Wilberforce, Samuel 1805-73
English prelate

The third son of William Wilberforce, he was born in Clapham, London. In 1826 he graduated from Oriel College, Oxford, and was ordained in 1828. In 1830 he became rector of Brightstone, Isle of Wight, in 1840 rector of Alverstoke, canon of Winchester and chaplain to Albert, the Prince Consort, and in 1845 Dean of Westminster and Bishop of Oxford. He took part in the controversies of the Renn Hampden, Gorham, Essay and Reviews, and John Colenso cases. Instrumental in reviving Convocation (1852), he instituted Cuddesdon Theological College (1854). The charm of his many-sided personality and his social and oratorical gifts earned him the nickname of 'Soapy Sam'. He edited Letters and Journals of Henry Martyn (1837), wrote with his brother, Robert, the life of his father (1838), and himself wrote Agathos (1839), Rocky Island (1840) and History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in America (1844). Bishop of Winchester from 1869, he was killed by a fall from his horse. Of his two younger sons, Ernest Roland (1840-1908) became first Bishop of Newcastle (1882) and Bishop of Chichester (1895), and Albert Basil Orme (1841-1916) became archdeacon of Westminster (1900), chaplain to the Speaker, and an eloquent advocate of temperance.