Biographical leadership study – William Wilberforce

David Stephenson

ExecMal Module 2

Oct 20th, 2014

 

 

I] Biographical overview

Early Life

William Wilberforce was born in 1759 to a wealthy family of merchants. Most of the wealthy upper class were nominal Anglicans at that time in England, the Wilberforce family being no exception. His High School education took him to Hull Grammar School, the Headmaster being an evangelical minister, who was to greatly influence him as a young politician. Tragically, his Father died at age 9, when soon after, he was sent to live under the influence of his evangelical Aunt and Uncle. They were Methodists, influenced by Wesley and Whitefield, with the latter a visitor on occasion. Both were to have significant influence on the young Wilberforce, leading to his conversion at age twelve. Respectable society at that time frowned upon “Enthusiasm,” a euphemism referring to Christianity [particularly strains like Methodism] with passion, characteristic of the anti medieval mysticism stance of the Enlightenment. His Mother at that time became concerned that he was becoming too fanatical under this influence and brought him back home.

University And Entry to Parliament

In 1776, Wilberforce went to St Johns College at Cambridge University, was liberated from the effects of his evangelical school principle and his Aunt and Uncle, his passion for God becoming a childhood memory. He enjoyed the worldly high-life, which was lubricated by family wealth, and his modest academic efforts were enhanced by his not insignificant natural intellect. In 1779, he met the future prime minister William Pitt [William the Younger] after which he [Wilberforce] was elected to parliament in 1780, at the age of 21. Pitt became Prime Minister at age 24.

The Great Change

It was in 1784 that Wilberforce’s life took a drastic turn during a european tour.  His travel companion, Isaac Milner, was the brother of his former headmaster, a brilliant scientist and mathematician. Prior to the trip Wilberforce was unaware that Milner had become a committed evangelical.  They together read and reviewed the Greek new testament among other books. By the end of these European trips, Wilberforce was struck with conviction of sin and had gained an understanding of the true condition of his soul. The values of conviction of sin, repentance and humility continued to be held close to Wilberforce over his life, with the reckless pride and irresponsibility of his youth reflected upon, in his writings later in life. In Oct 1785 he connected with John Newton, former slave trader [amazing grace]. Convicted and burdened by his former sin and high living, feeling he had squandered his parliamentary opportunity to do good, he assumed God wanted him to become a minister of religion.  Both Pitt and Newton encouraged him to create change through politics. [“surely the principles as well as the practice of Christianity are single and lead not to meditation only, but to action.” [Pitt]. In prayer and meditation, Wilberforce committed to two life goals. “ God had set before me two objects: the suppression of the slave trade, and the reformation of manners”.

Legislative and Cultural reformation

In 1793 he presented a bill advocating abolition. It failed by eight votes. This was followed by a bill prohibiting british ships carrying slaves to foreign territories [lost by 2]. He reintroduced the abolition bill almost every year in the 1790s. Despite the intensity of parliament, along with a debilitating stomach condition called ulcerative colitis, he published in 1797 “A practical view of the Prevailing Religious system of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle classes,  contrasted with Real Christianity.”  He created the term “nominal christian”, and through his books pushed the issue of conviction repentance, exposed nominalism, and affirmed the role of experience [“affections”], as a not only valid, but important way of cultivating “Real Christianity.”  Also in 1797, at age 37 he married Barbara Ann Spooner. This began what he termed “thirty-five years of “undiluted happiness”.  Wilberforce, if he was to take the strength finder test today, would likely be an “includer”. His wife Barbara was much more an introvert. Together they saw the birth of four sons and two daughters over next ten years.

