Wilberforce, Samuel, 1805-1873

English bishop of Winchester.

Anglican bishop of Oxford and of Winchester.

Anglican theologian and Bishop of Oxford Samuel Wilberforce was born at Clapham Common near London, England, on September 7, 1805. He was the son of William Wilberforce, prominent member of Parliament and leader of the anti-slavery movement. Wilberforce was privately educated until 1823, when he enrolled at Oriel College, Oxford, graduating in 1826. He married Emily Sargent on June 11, 1828. In December 1828, he was ordained as an Anglican clergyman.

Though a supporter of the High Church party, Wilberforce separated himself from the Oxford Movement and often disagreed with the tractarians. He was appointed as chaplain to the prince consort in 1841, and subalmoner to the queen in October 1843. Wilberforce was named dean of Westminster in March 1845, and in October Bishop of Oxford.

As a leader of the Church of England he was involved in the major religious controversies of the era, including: the Renn Dickson Hampden Case (1848) and the George Cornelius Gorham Case (1851). The 1851 conversion of his brother-in-law, Henry Edward Manning, and his two brothers, Robert and Henry, to the Roman Catholic Church caused further misgivings about his own loyalty to the Anglican Church.

Wilberforce played key roles in the revival of the powers of the Convocation in 1852. Two years later he established the Theological College at Cuddesdon. He was involved in another controversy in 1861 concerning the Bishop of Natal, South Africa; John William Colenso; and his Commentary on Romans. In 1867 and 1868, Wilberforce served on the Ritualistic Commission, drafted the commission's first report, and moderated the harsh measures against ritualism included in the second report. He was named Bishop of Winchester in 1869. Wilberforce was killed by a fall from his horse on July 19, 1873.