WILBERFORCE: SLAVERY, RELIGION AND POLITICS

Series One: The Wilberforce Papers from the Bodleian Library, Oxford

Part 1: The Papers of William Wilberforce (1759-1833) and Robert Isaac Wilberforce (1802-1857)

Part 2: The Papers of Samuel Wilberforce (1818-1873)

Part 3: The Papers of Samuel Wilberforce cont (1818-1873)

Detailed Listing - Part 1

REEL 1

Diaries of William Wilberforce, 1779-1833

Diaries of William Wilberforce, 1779-1833, arranged chronologically, except for c. 39, loose leaves with entries omitted from the main diary sequence. When Wilberforce was unable to write in his usual diary and used these loose leaves instead, he sometimes made cross-references between the two. Some leaves referred to by him are now missing.

MS. Don
e. 164 Diary. January 1783 - September 1786
includes:
fos 15v-17 - Wilberforce’s visit to France with Pitt, 1783. fos 33v-38, 44v-48 - His Continental tour, October 1784 - February 1785, and June - November 1785.
The diary entries follow Wilberforce’s own pagination.
56 leaves.

MSS Wilberforce
c. 33 Journal of William Wilberforce’s tour of the Lake District, 1779; edited by C E Wrangham as Journey to the Lake District from Cambridge 1779, Oriel Press, Stocksfield, 1983. 20 leaves.

b. 2 Leaves of a diary:
fos 1-19 - June 1788 - January 1790.
fos 20-26 - March - August 1791.
For diary March 1790 - February 1791 see
MS Wilberforce c. 4, fo 18 (reel 17). 26 leaves.

c. 34 Diary, 1793-1800 with medical notes. The original pagination, often written very close to the margin, has been retained. 184 pages.

c. 35 Leaves of diary, 1801-1802. 169 pages.

c. 36 Leaves of diary, April 1803 - January 1804. 16 pages.

d. 54 Diary, May 1808 - February 1814. Omitted diary entries written by Wilberforce on loose folio sheets are c. 39, fos 1-18 (reel 2). 186 pages.

REEL 2

Diaries of William Wilberforce, 1779-1833 - continued

MSS Wilberforce
d. 55 Diary, January 1823 - October 1829. This volume, paginated 273-357 appears to be the second part of c. 37, although pages 258-272 are missing. Omitted diary entries written by Wilberforce on loose folio sheets are c. 39, fos 58-116 (reel 2). 86 pages.

c. 38 Diary, November 1829 - June 1833. Omitted diary entries written by Wilberforce on loose folio sheets are c. 39, fos 117-130 (reel 2). 188 pages.
c. 39 Loose sheets of diary, containing entries omitted from previous volumes, 1808-1833:
fos 1-18 - omissions from d. 54, 1811-1813
fos 19-57 - omissions from c. 37, 1814-1817
fos 58-116 - omissions from d. 55 1823, 1825, 1827, 1829
fos 117-130 - omissions from c. 38, 1830, with
fo 131 - a list, probably drawn up by Robert Wilberforce, of existing diaries, c.1835. Omitted diary entries for July - October 1823 are MS Wilberforce c. 4, fos 25-28.
131 leaves.

Further diary entries can be found in MS Wilberforce c. 4 (reel 17).
William Wilberforce’s diary for February 1814 - January 1822 can be found in the Wilberforce House Papers which form Series Two of this project.

Religious Journals of William Wilberforce, 1791-1826

Religious journals of William Wilberforce, 1791-1826, arranged chronologically. Some missing entries are in MS Wilberforce c. 4 (reel 17).

MSS Wilberforce
c. 40 Religious journal, August 1791 - October 1793. For
journal 1787-1790, see MS Wilberforce c. 4, fos 14-15 (1787), fos 16-17 (1789), 19-22 (1790), 29-30 (1788). 92 pages.

c. 41 Religious journal, November 1793 - April 1800. For
August and October, 1800 see MS Wilberforce c. 4, fos 23-24. 188 pages.

c. 42 Leaves of religious journal, August - November 1806, and fos 6-11 July - December 1811. 11 leaves.

e. 24 Religious journal, December 1815 - 1818, and (pp 12-15) October 1826. 136 pages - 16-136 blank.
Autobiography of William Wilberforce, 1759-1792

MS Wilberforce
c. 43 Autobiography, 1759-1792, apparently dictated by Wilberforce and in the hand of an amanuensis.
35 leaves.

REEL 3

Correspondence of William Wilberforce, 1771-1833

c. 44-51. Correspondence of Wilberforce, 1771-1833, with a few letters to his wife, Barbara, arranged alphabetically. This series includes a few letters not addressed to Wilberforce.
Correspondence of William Wilberforce with other members of his family are included in c. 51 (reel 4).