Legacy Overview

Five years after his death, sons Robert and Samuel Wilberforce published a five-volume biography about their father. Three of his sons became ministers, one subsequently becoming the Dean of Westminster, and a strong public critic of evolution. Wilberforce’s most well known legacy is his slavery abolition. Less known are the manners reformation campaigns he conducted, along with various societies that improved the living conditions of those in this era. He was the key influencer of the “Clapham Sect,” a group of mainly evangelical Anglicans residing in Clapham, near Wimbledon. He had a crucial role in the establishment of 69 non-profit charities [societies]. This gave rise to his various legacies I categorise as his:  Social-Political Legacy, his Evangelical Legacy, his Moral Legacy and his Philanthropic Legacy. Evangelical includes his books, CMS Bible society, sunday school society. Social betterment includes the Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor, suffering of manufacturing poor, French refugees, foreigners in distress. Moral includes proclamation society against vice and immorality, school society, the Vice society, and the SPCA. Many of these societies he funded himself anonymously.

Deathbed Capstone

On Feb 23 1807, he presented the bill advocating the “abolition of slave trade”.  Parliament voted 283-16 in favour. He devoted the next 25 years to ending slavery itself. In 1833, three days before his death, he heard that commons passed a law emancipating all slaves. Great Britain, and her colonies were transformed during his life-time, from the excesses, greed and vice of the Georgian era, to the heights of British integrity during early Victorianism.

 

II] Significant Contributions to the Sphere

The historical England of Wilberforce’s day, is well described in “The Tale of Two Cities,” where Charles Dickens wrote about the late 1780s in England and France during the early Industrial Revolution, as “the best of times and the worst of times.” Children were burdened in enforced labor, often working 15 to 16 hour days under unsafe conditions. Some worked in the new textile mills. Others worked as chimney sweeps. Only 25 percent of children made it to adulthood. For stealing a scarf, children were executed. Public hanging was entertainment of the day for which people paid money to get the best seats.

Abolition

Slavery in the plantations of the West Indies, was the unseen evil. Eleven million human beings had been captured and taken from Africa to the West Indies, to work in slavery and bondage. Britain was responsible for the biggest portion of the slave trade, with little to no public concern for the plight of the slaves. Many Africans were thrown overboard alive so that ship owners could collect insurance. The Church accommodated this merchant ruling class in her pews, the mid-upper class nominal Anglicans, who were described at the time as “cold and decorous”. John Wesley had propelled England’s “Great Awakening,”  and was highly influential within lower and working class Methodism, but the upper classes [of which Wilberforce was born and remained a part of] remained relatively unaffected. Wilberforce’s aim was two-fold: Abolition of slavery, and manners reformation.  His two legislation contributions to slavery, included slave trade abolition [1807], and emancipation legislation [1833]. Although then retired, Wilberforce was rightly credited with success of the latter.

High Trust Business culture

It is difficult to overstate the effects when commitment to biblical values becomes a national norm rather than national exception. Wilberforce is broadly credited with having provided the leadership leading to that result, and the downstream benefits to a whole society are epic. Crime, abuse of children, policing and welfare costs to governments are massive. One of the most broadly felt effects for individuals, is that of biblical transformation experienced via the national economy. Many will attribute these positive financial effects to the upswing of the industrial revolution. I argue that, even though these global technology opportunities, together with post war French demise, and other international economic factors, did provide positive economic conditions for England, these opportunities were not the total success ingredient. In fact these global influencers, would never have created an economic harvest in England without appetite for investment. Investment appetite comes from a high trust environment, created by the men and woman of commerce, who possess quality of character. The manners [morals] reformation of Wilberforce and friends, created this climate, consequently the economy soared, and England became a manufacturing superpower.

Ironically, the most broadly influential contributions, [without intent to downplay the significance of Abolition], go mostly unrecognised by the causal observer. These come in the form of manners [Morals] reformation, philanthropy, discipleship and missions. The tangible contributions come mainly in the manifestation of the societies created. These were developed by the “Clapham Sect,” of which Wilberforce was the best known figure, but was far from the sole contributor. It’s difficult to over-estimate the achievements of the “Clapham sect,” on which I will expand later on in the paper. Wilberforce either started or provided leadership in 69 charities [Then called “societies’]

Political sphere societies include: “The Society for Bettering the Condition of the Poor,” “The Society for the prevention of suffering of the Manufacturing Poor,” “The Society Protecting French Refugees,” “The Society Protecting Foreigners in Distress,” and “The Society for the Discharge and Relief of Persons Imprisoned for Small Debt”.

