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WILBERFORCE, SAMUEL (1805-1873)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 631 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILBERFORCE, See also:SAMUEL (1805-1873) , See also:English See also:bishop, third son of See also:William Wilberforce, was See also:born at Clapham See also:Common, See also:London, on the 7th of See also:September 1805. In 1823 he entered See also:Oriel See also:College, See also:Oxford. In the " See also:United Debating Society," which afterwards See also:developed into the " See also:Union," he distinguished himself as a zealous See also:advocate of liberalism. The set of See also:friends with whom he chiefly associated at Oxford were sometimes named, on See also:account of their exceptionally decorous conduct, the " See also:Bethel Union "; but he was by no means averse to amusements, and specially delighted in See also:hurdle See also:jumping and See also:hunting. He graduated in 1826, taking. a first class in See also:mathematics and a second in See also:classics. After his See also:marriage on the 11th of See also:June 1828 to Emily See also:Sargent, he was in See also:December ordained and appointed See also:curate-in-See also:charge at Checkenden near See also:Henley-on-See also:Thames. In 183o he was presented by Bishop See also:Sumner of See also:Winchester to the rectory of Brightstone in the Isle of See also:Wight. In this comparatively retired See also:sphere he soon found See also:scope for that manifold activity which so prominently characterized his subsequent career. In 1831 he published a See also:tract on See also:tithes, " to correct the prejudices of the See also:lower See also:order of farmers," and in the following See also:year a collection of See also:hymns for use in his See also:parish, which had a large See also:general circulation; a small See also:volume of stories entitled the See also:Note See also:Book of a See also:Country Clergyman; and a See also:sermon, The See also:Apostolical See also:Ministry. At the See also:close of 1837 he published the Letters and See also:Journals of See also:Henry See also:Martyn. Although a High Churchman Wilberforce held aloof from the Oxford See also:movement, and in 1838 his divergence from the " Tract " writers became so marked that J. H.

See also:

Newman declined further contributions from him to the See also:British Critic, not deeming it advisable that they should longer " co-operate very closely." In 1838 Wilberforce published, with his See also:elder See also:brother See also:Robert, the See also:Life of his See also:father, and two years later his father's See also:Correspondence. In 1839 he also published Eucharistica (from the old English divines), to which he wrote an introduction, Agathos and other See also:Sunday Stories, and a volume of University Sermons, and in the following year Rocky See also:Island and other Parables. In See also:November 1839 he was installed See also:archdeacon of See also:Surrey, in See also:August 184o was collated See also:canon of Winchester and in See also:October he accepted the rectory of Alverstoke. In 1841 he was chosen See also:Bampton lecturer, and shortly afterwards made See also:chaplain to See also:Prince See also:Albert, an See also:appointment he owed to the impression produced by a speech at an See also:anti-See also:slavery See also:meeting some months previously. In October 1843 he was appointed by the See also:archbishop of See also:York to be sub-See also:almoner to the See also:queen. In 1844 appeared his See also:History of the See also:American See also:Church. In See also:March of the following year he accepted the deanery of See also:Westminster, and in October the bishopric of Oxford. The bishop in 1847 became involved in the See also:Hampden controversy, and signed the remonstrance of the thirteen bishops to See also:Lord See also:John See also:Russell against Hampden's appointment to the bishopric of See also:Hereford. He also endeavoured to obtain satisfactory assurances from Hampden; but, though unsuccessful in this, he withdrew from the suit against him. The publication of a papal See also:bull in 185o establishing a See also:Roman See also:hierarchy in See also:England brought the High Church party, of whom Wilberforce was the most prominent member, into temporary disrepute. The See also:secession to the Church of See also:Rome of his brother-in-See also:law, Archdeacon (afterwards See also:Cardinal) See also:Manning, and then of his See also:brothers, as well as his only daughter and his son-in-law, Mr and Mrs J. H.

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Pye, brought him under further suspicion, and his revival of the See also:powers of See also:convocation lessened his See also:influence at See also:court; but his unfailing tact and wide sympathies, his marvellous See also:energy in church organization, the See also:magnetism of his See also:personality, and his eloquence both on the See also:platform and in the See also:pulpit, gradually won for him recognition as without a See also:rival on the episcopal See also:bench. His See also:diary reveals a See also:tender and devout private life which has been overlooked by those who have only considered the versatile facility and persuasive expediency that marked the successful public career of the bishop, and earned' him the See also:sobriquet of " Soapy Sam." In the See also:House of Lords he took a prominent See also:part in the discussion of social and ecclesiastical questions. He has been styled the " bishop of society "; but society occupied only a fraction of his See also:time. The See also:great See also:bent of his energies was ceaselessly directed to the better organization of his See also:diocese and to the furtherance of schemes for increasing the influence and efficiency of the church. In 1854 he opened a theological college at Cuddesdon, which was afterwards the subject of some controversy on account of its alleged Romanist tendencies. His attitude towards Essays and Reviews in 1861, against which he wrote an See also:article in the Quarterly, won him the See also:special gratitude of the See also:Low Church party, and latterly he enjoyed the full confidence and esteem of all except the extreme men of either See also:side and party. On the publication of J. W. See also:Colenso's Commentary on the See also:Romans in 1861, Wilberforce endeavoured to induce the author to hold a private See also:conference with him; but after the publication of the first two parts of the See also:Pentateuch Critically Examined he See also:drew up the address of the bishops which called on Colenso to resign his bishopric. In 1867 he framed the first See also:Report of the Ritualistic See also:Commission, in which coercive See also:measures against ritualism were discountenanced by the use of the word " restrain " instead of " abolish " or " prohibit." He also endeavoured to take the sting out of some resolutions of the second Ritualistic Commission in 1868, and was one of the four who signed the Report with qualifications. Though strongly opposed to the disestablishment of the Irish Church, yet, when the constituencies decided for it, he advised that no opposition should be made to it by the House of Lords. After twenty-four years' labour in the diocese of Oxford, he was translated by See also:Gladstone to the bishopric of Winchester.

He was killed on the 19th of See also:

July 1873, by the See also:shock of a fall from his See also:horse near See also:Dorking, Surrey. Wilberforce See also:left three sons. The eldest, Reginald Garton Wilberforce, being the author of An Unrecorded See also:Chapter of the See also:Indian See also:Mutiny (1894). His two younger sons both attained distinction in the English church. Ernest See also:Roland Wilberforce (184o–19o8) was bishop of See also:Newcastle-on-See also:Tyne from 1882 to 1895, and bishop of See also:Chichester from 1895 till his See also:death. Albert See also:Basil See also:Orme Wilberforce (b. 1841) was appointed canon residentiary of Westminster in 1894, chaplain of the House of See also:Commons in 1896 and archdeacon of Westminster in 19oo; he has published several volumes of sermons. Besides the See also:works already mentioned, Wilberforce wrote Heroes of See also:Hebrew History (187o), originally contributed to See also:Good Words, and several volumes of sermons. See Life of Samuel Wilberforce, with Selections from his Diary and Correspondence (1879-1882), vol. i., ed. by Canon A. R. See also:Ashwell, and vols. ii. and iii., ed. by his son R. G.

Wilberforce, who also wrote a one-volume Life (1888). One of the volumes of the " English Leaders of See also:

Religion " is devoted to him, and he is included in See also:Dean See also:Burgon's Lives of Twelve Good Men (1888).

End of Article: WILBERFORCE, SAMUEL (1805-1873)

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