MSS Wilberforce
c. 44 Abbott - Butler. 161 leaves

c. 45 Cadell & Davies - Erskine. 113 leaves.

c. 46 Fitzherbert - (Archbishop of ) Jerusalem. 129 leaves.

c. 47 Kennaway-Bart - Mitford. 159 leaves.

REEL 4

Correspondence of William Wilberforce, 1771-1833 - continued

MSS Wilberforce
c. 48 Moore - Ryder. 126 leaves.

c. 49 John Newton. 128 leaves.

c. 50 Soravia - Stephen. 125 leaves.

c. 51 Stewart - Wynn. 134 leaves.

REEL 5

Miscellaneous Papers of William Wilberforce

MSS Wilberforce
c. 52 Miscellaneous papers and letters preserved with the
correspondence of William Wilberforce,
including:
fos 1-16 - letters to and from unnamed correspondents, arranged chronologically, 1786-1820.
fos 17-27 - letters between other correspondents, arranged alphabetically, 1798-1814, n.d.
fos 30-55 - papers written, or presumed to be written, by William Wilberforce, including:
fos 32-37, 38-45 - notes on religion, 1827, and an essay on duelling, 1828, both possibly written for A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System, 1829 edition (2nd edition, London, 1797), and
fo 55 - a list of people who had applied to William Wilberforce for help.
fos 56-87 - papers preserved by William Wilberforce, including:
fos 57-67 - James Stephen’s manuscript copy of Von Hogendorp’s pamphlet on slavery, 1796, and
fos 71-72 - an ‘Address from the freeholders of the County of York’ upon Wilberforce’s resignation of his seat for Yorkshire, 1812.
90 leaves.

MS Don
e. 165 Canvass book for the Yorkshire election of 1784, comprising :
fos iii-15 - ‘hints for the better regulating and conducting The Various Businesses relative to a Contested Election’.
fos 17-54 - ‘Appendix containing the Arrangements of the Canvass Summary of Numbers returned and copies of Letters and Papers in the concerns of the Election of
H Duncombe and W Wilberforce, Esqrs as Members for the County of York April, 1784’.
60 leaves

MS Wilberforce
d. 56 Volume containing:
fos 1-8, 148-188 rev - notes on religion by William Wilberforce, some probably in the hand of an
amanuensis, Robert Wilberforce’s recollections of conversations with his father, and some autobiographical stories possibly dictated by William Wilberforce.
fos 9-82 - copies by Robert Wilberforce of letters from William Wilberforce to various correspondents,
including:
fos 9-44 - Christopher Wyvill, 1784-1807
fos 44-60 - John Cartwright, 1786-1811
fos 60-82 - Joseph Butterworth, 1812-1826.
188 leaves. 83-147 blank.

REEL 6A

Correspondence of Robert Isaac Wilberforce

MSS Wilberforce
c. 55 Correspondence of Robert and Henry Wilberforce, 1830- 1854.
224 leaves.

c. 56-62 Correspondence of Robert and Samuel Wilberforce, 1821-1856; some letters with passages added by other members of the family.

c. 56 1821-1831. 154 leaves

c. 57 1832-1835. 151 leaves

REEL 6B

Correspondence of Robert Isaac Wilberforce - continued

MSS Wilberforce
c. 58 1836 - September 1837. 141 leaves

c. 59 October 1837 - June 1839. 168 leaves

REEL 7

Correspondence of Robert Isaac Wilberforce - continued

MSS Wilberforce
c. 60 July 1839 -1844. 270 leaves

c. 61 1845 - September 1849. 390 leaves

REEL 8

Correspondence of Robert Isaac Wilberforce - continued

MSS Wilberforce
c. 62 October 1849 - 1856. 315 leaves.

c. 63 Family correspondence and papers, including:
fos 1-105 - letters mainly to Robert Wilberforce from members of the family, 1817-1851.
fos 106-128 - correspondence of Samuel Wilberforce and his wife Emily, with members of the family, 1810- 1872.
fos 129-144 - other correspondence of Samuel and Edward Wilberforce, c.1850-1869.
fos 145-194 - family papers, including
fos 152-164 - papers written by Robert Wilberforce’s first wife, Agnes, c.1820, and papers concerning her, c.1834
fos 169-184 - three copies of an account of Agnes’s death, c.1834
fos 185-194 - Mary Elliot’s account of William
WIlberforce’s exposition of Psalm 40, 1828. 195 leaves.

c. 64-66 Letters to Robert Wilberforce from various correspondents, 1823-1854. Many of these letters, especially those c.1833, are letters of condolence upon the death of William Wilberforce, or concern the collecting of material for the Life and Correspondence of William Wilberforce. They include: c. 64 fos 69-70, c. 65 fos 78-79, 92.

c. 64 July 1823 - August 1833. 185 leaves.