Family and Education

Societies affecting family and education spheres include: “The Proclamation Society against Vice and Immorality,” “The School Society,” “The Vice Society,” and remarkably, The “SPCA”.

Church Sphere

Organisational Contributions to the Church sphere incredibly include: “The Church Missionary Society” (CMS still operating and seen as the evangelical missionary arm of the Anglican Church), “The Bible Society” (still extremely internationally significant), and “The Sunday School Society”. He published many books including: “A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle classes,  Contrasted with Real Christianity.”  In it, he popularised the term “nominal christian”, and through his books, pushed the issue of conviction, and repentance.  He exposed nominalism, and affirmed the role of divine experience involving the “affections,” as not only valid, but as a critical pathway to “Real Christianity.” He made the much publicised and difficult choice to remain an MP, rather than become a religious minister. He beautifully expressed the priesthood of all believers as an MP, and in doing so, paved the way for others. His philanthropic contribution was vast, affecting the business sphere, many saying he popularised British philanthropy single handedly during this era. Many of the societies mentioned above were funded by Wilberforce personally and anonymously.

In the field of media and communications, he pioneered a particular brand of cause promotion popular today. Nowadays, when people promote issues–such as cancer research through Lance Armstrong’s familiar yellow bracelet – they draw on the pioneering work of Wilberforce. Wilberforce encouraged Josiah Wedgwood to design a medallion of a black slave in chains on his knees with the inscription “Am I not a man and a brother?” This medallion was put on plates and used as dinner launchers to bring out a discussion of the plight of African slaves.

 

III] Transformative impact [note strategies employed]

Slave Trade Abolition

Firstly and most obviously, He abolished the Slave trade.  This meant millions of families in Africa remaining in their homelands in dignity, vs being ripped apart, transported, and remaining forever in servitude and humiliation. Later, total emancipation meant freedom for over 800 000 slaves in British colonial captivity. For all his campaigning, Wilberforce was focussed, goal orientated and unrelenting.  Shortly after conversion, he clearly articulated his goals: “God Almighty has set before two great objects; the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners [morals]”.

Manners Reformation

The second goal, Manners reformation, is where he operated purely out of influence, rather than legislative power, and where he initiated around 69 various organisations. This meant his impact was long-term and cultural, with his philosophies, and incredibly, a number of his societies, still in existence today. It needs to be strongly noted that forming organisations around a specific area of focus was completely central to his strategy. These were neither forgotten nor tightly controlled. He modelled the importance of these societies personally, through his enthusiastic nucleus of the Clapham Sect, tirelessly gathering people, recruiting, and commissioning people into these causes.

He leveraged his very public national profile. While Victorianism is now despised, early Victorianism is often described as an era of moral earnestness. That’s in sharp contrast to the excesses of the Georgian period of the 1700s when Wilberforce began his campaigning. Within this context, Wilberforce understood that the best way to combat crime was to restore morality. And the best way to restore morality was to bring revelation of God. He was in no doubt that the underlying cause of England’s moral malaise was religious. Nevertheless he was prepared to couch his campaign in purely moral terms in order to enhance its respectability in the eyes of the upper classes. By the early 1800s, the attainment of moral responsibility, philanthropy, and duty, were considered significant social expectations, a very powerful shift in the social compass of the nation. His impact was massive through these societies.  Across England, it was now “fashionable to be good”.

