1807–1833

The Clapham Sect, Wilberforce and the abolition of slavery in the British Empire (1807–1833)

Shelley: the Clapham Sect (or “set”) of wealthy and ardent evangelicals met in a village near London under the leadership of the parliamentarian William Wilberforce (1759–1833) and became a model of Christians concerned with the problems of society. From it came the Church Missionary Society (1799), the British and Foreign Bible Society (1804) and the chief campaign – against the slave trade: on 23 February 1807 the backbone of opposition in Parliament was broken, and the Emancipation Act freeing the slaves of the empire was assured a few days before Wilberforce’s death (1833).

Key points

• Shelley: the headquarters of the evangelical “crusades” was Clapham near London; John Venn was mentor, meetings were at Henry Thornton’s. The undisputed leader was Wilberforce, converted at 25; the “Cabinet Councils” prepared action in and out of Parliament. From “quiet little Clapham” came the Church Missionary Society (1799), the Bible Society (1804), societies for the poor and prison reform. These societies were not churches with sacraments, creed and clergy but groups of Christians with one aim: distributing Bibles, helping the poor
• Slave trade: the English entered it in 1562; by 1770 British ships carried over half of the hundred thousand slaves shipped yearly from West Africa
• Slave trade: Wilberforce gave his first speech against it in 1789; with the Claphamites he gathered evidence; the 1791 bill failed
• Campaign: abolitionists appealed to the people: “We must rely on the sense of the nation!”; petitions, literature, women in politics for the first time
• Campaign: Wilberforce and four Claphamites carried it to victory; they grasped the basis of democratic politics – to build public opinion
• Victory: on 23 February 1807 the opposition was broken, the House rose and applauded, and Wilberforce wept
• Victory: slavery did not vanish at once; the Emancipation Act was assured on 25 July 1833, four days before Wilberforce died
• Holmes: the first non-denominational missionary society was the LMS (1795); campaigns for Sunday schools and Bibles united Anglicans and Dissenters. Anti-slavery rested more on Hannah More’s eloquence than on theology; the motive for social action was perhaps settled only by the Lausanne Covenant.

People

• William Wilberforce

Place

England, London, Clapham