William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce, the anti-slavery campaigner, played a foundational role in the establishment of Bible Society – as the British and Foreign Bible Society – in 1804.

As a young MP, in the autumn of 1783, William Wilberforce read the New Testament on a journey to France. Afterwards he said he ‘became a new man’ as a result.

Two years later, a conversation with John Newton, the former slave-trader turned hymn-writer and preacher, caused him to choose politics rather than the Church for his future.

In his diary of 21 April 1803, Wilberforce records attending a meeting where ‘we resolved upon the establishment of the Bible Society’. He went on to contribute to its early formation.

He was one of the speakers at Bible Society’s first general meeting, on 2 May 1804. He served as a vice president and a member of several of its committees. He remained committed to the cause until his death, aged 74, in 1833.