William Wilberforce- a local and national hero.
William Wilberforce’s lifetime achievement of the abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807 was described by the then Prime Minister Lord Grenville as the ‘most glorious measure that had ever been adopted by any legislative body in the world’. William Wilberforce had the willingness to pursue a moral cause without incentives of material gain, he had the resolve to continue his efforts whatever barriers arose and produced a legacy that remains
complete and admired to this day. His dedication to improve the lives of others via a group called the Clapham Sect based just 3 miles from Dulwich, means he can be regarded as both a local and national hero. He had the courage to take on a cause that before 1787 was supported by very few, and had widespread opposition among the British aristocracy and governing classes. Ports such as Liverpool, London and Bristol had their wealth built on the backs of slaves, resulting in powerful economic and material arguments for the continuation of the trade. The British people were largely ignorant of the reality of the trade and until the involvement of Wilberforce in 1791 no key figure high up in society had openly questioned the morality of the slave trade. Despite this uphill struggle Wilberforce was ultimately successful in passing his most notable achievement, the abolition bill of 1807 which changed the actions of Britain as a country forever. Slavery between Africa and the Americans had begun in the 1500s with the Spanish and Portuguese; from the 1560s onwards English traders became increasingly involved in the transportation of slaves. By the mid-1700s Britain dominated the trade transporting some 100,000 Africans across the Atlantic every year providing slaves not only for their colonies but also for French, Dutch and Spanish territories in the West Indies. The trade worked in a triangle with ships sailing from British ports with cargos of trade good which they would exchange in West Africa for Slaves captured by local slave traders. These slaves would be transported across the Atlantic to work on the plantations in the Caribbean. From there, the cash crops such as cotton, tobacco and sugar produced on the plantation would then be shipped back to Britain. By 1783 the slave trade triangle was providing 80% of Britain’s foreign income. Many wealthy merchants and members of the aristocracy made huge fortunes from having shares in the plantations. As they were resident
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