William Wilberforce: William Hague

William Hague, once leader of the Conservative Party and now Foreign Secretary, has provided us with a wonderful biography of this great Englishman. There have been several biographies of William Wilberforce but this is written by a politician who sets Wilberforce’s achievements within the political structures and struggles of his day. This makes the read a little laborious at times but surely William Hague has provided the definitive Wilberforce biography.

This is a very sympathetic record of Wilberforce’s labours and Hague really seems to have a true sense of the powerful motivating force of Wilberforce’s personal evangelical faith. It is a fascinating glimpse into an age which is almost unimaginable today. Wilberforce’s commitment to abolishing the slave trade and then slavery itself was the abiding passion of his life. His patience and tenacity in fulfilling what he believed to be his God-given task bore testimony to his personal faith. The delays and reversals would surely have deterred most other men. While bloody revolution and madame guillotine reigned in France and many expected similar events in Britain, through the Napoleanic wars and turbulent times Wilberforce patiently and carefully steered his path through to a solid foundation for abolition of slavery as an acceptable part of ‘civilised’ life.

I would have liked to hear more about the ‘Clapham Sect’, a community of evangelical leaders in society and the political world. This company of like minded believers had an enormous impact on Bible translation and publication, with the Bible Society and with the founding of several mission societies.

A long and sometimes laborious read but heartily recommended.