REEL 9

Correspondence of Robert Isaac Wilberforce - continued

MSS Wilberforce

c. 65 September 1833 - 1834. 138 leaves.

c. 66 1835 - 1854. 211 leaves.

c. 67 Letters to Robert Wilberforce from:
fos 1-57 - W E Gladstone, 1838-1854
fos 58-150 - J H Newman, 1827-1854
fos 169-201 - E B Pusey, c.1826-1854, with some other correspondence. 213 leaves.

REEL 10

Family Correspondence, 1814-1873

MSS Wilberforce
d. 9 fo 1 - Letters to William Wilberforce from his son, Samuel, 1819, 1823-1830, with
fo 41 - three to Barbara, wife of William Wilberforce, from Samuel 1819-1827
fo 47 - letters to Elizabeth Wilberforce from her father, William Wilberforce, 1816-1817, 1830, with:
fo 83 - one to Elizabeth from her brother Samuel, 1820
fo 85 - letter to Robert Wilberforce from his father, William Wilberforce, 1829
fo 87 - letters to Samuel Wilberforce from his father, 1814-1821.
217 leaves.

c. 1 Letters to Samuel Wilberforce from his father, 1822-1827. parts of the letters at fos 85, 121, 150, 168, 182, 194v are from his mother, Barbara Wilberforce
parts of those at fos 139, 170, 188v are from his brother Robert
parts of those at fos 139, 172, 193, 195 are from his sister Elizabeth.
198 leaves.

c. 2 Similar letters to Samuel Wilberforce from his father, some of them with additions from his mother, 1828-1833, and fo 216 undated, from 1829 onwards a few of the letters are addressed to Emily Wilberforce, Samuel’s wife, and a few to Samuel and Emily jointly, parts of the letters at fos 15, 66, 78 are from Samuel’s sister, Elizabeth, parts of those at fos 19v, 78v are from his brother Robert, part of that at 78v is from his sister-in-law, Mary, née Sargent, and part of that at fo 139v is from his brother Henry.
fo 8 is a letter from Richard Waldo Sibthorp to Robert Wilberforce, 1828, and
fo 98 is a letter from Edward Neale, Rector of Taplow, Bucks, to Samuel Wilberforce, 1830, both underwritten with letters to Samuel from his father.
221 leaves.

REEL 11

Family Correspondence, 1814-1873 - continued

MSS Wilberforce
d. 10 Letters to Samuel Wilberforce from his mother, some of them incomplete, 1817-1840, including:
fos 93-120 - undated, as a schoolboy, and

fos 228-239 - undated, after 1822.
fo 240 - unsigned letter to Samuel, attributed by D Newsome to his mother but not apparently in her hand, 1841.
fos 176, 184, 203 - are addressed to Emily Wilberforce
fo 214 - to Samuel and Emily jointly.
fos 174, 199v - parts of letters from Robert Wilberforce
fo 200 - note from Henry Wilberforce, 1831.
241 leaves.

d. 11 Letters to Samuel Wilberforce from:
fo 1 - his sister, Elizabeth, 1821-1825
fo 11 - his brother Robert, c.1816-1855
fo 55 - part of the letter of 1836 is from Barbara Wilberforce
fo 151 - his brother Henry, 1831-1837
fo 174 - single letters from his wife, Emily, n.d. [1830]
fo 176 - his father-in-law, John Sargent, 1830
fo 178 - his brother-in-law, John Garton Sargent, 1828
fo 180 - his sister-in-law, Mary Sargent, n.d. [c.1831]
fo 182 - an unidentified member of the family, n.d.
183 leaves

d. 12 Letters to Samuel Wilberforce from his sons:
fo 1 - Herbert, 1853, 1855
fo 40 - Reginald Garton, 1855-1865
fo 66 - Ernest Roland, 1853, 1855
fo 76 - Albert Basil Orme, n.d. [1853]

Letters from Samuel Wilberforce to:
fo 78 - his brother Henry, 1844
fo 84 - his wife Emily, 1834-1840 and n.d.
fo 96 - his mother-in-law Mary Sargent, n.d. [c.1841]
fo 98 - his son Herbert, 1854-1856
fo 189 - fragments of two letters to unidentified sons, n.d. watermarked 1864 and 1865
fo 191- letter from Ernest R Wilberforce apparently to his sister-in-law, Mrs R G Wilberforce, 1872. 195 leaves.

