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Description of Location –

The statue is located in the front garden of Wilberforce House (Grade I listed), a museum dedicated to the Transatlantic Slave trade and the abolitionist movement.

Details –

Erected: c.1884

Listed: Grade II listed

Monument Type: Historical Interest

Associated Site(s): The Mahatma Gandhi statue is also located on the Museum Quarter site.

Inscription(s): “Presented to the corporation by Henry Briggs Esquire ? Sheriff of Kingston-Upon-Hull ?”

“William Wilberforce. Born in Hull 24 August 1759. Died in London 29 July 1833. Member of Parliament for Hull from 1780 to 1784. Member of Parliament for Yorkshire from 1784 to 1812. England owes to him the Reformation of Manners, the world owes to him the Abolition of Slavery.”

Description: A white stone, life-sized statue of William Wilberforce (1759-1833) leaning on a short column to his left-hand side, upon an inscribed pink stone pedestal. The statue was probably erected on the fiftieth anniversary of Wilberforce’s death. William D Keyworth Jnr (1843-1902) designed the statue and was a well-respected sculptor who was born in Hull.

Additional Resources –

“Statue of William Wilberforce, Kingston upon Hull,” Historic England, accessed 1 January 2024, https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/statue-of-william-wilberforce-8666.

“Statue of William Wilberforce in Garden of Wilberforce House,” Historic England, 21 January 1994, https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1197754.

Gerardine Mulcahy-Parker. “Keyworth, William Day, junior.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 6 October 2016. https://www-oxforddnb-com.libproxy.ncl.ac.uk/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-110203?rskey=OMQMlP&result=2.

John Wolffe. “Wilberforce, William.” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 23 September 2004. https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-29386.