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Product Description
William Wilberforce's name will forever be associated with the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. Stephen Tomkins' book covers: early years as son of a wealthy merchant family in Hull; dissolute life in Cambridge; work as MP under Pitt; evangelical conversion; campaigner for public morality; leads parliamentary movement for the abolition of slavery; forms the "Clapham Sect'; anti-slave trade law; and, how he died 3 days after final reading of the Emancipation Bill. Through the book, the author includes primary documentation about the experience of slaves and the activities of slavers.
About the Author
tephen Tomkins has a PhD in Church History at London Bible College and a contributing editor to the Ship of Fools website. He is the author of John Wesley: A Biography, Paul and his World and A Short History of Christianity (all Lion).
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tomkins' book follows an increasing number of biographies of William Wilberforce, Pollock's book being considered the first best of its kind. Here Tomkins attempts to update the view of Wilberforce from a generally secular viewpoint, bringing in many observations and connections about his life. The book is generally well-balanced, with Wilberforce's apparent slow pace being explained in terms of the political situation at the time, especially the French revolution and its ensuing war, and the poverty of industrial Britons. The radicalism shown by many of his contemporaries would not have played well in parliament, which was generally not too worried about public opinion. The more cautious approach was more likely to succeed. A useful introduction and worthwhile additions - SHW
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wanted to read up on Wilberforce after watching (and enjoying, in spite of a few doubts) the rather hagiographic 2007 film "Amazing Grace" and this excellent little book provides just the antithesis that I was looking for. As Tomkins makes clear, Wilberforce was a very complex character. Always generous, jovial and honest he was also before "seeing the light" reform-minded and tolerant. But after being "born again" he became bigoted in religious matters and socially and economically reactionary. Yet without his conversion he would never have achieved his great mission, for he then acquired the utter dedication to doing what he believed to be right that kept him perservering for decades in spite of the lukewarm support from Pitt and the downright opposition of the House of Lords.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Tompkin's has written a sympathetic biography of the great reformer but the author shows a better understanding of Wiberforce's Christianity than he does of his conservatism. I think that the author is in danger of judging Wilberforce by 21st century standards over his opposition to trades unions, support of fewer of civil liberties in the face of threatened French invasion and the persecution of the promoters of atheistic books. Wilberforce's campaign to abolish the slave trade is the major theme of the book as it was the dominating thing in his life. But this history would be improved by the inclusion of a brief chronology or time line, putting Wilberforce's campaign and life in the world historic context of the time which included the American and French revolutions as well as the rise and fall of Napoleon. Wilberforce turned down all office and advancement including a peerage. He was ever a man of principle not party, a great philanthropist and saint whose perseverance was a greater gift than his oratory.
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