The Clapham sect

The Clapham sect [group] was the ‘Mother’ to these societies. The strategic assembly of these members was crucial to their unparalleled success. The group included Thomas Clarkson [Abolitionist, Writer, Evidence Curator], Henry Thornton [Economist, Banker, Philanthropist, MP] , Granville Sharp [Scholar, Administrator], Charles Grant [East India Council], Zachary Macaulay [Colonial Governor, researcher, statistician, editor of the “Reporter”], James Stephen [Lawyer, Master of Chancery and brother in law, personal agitator of Wilberforce], Hannah More [Writer, Educator] and John Venn [Anglican Rector of Clapham]. The deep and enduring friendship, the lack of stringent membership requirements, the depth of prayer and true fellowship were characteristics that set the group apart. Dubbed “The Saints,” there is suggestion that it was the truest and the most fruitful body of people every to gather in the name of Christ. The members were deep in their faith and diverse in their pursuits and skills  This teamwork strategy was crucial to the various causes, Abolition for example, could never have been achieved despite Wilberforce’ skilled oratory, had he not benefitted from the copious research of Thomas Clarkson citing specific documented abuses aboard the West Indian slave ships. “Their first task [after the 1791 abolition defeat], was to reconsider methodology. They emerged with a broadcast strategy of multi-pronged assaults through the mass media; pamphlets, petitions, poetry and pins intended to raise public consciousness and intensify pressure on Parliament.” The first example of cause-related merchandise.

Restoration to Protestant Faith

He restored England to its protestant faith. The church of England was officially a protestant religion. However the nominalism from the upper classes, who led England, embraced a high church, nominal, hierarchical, Anglo-Catholic form. He soon realised that to bring true society change to England at the time, he needed to target nominal Christians, and help them experience what he had experienced: real faith, the only strategy for addressing nominalism, or as Wilberforce put it “decent selfishness”.

I link this fact with the flow-on effect of the Romanism of the middle ages. The Roman church as a structural and cultural template was not based on a biblical worldview but on the template of the Roman Empire. Lack of care for individuals, barbaric harshness of sentencing of criminals, were central to the Wilberforce reforms. As a young politician, he attempted [unsuccessfully] to change legislation which condemned a woman accused of treachery to being burnt alive as opposed to the more humane death by hanging. These cruel barbaric practices including transportation to the colonies for minor offences, routine hanging of children for minor demeanours, and publicly celebrated hangings, showed this detached cruelty running at odds with the gentler dictates of evangelical New Testament Christianity, and to the God Wilberforce knew and had been pardoned by personally.

Education and Publishing

His revelation from God to emancipate young people to education, was evident when he encouraged Hannah More to educate 500 poor children over a 75 square mile radius, saying: “If you will be at the trouble, I will be at the expense.” More was the one who encouraged Wilberforce to write a “manifesto” of the transformation his conversion had made in his life, and what he regarded as the essentials of the faith. This became “A practical view,” and sold over 75000 copies, being the second best-selling book at the time other than the Bible. This book deeply influenced England, as the class otherwise untouched by Wesley’s Great Awakening, were the middle and upper classes, the driving influence in England at that time. The following statement, aptly summarises the Wilberforce impact. In 1829, Francis Place, who was no friend to Evangelical religion, wrote: “I am certain I risk nothing when I assert that more good has been done to the people in the last thirty years than in the three preceding centuries; that during this period they have become wiser, better, more frugal, more honest, more respectable, more virtuous than they ever were before.”

 

IV] Leadership principles. [note evidence of God’s leadership]

Fatherhood his most important role

James Stephen, once wrote to Wilberforce: “A man has no right to be a husband and a father, unless he will give to those relations an adequate part of his time.” Wilberforce took his advice, and in 1812 retired as M.P. of Yorkshire to assume the more modest demands of Bramber. Now he was free to serve his country and his family without conflict, and he made the most of it. He played and roughhoused with his children, led them in devotions twice per day, prayed for them, and wrote letters that asked them to respond to Christ. The result is that all six of his children accepted Christ, and three of his sons became Anglican pastors.

