Wilberforce Monument
WILBERFORCE MONUMENT, WILBERFORCE DRIVE
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1283041
- Date first listed:
- 13-Oct-1952
- List Entry Name:
- Wilberforce Monument
- Statutory Address:
- WILBERFORCE MONUMENT, WILBERFORCE DRIVE
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2006-09-05
- Reference:
- IOE01/16053/11
- Rights:
- © Mr Brian Callan. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1283041
- Date first listed:
- 13-Oct-1952
- Date of most recent amendment:
- 21-Jan-1994
- List Entry Name:
- Wilberforce Monument
- Statutory Address 1:
- WILBERFORCE MONUMENT, WILBERFORCE DRIVE
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- WILBERFORCE MONUMENT, WILBERFORCE DRIVE
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- City of Kingston upon Hull (Unitary Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TA 10038 29026
Details
KINGSTON UPON HULL
680-1/19/402 WILBERFORCE DRIVE 21-DEC-07 (East side) WILBERFORCE MONUMENT (Formerly listed as: WILBERFORCE AVENUE WILBERFORCE MONUMENT)
II Commemorative monument, standing on the east side of Wilberforce Drive. 1834-8, by W. H. Clark of Leeds; the builders were Messrs Myers and Wilson. Moved here in 1935 from Queen Victoria Square. Ashlar. Massive fluted Doric column with square capital, carrying a corniced drum topped by a standing figure. Cubical pedestal with deep moulded plinth and plain cornice carrying on each side a segmental pediment flanked by acroteria with urns at the corners. The monument stands approximately 110 feet high.
On the sides of the pedestal are inscriptions surrounded by wreaths, reading 'Wilberforce'; 'Negro Slavery Abolished, 1 Aug. MCCCXXXIV'; 'First Stone Laid, 1 August 1834' and 'Erected by Voluntary Subscription'.
HISTORY: William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was born into a prominent Hull family. Elected MP for Hull in 1780, and for Yorkshire in 1784, his political stance was independent from the first. In 1785 he experienced a conversion to evangelical Christianity, and resolved to devote his life to God. He was counselled by the evangelical minister, John Newton, and by his friend, Prime Minister William Pitt, that he could best serve God by remaining in politics. In 1787 he was persuaded by prominent abolitionists to represent their cause in Parliament. Whilst Thomas Clarkson and others gathered evidence against the slave trade and sought to mobilize public opinion, Wilberforce worked ceaselessly in Parliament, introducing bills calling for an end to the slave trade and speaking in their support; in 1788 he secured a select committee to examine evidence on the slave trade. The campaign met with fierce opposition and frequent set-backs before the abolition bill at last received royal assent on 25 March 1807. Slave ownership continued to exist in Britain's colonies, and Wilberforce continued to strive for the abolition of slavery itself, joining with others to form in 1807 the African Institution, and in 1823 the Anti-Slavery Society. He remained in the House of Commons until 1825, by which time Thomas Fowell Buxton had taken on the leadership of the parliamentary campaign. On 26 July 1833 Wilberforce heard that the bill for the emancipation of all slaves in British colonies had passed its final reading, and on 29 July he died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a monument by Samuel Joseph was erected in 1840.
The town of Kingston upon Hull was quick to honour Wilberforce. Despite competition from a rival county scheme to commemorate the abolitionist with a school for the blind, voluntary subscriptions provided the funds for the spectacular monument. The foundation stone was laid on 1 August 1834, the day the Abolition Act came into force, and the statue was fixed in place on 12 November 1835.
SOURCES: N. Pevsner, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire, York, and the East Riding (1972); Dictionary of National Biography; L. Deverell and G. Watkins, Wilberforce and Hull (2000) J. Oldfield, 'Chords of Freedom' (2007)
REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The Wilberforce Monument is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * A handsome and unusual monument, being an early use of the commemorative column in England * The monument is of particular historical interest, having been erected to commemorate William Wilberforce, England's most celebrated abolitionist, in the town of his birth. This amendment is written in 2007, the bicentenary year of the 1807 Abolition Act.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 387853
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Oldfield, J, Chords of Freedom, (2007)
Deverell, L, Watkins, G, Wilberforce and Hull, (2000)
Pevsner, N, The Buildings of England: Yorkshire - York and the East Riding, (1972)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 06-Jun-2026 at 04:58:01.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.