The Clapham Sect: How Wilberforce's Circle Transformed Britain

William Wilberforce is a bright star among the world's great social reformers. His campaign for abolition changed the course of history. But he did not achieve success on his own.

In the late eighteenth century a group of courageous individuals was forming, which would change the face of Britain and its empire: The Clapham sect. They were a varied group - bankers, MPs, vicars, merchants, poets, editors, colonists, and a brewer - all unified by their desire to change society, and the world, for the better.

They were life-long friends and collaborators, achieving extensive reform around the globe. Whether in schools, in the British countryside, or exploring religion and government in Africa and India, they transformed Victorian attitudes and left an indelible mark on the world.

This is their story.