Kindness, Equality and value of the individual

 Wilberforce’s salvation changed him from a selfish, casual, young politician to a tireless, compassionate public servant. He makes the distinction between his intellectual assent to the Lord, and his conviction of sin, real conversion. He stated: “If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.” In his other relationships, God showed himself intentional. We see God’s leading in this, in long term friend and brother of his school headmaster, Isaac Milner. His headmaster, Joseph Milner, was a recently converted Methodist, and an early evangelical influence. The fact that he was later converted through Joseph’s brother Isaac, suggests God’s heavy influence through that one family.

Humility

From the point of his conversion, God convicted him of the pride he carried as a young successful politician, and as a result of his repentance, humility became an ongoing and evident core virtue. God’s leadership is also shown in his speech to parliament, where he took on the role of humble intercessor, as distinct from being in a place of judgement or accusation, which would have alienated his parliamentary colleagues. In the following example, Wilberforce postures to unjustly share the blame. I speculate that it’s likely this 1789 speech to parliament, was in fact a prior intercession:  “I mean not to accuse any one, but to take the shame upon myself, in common, indeed, with the whole parliament of Great Britain, for having suffered this horrid trade to be carried on under their authority. We are all guilty—we ought all to plead guilty, and not to exculpate ourselves by throwing the blame on others.” James Stephen [Master of Chancellery, brother in law, member of the Clapham sect], I note, enjoyed the privilege and freedom to admonish Wilberforce on at least two occasions: “Your great defect has always been want of preparation in cases that demand it… No man does so little justice to his own powers. That you stand so high as you do is because you could stand much higher if you would—that is, if you could and would take time to arrange your matter.” [Ibid. p.139] Wilberforce seemed to appreciate Stephen’s candour, and on another occasion wrote this reply: “For your frankness I feel myself obliged. Openness is the only foundation and preservative of friendship…. Let me therefore claim from you at all times your undisguised opinions.”

Integrity

In February 1805, his dear friend William Pitt’s [PM] most trusted advisor, Lord Melville, was facing impeachment after misappropriation of funds by his subordinates. “I have difficult and trying questions before me in parliament, I will pray for wisdom, and pursue the path presented by conscience, and then peace will follow. Lord, give me wisdom. Do thou enable me to act, to-morrow honestly, uprightly, without fear of man, or any other unlawful motive. O Lord give me thy wisdom, and set me above the world and all that it contains” …“There was not language sufficiently strong to express my utter detestation of such conduct.” Thus induced, the resolution passed. Pitt was stricken with emotion. The man who was known as a paragon of self-composure—lost himself. He broke down in tears and was ushered out of the House by his supporters.”

Christianity as a social reformer

 Wilberforce went on to describe the man that a truly Christian society would produce. “This man would energetically pursue a career or interest based on the deep and pure motive of love for God and man. As a result, the Christian man would seek peace with all men, see all men as members of the same family, and promote the happiness of others. He would be respected and loved by others and he would be free from selfishness, greed, ambition, and the pursuit of fame.”

Divine Encounter key to transformation

Wilberforce describes his conversion as the “Great change”. This involved both the intellectual and the emotional. His acknowledgement that our engaging of our emotions with God is important was a big step in his day. As was his emphasis to Christians to engage the work of the Holy spirit in their lives. “We can scarcely indeed look into any part of the sacred volume without meeting abundant proofs, that it is the religion of the Affections which God particularly requires.” His diaries scream out evidence of God’s leadership in the life of this wonderful man: Pg 360 Sun 29  “I have had this week some very serious talk with Mr Pearson. He strongly pressed solitude. 30th reading “delighted in God”… and much affected by it. I believe he is right, and mean to seek more quiet and solitude than I have done, to consider my thoughts, and draw up my thoughts upon it.

