Victory
Victory
Wilberforce's abolition bill became an annual occurrence in Parliament as year on year he brought the issue before the House of Commons for consideration.
In the end the merchants were wrong-footed by a separate act suggested by a fellow abolitionist and maritime lawyer called James Steven, which in 1806 banned British subjects from participating in the slave trade to the colonies of France and their allies. At a stroke this wiped out around two thirds of the trade and made Wilberforce's abolition bill academic.
On the 23rd February 1807, abolition of the slave trade was once again debated in Parliament. When Wilberforce realised that the majority of the speeches were now in favour and that the Abolitionists were going to win, he bowed his head and wept.
At 4 o'clock in the morning the Commons voted by 283 to 16 to abolish the slave trade.
It had taken twenty years to get this far. The capturing, transporting and selling of enslaved Africans was now illegal but slavery itself remained legal in Britain's colonies.
Emancipation of the slaves
Wilberforce retired from Parliament in 1825. Younger MPs like Thomas Buxton took over the Parliamentary battle. Wilberforce continued to support the campaign. In 1823 he wrote his famous Appeal on Behalf of The Negro Slaves.
By now Wilberforce was old and frail; he was often ill and his eyesight was failing. On 29 July 1833, just two days after he had heard that the bill abolishing slavery would finally be passed, Wilberforce died.
He is buried in Westminster Abbey.