William Wilberforce: Hull's Most Famous Son

This series of blogs have been written to coincide with the Coming Home: William Wilberforce exhibition. On display the Ferens Art Gallery, the exhibition sees the return of the famously unfinished portrait of William Wilberforce by Sir Thomas Lawrence, loaned from the National Portrait Gallery. This is part of a nationwide project by the National Portrait Gallery to return works of famous Britons to the places that they are most closely associated with. The blog series will highlight some of the key stories in the exhibition, which also includes art work and objects from the collections of the Ferens Art Gallery and Wilberforce House Museum.

William Wilberforce: Hull’s Most Famous Son

By Rebecca Nelson, Assistant Curator of Projects

The city of Hull has been the home of many people who have become famous and influential people. There have been poets, sportsmen, actors and inventors who have all made their mark on the world while living or working in Hull. None more so, perhaps, than William Wilberforce – politician, statesmen, abolitionist and originally, ‘a boy from Hull’.

Wilberforce was born in a house on Hull’s historic High Street on 24^th August, 1759. The house, now open as Wilberforce House Museum, had come into the family when it was purchased by Wilberforce’s grandfather, a merchant who made his money by trading goods. The houses’ close proximity to the River Hull made it the perfect location to expand the business and Wilberforce’s father continued this tradition. Wilberforce spent his early childhood in the city, and attended Hull Grammar School (now the Hands on History Museum) until the age of 9. At that time, his father died and Wilberforce was sent to live in London with his Auntie and Uncle. After two years in the capital, he came back to Hull and was sent to boarding school in nearby Pocklington. Following that he went to university in Cambridge.

Despite only spending a very small part of his life in Hull. The city remained very important to Wilberforce. He became well-known at university for his Yorkshire hospitality, and contemporary sources recount the good ‘Yorkshire pie’ he used to serve in his rooms which all were welcome to. After university Wilberforce returned to Hull and mounted a successful campaign which saw him elected to parliament as MP for Hull in 1780. The city was very much on Wilberforce’s mind during his first speech in parliament when he voiced his concern about smuggling through the city’s docks. He returned to Hull many times during his life, particularly while his mother still lived at Wilberforce House. It was a cause of great sadness to him when he was forced to sell the house after one of his sons got into debt in 1830.

Wilberforce spent much of his life campaigning to abolish the slave trade. He made his first speech in parliament against the trade in 1797 against fierce opposition. It wasn’t until 1807 that Wilberforce and the other abolitionists were successful in their campaign and the Act to Abolish the British Slave Trade was passed.

Wilberforce remained an influential advocate of antislavery after his retirement from parliament in 1825. The Lawrence portrait was painted when Wilberforce was quite elderly in 1828, with the artist only able to persuade Wilberforce to sit once. Unable to entice Wilberforce to sit again, the artist died with the painting left unfinished. Wilberforce’s friend who had commissioned the painting, Sir Robert Inglis, refused to let anyone else finish it. Thus the painting that can be seen today at Ferens Art Gallery is a remarkable example of a piece capturing Wilberforce later in life, as well as one that allows the viewer to see the way in which a portrait was painted.

To find out more about William Wilberforce and the continuing impact of Wilberforce’s legacy on the city of Hull, visit ‘Coming Home: William Wilberforce’ on display at Ferens Art Gallery until 19th January 2020.