A brief history of Elmdon
WILBERFORCE, William (1759-1833) |
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The most prominent British politician to work for the abolition of
slavery in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was William
Wilberforce. The motivation for his efforts came from his conversion
to evangelical Christianity in 1785.
Wilberforce was born in Hull in Yorkshire, England, on Aug. 24, 1759. He attended St. John's College, Cambridge. His family's wealth aided him in becoming a Member of Parliament in 1780, and he remained there until 1825. On April 30, 1797, Wilberforce married Barbara Spooner, daughter of Isaac Spooner of Elmdon Hall Estate, Warwickshire. |
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Wilberforce's Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was
founded in 1787, and he repeatedly exposed the horrors of slavery to
his fellow members of Parliament. He achieved his first success on
March 25, 1807, when a bill to abolish the slave trade became law.
This law, however, did not free those who were already slaves.
His next step was to work for the freeing of the remaining slaves in the British West Indies. His Anti-Slavery Society was founded in 1823. Wilberforce retired from Parliament in 1825 and turned over leadership of the abolition movement to Sir Thomas F. Buxton. Wilberforce died on July 29, 1833. One month later the Slavery Abolition Act was passed. |
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Elmdon today
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A public park and nature reserve covering 150 acres was established, and much of the remaining land was used for housing and Industry, with the giant Land Rover factory taking a large area of land to the west of the old estate. | |
| Alston Road, Spooners Close and Wilberforce Way are present day reminders of Elmdon’s past. |
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Birmingham International Airport. The airport has undergone phenomenal growth in recent years with the addition of the British Airways Eurohub Terminal and is now handling over 750,000 passengers a month. Scheduled destinations now include New York, Chicago, and Pakistan. A new service to Dubai by Emirates A330 aircraft started on December 18th 2000 creating a new gateway to the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Australia. The A330 is powered by Rolls Royce Trent engines controlled by a Full Authority Digital Engine Control (FADEC) made in Birmingham by Goodrich Engine Control Systems (formerly Lucas Aerospace) York Road, Hall Green. |
We would like to thank Alan John Sherriff, (author of Elmdon Past and
Present)
Gerald Davidson and 'The Friends of Elmdon'. for providing material for this
page.
Webpage Edited by Colin Hickman