August
1759. He lived in Kingston upon Hull on High
Street and his house is now a museum.He
campaigned to abolish slavery.
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Ships left Britain with firearms, gunpowder,
metals, alcohol, beads, knives, mirrors -- the
sort of things which African chiefs did not
have. These goods were exchanged for slaves.
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The slaves were then packed tightly into the
slave ships, so that they could hardly move.
Often they were chained down they were allowed
little exercise and they were kept in horrendous
conditions in the hold of the ship. By the middle
of the eighteenth century British ships were
carrying about 50,000 slaves a year.
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British ships were carrying black slaves from
Africa to the West Indies as goods to be bought
and sold. They were they were sold like objects
in a market and branded with the owners
mark. Wilberforce began his campaign to
abolish the slave trade in 1798.
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In 1833 Wilberforce's efforts were finally
rewarded when the Abolition of Slavery Act was
passed. Wilberforce, on his death-bed, was
informed of the passing of the Act in the nick of
time. The main terms of the Act were

• all slaves under the age of six were to be freed
  immediately

• slaves over the age of six were to remain as part
  slave and part free for a further four years. In
  that time they would have to be paid a wage for
  the work they did in the quarter of the week when
  they were "free"

• the government was to give 20 million in
  compensation to the slave-owners who had lost
  their "property."

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William Wilberforce is one of Hulls most famous
heroes. There is a statue of him in Queens
Gardens as a celebration to his lifes work.