Steve Tomkins’ review of my book in the Church Times is behind a paywall. He is himself an historian of the Clapham Sect and clearly thinks I’ve written the wrong type of history. ‘These personal stories’, he writes, ‘are not hugely eventful. The births, romances, marriages, illnesses, and deaths of which they consist are not terribly interesting on their own compared with the drama of the heroic fight against slavery and the calamitous affair of Sierra Leone.’ That has to come down to a difference of opinion! I am struck with his observation that ‘those who are generally interested in the private lives of the wealthy 18th-century English middle classes also sound like a restricted readership.’ Where has he been these past twenty years? Having written this, I will now maintain a dignified silence!
Wilberforce House Museum, Hull
Here is the photograph of number 25, High Street, Hull, the home of the merchant, Robert Wilberforce. It was here that his only son, William, was born on 24 August 1759. It is the elegant and genteel house of an affluent merchant and in itself conveys some fascinating social history. There was no clear distinction between a merchant and a gentleman. It was also a working home. The counting house was situated to the left of the grand entrance and the garden led down to the family staith (landing stage) on the Humber River.
BBC History Magazine
The August or September issue of the BBC History Magazine will be publishing a my question and answer session with some of the book’s readers. I’ll update the details when I have them.
Wilberforce: The Russell Portrait in Oils
I have been privileged to be able to use for my book, both on the cover and in the text (pp. 108 – 109), the companion portraits in pastel (each 61 x 44.5 cm) of William and Barbara (née Spooner) Wilberforce by John Russell (1745-1806). William’s portrait is dated 1801. Russell was one of the great pastellists of the age, and he completed few commissions in oils. Interestingly, however, there is a Russell version in oils of the Wilberforce portrait, larger in size and with a somewhat grander background. This is an oil on canvas, 76.2 x 63.5 cm, and it is in the collection of the Leeds Museums and Galleries. The portrait may be viewed online as part of the BBC’s ‘Your Paintings’ Project [for further details, see: Neil Jeffares, Dictionary of pastellists before 1800, Part II: Named Sitters L-Z]. Jeffares also records, sadly as ‘lost’, a pastel of Mrs Wilberforce of Wimbledon [née Hannah Thornton], the beloved aunt of the young William Wilberforce.
Pictures: The Younger Marianne
Unfortunately, pictures of the younger Marianne Thornton (1797-1887) – such an important family chronicler and commentator on Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect – are not easy to find. Two at least, however, are known. The first of these is a pencil and watercolour bust portrait (29 x 23 cm) dating from around 1830 by George Richmond (1809-1896). This was presented in 1947 by E. M. Forster (Marianne was his paternal great aunt) through The Art Fund to Nottingham Castle Museum and Art Gallery. The second is a drawing mounted on card of Marianne as an old woman, dated 18 July, 1876, also seemingly by Richmond, which was printed in E. M. Forster’s Marianne Thornton: A Domestic Biography (London: Edward Arnold, 1956) [see: The Papers of Edward Morgan Forster].
Picture Caption: Correction
Though correct in the text (p.271), the attribution of the print, Making Decent–!! (1822), comprising Fig. 12 (p.272) is wrong. It should read George Cruikshank (1792-1878), not Isaac Cruickshank (1756-1811). George was Isaac’s son.
First Review Published
With commendable speed, Susan Elkin has published the first review, even before publication, of Wilberforce: Family and Friends in the Independent on Sunday of 4 March:
Biography: Wilberforce: Family and Friends, By Anne Stott
The greatest of his generation
Here is a quote from the review: ‘The network around Wilberforce was complex, and Stott, who is strong on the dynamics of the Evangelical, closely bonded Clapham Sect (most of whom didn’t live in Clapham, but the shorthand title has stuck) helpfully maps the relationships in three family trees at the outset. She tells her compelling story with great sympathy, and has a gift for insightful comparisons…’
Anne Stott, ‘Wilberforce: Family and Friends’
My book, Wilberforce: Family and Friends (Oxford University Press), was published on 15 March, 2012. (It’s now out of print but presumably is available from sites lie Amazon or Abe Books.) The purpose of this blog was to provide updates, along with additional resources, corrections, and links to critical reviews.
The blog is now almost inactive, but I’m keeping it up because there’s still matter of interest in it for some people, so do feel free to get in touch if you wish.
Wilberforce 