Amazing Grace: local Wilberforce connections

In the 18th and 19th century, Rothley Temple (a manor house on the edge of Rothley village) was home to the Babington family. Thomas Babington, the MP for Leicester from 1800-1818, lived there until his death in 1837. He met leading abolitionist William Wilberforce at Cambridge University and they spent much time at Rothley Temple working together on the Bill to Abolish the Slave Trade.

The BBC Leicester website has a series of links on Abolition. This includes a brief article on Thomas Babington and the Wilberforce connection and a series of discussions on The Temple and the Trade. Greater detail is provided in the book Rothley and the Abolition of the Slave Trade by Terry Sheppard and Ian Whyte, which describes the mutual endeavours of Babington, Gisborne, Wilberforce and Macaulay.