Wilberforce

In an unusual edition of In Our Time, marking the 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade, Melvyn Bragg leaves the studio to examine the life of William Wilberforce. In Wilberforce’s time, he was seen as both saint and sinner for championing a moral cause which many felt undermined British imperial interests. Subsequently, however, some critics have pointed at the slow pace of his anti-slavery campaign as well as his conservatism towards the conditions of workers in Britain itself. But is it now time to hand him back his laurels and to accept that he really was one of the great men of history?

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Related episodes

• Slavery and Empire
  
  17 Oct, 2002 900 History
• Frederick Douglass
  
  11 Jun, 2020 970 History of North America
• Uncle Tom’s Cabin
  
  8 Jun, 2006 320 Political science
• Harriet Martineau
  
  8 Dec, 2016 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology
• The British Empire’s Legacy
  
  31 Dec, 1998 940 History of Europe
• William Morris
  
  5 Jul, 2018 700 Arts
• War in the 20th Century
  
  15 Oct, 1998 320 Political science
• Roman Slavery
  
  5 Apr, 2018 930 History of the Ancient World
• The Trial of Charles I
  
  4 Jun, 2009 940 History of Europe
• The Putney Debates
  
  18 Apr, 2013 320 Political science

---

Programme ID: b00774j0

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00774j0

Auto-category: 320.5 (Political campaigns and public opinion)