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William Wilberforce 3 inspirational people of the 18th and 19th centuries are remembered by the Church of England today. These are William Wilberforce, social reformer and Oloudah Equiano and Thomas Clarkson, anti-slavery campaigners. This portrait is of William Wilberforce (1759 - 1833). He was a member of an influential group of evangelical Christians known as the Clapham Sect. William Wilberforce was active in social reform, a concern that arose from his Christian faith. As an MP for Hull and then Yorkshire he campaigned for improved factory conditions in England and for the abolition of the slave trade.  You can read more about him in a  brief biography of William Wilberforce on the BBC History website . Oloudah Equiano Oloudah Equiano (c.1745 - 1797) was a former slave, then seaman and writer. He was an African captured as a child in what is now Nigeria, sold into slavery, shipped to Barbados and later Virginia where he worked at weeding and gathe...

Today the Church of England commemorates George Herbert as 'Priest, Poet'. As a teenager I discovered George Herbert's poetry long before I knew he was a priest and for 3 years Rector of Bemerton where he died on 27 February 1633 .  In 2010, in ' Bed, board and books by the thousands ' I wrote about a conference my husband and I attended, led by Justin Lewis-Anthony and based on his book ' If you meet George Herbert on the road, kill him: Radically rethinking priestly ministry''.  This was about: a  redundant model of ordained ministry based on romanticised mythology of how George Herbert is supposed to have done it, or thought it should be done, in the 17th century the damage that has been created for parish priests trying to live up to this idealised role model alternative models for the 21st century. To me George Herbert is one of England's greatest poets. Today I would rather celebrate him more as poet than priest. After all he only...