Destiny

In October 1787, after much prayer and hearing God, Wilberforce returned to Parliament with a moral conviction that God had placed him in the public eye for a reason…“God Almighty has set before me two great objects: the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.”

 

V] Lessons learned for today

Take responsibility for, rather than attacking, your opposition colleagues and contemporaries

This is how he did social reformation. In Moses-like form, he took on the burden of the national sins he was addressing, eliminating the “us vs them” approach.  “I mean not to accuse anyone, but to take the blame on myself…..”

Retain a priestly demeanour if called to spheres other than church

 Live the lifestyle of “The Priesthood of all believers”. Few do. It is challenging for those not in full time ministry to retain the priestly presence. The priestly devoted position of Wilberforce sustained him, kept him on game, and crucially, gave him the authority to mobilise the church.

Target the ruling classes

The Business, Political, and Media “top of town” are looking for answers. John Wesley won the lower and working classes, he didn’t impact the upper. Wilberforce understood two factors: That the ruling classes had been missed in Wesley’s “Great Awakening,” and that they were crucial for society change.

Correct Communication Conquers

Wilberforce had to learn that influence changes society not just legislation. The communication machine became paramount! He discovered [painfully] that he first had to shift public opinion before attempting legislative change. Brilliant abolition initiatives like the deploying of fine china merchant Josiah Wedgewood in designing a dinner set medallion [with inscription “Am I not a man and a brother”] shifted the thinking of the upper classes, and changed England. By the time he initiated his manners reform campaign, he rested his efforts almost entirely on communications influence, to extraordinary success.

A biblical worldview that is simple to understand, and liveable

Worldview changes society. It is largely, and inaccurately regarded, as philosophy.  It’s usually expansive,  inaccessible, and not well understood by the broad populace. Western society today is confused by the current violent implications of Islamic ideology, and made defenceless by our ignorance of former protestant worldview successes. We have no clear framework to appeal to in her crisis. As a leader, not theorist, Wilberforce broke down worldview content to “edible” form, and delivered a liveable plan to his people. For example: “Wilberforce went on to describe the man that a truly Christian society would produce. ‘This man would energetically pursue a career or interest based on the deep and pure motive of love for God and man. As a result, the Christian man would seek peace with all men, see all men as members of the same family, and promote the happiness of others. He would be respected and loved by others and he would be free from selfishness, greed, ambition, and the pursuit of fame.”’

Engage all peoples and spheres

He engaged the nations vicariously because his pursuits had broad, international application.

Gain and Maintain Focus 

He knew it was important to say no, in order to achieve true legacy. Significantly, he was never a cabinet minister during his time in parliament, nor prime minister. “He made himself perhaps the most influential back-bencher in British parliamentary history.” He refused the accolade and power cabinet afforded. It is difficult to imagine the possibility of him networking around the country, personally campaigning, establishing sixty-nine organisations, and writing a major Christian best-seller, as Cabinet Minister or Prime Minister. He wrote: “that we never ought to deviate from the paths of duty in order to procure the applause or to avoid the reproaches of men, and we allow that this is a rule too little attended to in practice.” Lesson for today: know what opportunities to refuse.

Start organisations

He identified areas of need, parts of society where there was injustice, and connected them with capable and enthusiastic people, and formed an organisation [Society] around it. We should consider the nurture, then release, of multiple organisations.

Build a personal “Clapham group” 

Wilberforce surrounded himself with a brilliant group of men and women in the Clapham sect. Not known as a strategist, and often quoted as dis-organised, he ultimately created an exhaustive strategy, via his team, touching all society.

Use facts not just sentiment to drive home your argument

Zachary Macaulay, the understated and overlooked Scotsman, and Governor of the West Indies, was principle writer, and researcher, of the Clapham sect, editor of the anti-slavery monthly newspaper “The Reporter”.  “Mr Wilberforce used to say when asked for detail on any subject, ‘Look it up in Macaulay,’ very handy when crusading for the abolition of slavery which required mountains of facts and figures, not just tidal waves of sentiment. ‘But without the relentless and exacting monthly information provided by the Reporter, those who did battle with the hydra of colonial slavery would have done so without the essential tools to slay the monster’”.

