WILBERFORCE MONUMENT

WILBERFORCE MONUMENT, WILBERFORCE DRIVE

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Overview

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. Read the official list entry to find out more.

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

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Date:: 2006-09-05
Reference:: IOE01/16053/11
Rights:: © Mr Brian Callan. Source: Historic England Archive

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Official 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

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.

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.

Understanding list entries

Corrections and minor amendments

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
Deverell, L, Watkins, G, Wilberforce and Hull, (2000)
Oldfield, J, Chords of Freedom, (2007)
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.