(1759-1833) British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. In 1785, he became an evangelical Christian, which resulted in major changes to his lifestyle and a lifelong concern for reform. He headed the parliamentary campaign against the British Slave Trade for 20 years until the passage of the Slave Trade Act of 1807. He also was prime motivator of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, which abolished slavery in most of the British Empire. After leaving Parliament, Wilberforce died just three days after hearing that the passage of the Act through Parliament was assured. BLACK LOYALISTS BECOME THE BASIS OF MODERN SIERRA LEONE Important content manuscript L.S., 4pp. 4to., 'Yoxall Lodge near Lichfield', Dec. 3, 1791, to 'Dear Sirs' (only). Wilberforceseeks to raise funds to help American ex-slaves who had fought for the British in the American Revolution escape Nova Scotia to find new lives in Sierra Leone. He writes, in part: '...Conceiving you would feel interested about the settlement now forming on the Coast of Africa [Sierra Leone] I lately desired a copy of the Report of the Directors of the Sierra Leone Company to the Court of Proprietors might be transmitted to you from London: this will best explain to you the nature & objects of the Institution, & I hardly need add any thing to what it contains except that since its publication has been resolved to raise the Capitol to £150,000- and that the Accounts we have received from our Agent both of the number of qualities of the Nova Scotia Negroes are extremely pleasing. You must not misconceive me to be canvassing for subscribers: we are likely to have as many as we want; but thinking you & any friends you should recommend to me, would be proper Members of our Body...if you desire to subscribe or any of your family or friends...I shall be glad to have letters properly subscribed sent to me at this place so as to be here is possible by Saturday or Sunday next that I may forward them so as to be in London...The Negroes here referred to inhabited the southern provinces of the United States, & having sided with us during the war & being consequently obnoxious to the Americans, they were, as a reward to their Loyalty, transported to the genial climate of Nova Scotia, where besides they have ever since been in a most deplorable way: besides the rigors of the Climate so ill adapted to their constitutions, they were very ill treated in other respects, the land promised them was not given &c. &c. Sir Henry]. Clinton spoke to me himself concerning them, & bore testimony to the claim on the protection & good offices of their Country. These poor people hearing a confused report of an intended settlement on the Coast of Africa, sent one of their number about a year ago to London to enquire into the truth of it, & to request if it should seem expedient to him that Government would transport them thither. We took up the cause; & Administration sent out orders accordingly: we expect about 700 men, women, and children, will come over to Sierra Leone with out Agents this or the next month, & there is every reason to hope they will form a most valuable acquisition: you understand they are all free people...Folds and light soiling, else very good. Following the American Revolution, more than 3,000 Black Loyalists had been settled by the British in Nova Scotia, where they were finally granted land. They founded Birchtown, but faced harsh northern winters and racial discrimination from nearby Shelburne. The Sierra Leone Company was established to relocate Black Loyalists who wanted to take their chances in West Africa. In 1792 nearly 1,200 persons from Nova Scotia crossed the Atlantic to build the second (and only permanent) Colony of Sierra Leone and the settlement of Freetown on 11 March 1792. In Sierra Leone they were called the Nova Scotian Settlers, the Nova Scotians, or the Settlers. The Settlers built Freetown in the styles they knew from their lives in the American South; they also continued American fashion and American manners. In addition, many continued to practice Methodism in Freetown. In 1792, in a move that foreshadowed the women's suffrage movements in Britain, the heads of all households, of which a third were women, were given the right to vote. Black settlers in Sierra Leone enjoyed much more autonomy than their white equivalent in European countries. Black migrants elected different levels of political representatives, 'tithingmen', who represented each dozen settlers and 'hundreders' who represented larger amounts. This sort of representation was not available in Nova Scotia. A most important letter.