Write

His book “A Practical View,” helped churchgoers become believers, and helped believers to connect what they believed with what they did. “A Biblical worldview could become the predominant view again if citizens who believe in God make the connection between what they believe and what they do… In that way, the SH [Secular Humanistic] worldview would be diminished, but not stopped. Wilberforce acted on Nominal Anglican upper class England, who were consumed with what he called “decent selfishness”. His book and called for personal and national salvation.

Lessons Summary 

Western Society has railed against, fought, and rejected Christianity as a personal experience and as a moral imperative. But we have forgotten, or never realised, that in doing so, we have also rejected it as a worldview. Wilberforce’s good work in social culture was finally abandoned only in the 1960s, as the freshly instituted “Youth Culture,” rejected the empty Victorianism of their parents. Parents of the 60s, having rejected God, could give no compelling reason to their children to uphold “moral decency,” and so they could only appeal to tradition or social reputation. The new morality won. But life and public attitude cycles.  The ‘sons’ of the new morality, conceived in the 1960s, created trouble as adults fifty years later with events like the 2008 Global financial Crisis, which caused pain and fear for most all in the West. The now adult sons, manifesting as executives of ‘Lehman Brothers’ were fired by greed and corruption, and “…No longer deserve public trust,”. The prodigy of the ‘new morality’ cannot go disguised and unrecognised forever. The erroneous Postmodern myth that we can craft our own ‘convenient morality,’ without massive negative consequences will eventually be exposed.  It’s time to help society re-discover that life has an unavoidable accountability. This revelation will lead to an appetite to understand the positive and negative results of moral choice. We need to take Wilberforce’ positive example, by embedding worldview into the spheres with gentle strength, co-operation and humility, delivered via sharp modern communication methods. I contrast this to the “fortress” worldview approach of quasi-political or quasi-educational organisations that operate against the status quo in antagonistic fashion. The new Clapham team will consist of considered biblical worldview thinkers, paired with skilled digital marketing communicators, with parliamentarians, and lawyers. A skilled public relations expert will massage and navigate the right message in the right way. The mood in the West is close, much closer to these milestone mood changes than most of us realise, and a fresh opportunity beckons. It’s a different era to the one Wilberforce faced, but its time to take heart and prepare for similar work in our generation.

Bibliography

Brown, Ford K. Fathers of the Victorians: the Age of Wilberforce. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1961.

Easton, Pam D. The Beliefs that guided William Wilberforce. (cbn.com)

Summitt ministries http://www.summit.org/resources/truth-and-consequences/the-influence-of-the-secular-humanist-worldview/

Vaughan, David J. Statesman and Saint, The principled politics of William Wilberforce: Nashville TN: Cumberland House 2001.

Whyte, Iain, Zachary Macaulay 1768-1838. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2001

Withrow, Steve.  The Story of William Wilberforce and Friends in the Fight Against Slavery.

Character council of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. www.charactercincinnati.org

Wilberforce, Robert Isaac. The life of William Wilberforce by his sons. John Murray, 1838.

Wilberforce, William. The Private Papers of William Wilberforce:  Wimbledon:1897

Wilberforce, William. A Practical view of the prevailing religious systems of professed Christians in the Upper and Middle classes in this country contrasted with Real Christianity. New York, Leavitt Lord and Co, 1797.

William Hague. William Wilberforce:the life of the great Anti-Slave trade campaigner. Boston, Harcourt, 2008.

Woliff, Richard. Lehman Brothers: Financially and morally bankrupt: The Guardian, Tuesday 13 December 2011 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/dec/12/lehman-brothers-bankrupt)

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