REEL 12

Family Correspondence, 1814-1873 - continued

MSS Wilberforce
d. 18 Extracts from letters from Samuel Wilberforce to his brother Robert, 1835 - March 1850, copied by an amanuensis c.1875 for use in the Life of … Samuel Wilberforce DD by A R Ashwell and R G Wilberforce, 1880-1882.
fos 2-3 - extracts from two letters of 1829 from Samuel to his father William Wilberforce, now MS Wilberforce
d. 9 fos 23, 32. (reel 10). ii + 68 leaves.

d. 19 Similar extracts from letters to Robert Wilberforce, September 1850-1854. i + 64 leaves.

e. 1 Copies of letters from Samuel Wilberforce to his son Ernest, 1864-1873.
fos iv, 12v, 16v - notes by Ernest Wilberforce
fos 50-54 - letters in hand of Ernest Wilberforce
iii + 81 leaves.

Correspondence of William Wilberforce, 1772-1833

MSS Wilberforce
c. 3 Letters:
fo 1 - to and from William Wilberforce, 1785-1832
fo 251 - concerning William Wilberforce, 1814-1829
fo 263 - from ‘the first’ William Wilberforce, merchant of Hull, 1709
fo 265 - miscellaneous letters, 1799, 1812, 1804, 1791.

All correspondents are listed in the index.

REEL 13

Correspondence of William Wilberforce, 1772-1833

d. 13-17 Five volumes of letters bound uniformly in the nineteenth century and labelled ‘Autographs’; four have the bookplate of Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford; three had lists, made c.1900, of the letters in each volume (including letters since removed), now kept at MS Wilberforce c. 25, fos 283-289 (reel 50).

All correspondents are listed in the index.

MS Wilberforce
d. 13 Letters: mainly to William Wilberforce, 1776-1852, arranged alphabetically by correspondent, A - L.
vi + 378 leaves.

REEL 14

Correspondence of William Wilberforce, 1772-1833 - continued

MSS Wilberforce
d. 14 Letters: mainly to William Wilberforce, 1776-1852,
arranged alphabetically by correspondent, M - W.
vi + 375 leaves.

REEL 15

Correspondence of William Wilberforce, 1772-1833 - continued

MSS Wilberforce
d. 15 Letters: fo 1 - mainly to William Wilberforce, 1786-1826, arranged in rough chronological order
fo 151 - from Wilberforce, 1786-1801, arranged chronologically. iv + 244 leaves

d. 16 Letters of Wilberforce, 1801-1830, arranged in rough chronological order. iv + 270 leaves.

REEL 16

Correspondence of William Wilberforce, 1772-1833 - continued

MS Wilberforce
d. 17 Letters: fo 1 - mainly to William Wilberforce, 1794-1820, arranged in chronological order, except where interspersed with groups of letters
fo 48 - of bishops, 1797-1831
fo 216 - of physicians, 1813, n.d.
fo 240 - of members of the royal family, 1801-1827, 1845-1853
fo 334 - letters to Samuel Wilberforce arranged in rough chronological order, 1838-1852, n.d.
fo 450 - a collection of autographs, 1828-1851.
459 leaves.

REEL 17

Other Papers, 1772-1833

MSS Wilberforce
c. 4 fo 1 - School exercises, 1772-1774
fo 14 - leaves of Wilberforce’s diary, 1787, 1789, 1790, 1800 1823, n.d.
fo 31 - reminiscences concerning William Pitt, n.d., watermarked 1824
fo 33 - a receipt, 1794, and two bonds, 1782-1783, for money lent by Wilberforce, and a related note
fo 40 - drafts of speeches and notes on books, pamphlets and reports concerning the slave trade, 1804, [1817], 1822, 1824, n.d.
fo 100 - notes for speeches on (fo 100) renewal of war [1803?]
fo 101 - conduct of the war [1810?]
fo 103 - wages and the price of corn, n.d.
fo 105 - troubles in Ireland, n.d.
fo 109 - treatment of Indians in the Grand River Colony, n.d. 123 leaves.

c. 30 (xii) Grant of freedom of Berwick-upon-Tweed to William Wilberforce, 1792

f. 5 Copy of the New Testament, printed for the Naval and Military Bible Society, 1818, with (p345) a few notes in the hand of William Wilberforce. iv + 349 pages.

d. 20 Volume containing:
fo 6 - recollections of Barbara, wife of William Wilberforce, c.1835-1836
fo 55v rev - notes on sermon of Gerard Noel on Jeremiah XVII.14, in the hand of Barbara, daughter of William Wilberforce, 1819. 56 leaves.

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