Marriage of William Wilberforce
- When
- 1797
- Where
- unspecified location of the introduction; unspecified location of the proposal; Church of St Swithin in Bath, Somerset
- Episodes
- 3
In spring 1797 William Wilberforce, the British abolitionist politician, was introduced to Barbara Ann Spooner through his friend Thomas Babington. After meeting on 15 April 1797 and a whirlwind eight-day courtship, he proposed, and the couple married at the Church of St Swithin in Bath on 30 May 1797, despite friends urging them to slow down.
Episodes
- Introduction to Barbara Ann Spooner
Thomas Babington recommended 25-year-old Barbara Ann Spooner as a potential bride to the late-thirties Wilberforce.
- Proposal After an Eight-Day Romance
After an eight-day whirlwind romance following their 15 April meeting, Wilberforce proposed despite friends urging him to slow down.
- Marriage at the Church of St Swithin in Bath
Wilberforce and Barbara Ann Spooner married at the Church of St Swithin in Bath, Somerset, on 30 May 1797, about six weeks after meeting.
Background and detail
Background. William Wilberforce (24 August 1759 – 29 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist, and a leader of the movement to abolish the Atlantic slave trade. In his youth he showed little interest in women, but in his late thirties his friend Thomas Babington recommended 25-year-old Barbara Ann Spooner as a potential bride.
Courtship and Proposal. Wilberforce met Barbara Ann Spooner two days after the recommendation, on 15 April 1797, and was immediately smitten. Following an eight-day whirlwind romance, he proposed, moving quickly despite the urgings of friends to slow down the relationship.
Marriage at Bath. The couple married at the Church of St Swithin in Bath, Somerset, on 30 May 1797, roughly six weeks after their first meeting. The marriage came in the same year Wilberforce published A Practical View, on which he had been working since 1793.
Aftermath. The marriage was followed by a large family: Wilberforce and his wife had six children in fewer than ten years — William (born 1798), Barbara (born 1799), Elizabeth (born 1801), Robert (born 1802), Samuel (born 1805) and Henry (born 1807).
People involved
- William Wilberforce · groom; British politician and abolitionist leader
- Barbara Ann Spooner · bride; 25 years old at the time of introduction
- Thomas Babington · friend who recommended Barbara Ann Spooner as a potential bride
Sources
- William Wilberforce Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-30
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.