William Wilberforce’s Clerical Networks: Evangelical Identity and Victorian Revisionism

This book offers the first major analysis of William Wilberforce’s clerical networks, demonstrating that while a devoted Anglican, he was deeply intertwined with evangelicals of various ecclesiastical traditions. This book offers the first major analysis of William Wilberforce’s clerical networks, demonstrating that while a devoted Anglican, he was deeply intertwined with evangelicals of various ecclesiastical traditions. The chapters draw on Wilberforce’s extensive corpus of diaries, supplemented by a wide selection of correspondence and contemporary publications. Utilising a series of case studies, the author situates Wilberforce and his clerical associates within the wider religious landscape of the late Georgian period. Wilberforce was one of the great networkers and coalition builders of his generation. His diaries illumine both the scale of his network and the frequency with which he crossed party lines. While Wilberforce has been the subject of much study, very little has been dedicated to exploring his religious identity, which is crucial to understanding Wilberforce personally, the Clapham Sect generally, and even evangelicalism broadly. Presenting a more nuanced interpretation of Wilberforce’s churchmanship than has been articulated to date, the book will be of particular interest to scholars of religious, ecclesiastical, and evangelical history.