Yorkshire-born William Wilberforce had a lot of things going for him - a rich family, a Cambridge education, a cushy job in Parliament - but at heart he was a humanist. It was this impulse that saw him go against the grain of his fellow politicians and lobby for the abolition of slavery, battling opposition to eventually pass several bills that outlawed the slave trade in Britain. This achieved, he set about attempting to free slaves in every country that fell under Britain's empirical rule. After an immense struggle, slavery was finally abolished in the British colonies in 1833. Wilberforce died three days after receiving the news. Job done.