Henry William Wilberforce (22 September 1807 – 23 April 1873), was a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

clergyman, a

Tractarian The Oxford Movement was a movement of high church members of the Church of England which began in the 1830s and eventually developed into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose original devotees were mostly associated with the University of O ...

, a convert to the Roman Catholic Church, and thereafter a newspaper proprietor, editor and journalist

Life

Henry Wilberforce was born in 1807, the youngest son of

William Wilberforce William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...

and his wife, Barbara Ann Spooner. He studied classics and mathematics at

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

, where he was elected president of the

Oxford Union The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford England, whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. Founded in 1823, it is one of Britain's oldest ...

. He graduated BA in 1830, MA in 1833, in the meantime enrolling as a student at

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

. During his time in Oxford he had received tuition from

John Henry Newman John Henry Newman (21 February 1801 – 11 August 1890) was an English theologian, academic, intellectual, philosopher, polymath, historian, writer, scholar and poet, first as an Anglican ministry, Anglican priest and later as a Catholi ...

, through whose influence he not only became attached to the

movement, but abandoned his plan to study for the bar, and instead took orders as an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

clergyman. Wilberforce served the Anglican church from 1834 (also the year of his marriage) until 1850, first as

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

of Bransgrove (

Bransgore Bransgore is a village and civil parish within the New Forest District, Hampshire, England. The village developed in the 19th century when a church and a school were built. It is technically classified as an urban area, although in some respects ...

), Hampshire (1834), then as

vicar A vicar (; Latin: ''vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pref ...

Walmer Walmer is a town in Dover District, the district of Dover, Kent, in England. Located on the coast, the parish of Walmer is south-east of Sandwich, Kent. Largely residential, its coastline and castle attract many visitors. It has a population of ...

(1841), and finally as vicar of

East Farleigh East Farleigh is a village and civil parish in the local government district of Maidstone, Kent, England. The village is located on the south side of the River Medway about two miles (3.2 km) upstream from the town of Maidstone. Heritage The ...

, Kent (1843). In 1850 he followed his wife, Mary Sargent, daughter of John Sargent, into the Catholic Church. Upon his conversion, he wrote ''Reasons for Submitting to the Catholic Church: a Farewell Letter to his Parishioners'' (1851). The

Catholic Defence Association The Catholic Defence Association was an organisation founded in 1851 to defend the rights of Irish Roman Catholic tenant farmers. The first meeting held at the Mechanics' Institute, Dublin was chaired by Lord Gormanston, with MPs William Keogh, ...

was founded in Ireland the same year, and in 1852 Wilberforce became Secretary, living in Ireland for two or three years. As Secretary of the Catholic Defence Association he engaged in a correspondence on

Church of Ireland The Church of Ireland ( ga, Eaglais na hÉireann, ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Kirk o Airlann, ) is a Christian church in Ireland and an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. It is organised on an all-Ireland basis and is the second ...

proselytizing which was published as ''Proselytism in Ireland: the Catholic Defence Association versus the Irish Church Missions on the charge of bribery and intimidation; a correspondence between the Rev. Alex Dallas and the Rev. Henry Wilberforce'' (1852). In 1854 he became owner and editor of the ''Catholic Standard'', changing the name to the ''Weekly Register'' the following year. In 1864, finding the pace of weekly editorial responsibility too demanding, he sold the ''Weekly Register'' and embarked on a more leisurely production of articles and reviews for the '' Dublin Review''. After his death a selection of these was published as ''The Church and the Empires'' (1874), with a biographical preface by Cardinal Newman. He died in

Stroud, Gloucestershire Stroud is a market town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is the main town in Stroud District. The town's population was 13,500 in 2021. Below the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Va ...

, on 23 April 1873. One of his sons was a member of the Dominican community at Woodchester Priory near Stroud.Stroud Journal 14 May 1864: letter about local bigotry against catholics - which starts with an appeal for a sufficient police force in the area

Publications

*''The Foundation of the Faith Assailed in Oxford: a letter to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, &c. &c. &c. Visitor to the University, with particular reference to the changes in its constitution, now under consideration''. By a clerical member of Convocation .e. H.W. Wilberforce London: Printed for J.G. & F. Rivington, 1835. *'' The Parochial System: An Appeal to English Churchmen''. London: Printed for J. G. & F. Rivington, St. Paul's Church Yard, and Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, 1838. *''The Building of the House of God: a sermon preached in the Church of All Saints, Southampton ..ugust 13, 1839 at the rebuilding of the ancient church of St. Lawrence''. Southampton: Smart, 1839. *''Christian Unity''. Tracts on the Church 7. London: James Burns, 1842. *''On the Danger of State Interference with the Trust Deeds of Church Schools. A Letter to Sir R. H. Inglis''. London, 1847. *''Reasons for Submitting to the Catholic Church: a Farewell Letter to his Parishioners''. London: Burns and Lambert, 1851. *''The Church and the Empires: historical periods''. Preceded by a memoir of the author by J.H. Newman. London: Henry S. King & Co., 1874.

References

External links

John Henry Newman's memoir
written as an introduction to Wilberforce's ''The Church and the Empires'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilberforce, Henry William 1807 births 1873 deaths Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford Presidents of the Oxford Union English Anglo-Catholics 19th-century English Anglican priests English Roman Catholics English religious writers Anglican priest converts to Roman Catholicism English male journalists 19th-century British journalists English male non-fiction writers

Henry Henry may refer to: People *Henry (given name) * Henry (surname) * Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry Royalty * Portuguese royalty ** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal ** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...

19th-century English male writers Tractarians Anglo-Catholic clergy Anglo-Catholic writers People from East Farleigh