[A Folio Scrap Album Containing A Collection Of Printed Ephemera Relating To The Parliamentary Election In Yorkshire, 1807] [Wilberforce, William Et Al].

Five separately printed broadsides, flyers and hand-bills; and numerous clippings from contemporary newspaper accounts, all either pinned or loosely inserted. Contemporary marbled paper wrappers. Worn and creased, torn at head with splitting to spine, loss to surfaces, several leaves detached. In spite of its state, the album appears intact (i.e. there are no obvious removals), and has preserved the contents rather well, apart from some creasing, misfolding, and occasional browning. The five separately published pieces comprise: [RICHARDSON, Charlotte]. Address To the Freeholders of Yorkshire. York. T. Wilson and R. Spence, Printers, High Ousegate. Dimensions 152 x 195 mm. A trifle creased and marked, pinned to album leaf. Attributed in pencil to Charlotte Richardson. [WILBERFORCE, William - Friends of]. York, 5th Month, 21st, 1807. At a meeting of the Committee of friends, at York, appointed to promote the Interest of William Wilberforce, Esq. Dimensions 200 x 110 mm. Single lead handbill. A trifle marked, pinned to album leaf. [A FREEHOLDER]. Freeholders of Yorkshire. [s.i.]. [s.n.], May 13th 1807. 170 x 210 mm. Single leaf hand-bill. Slightly torn at foot, creased to edges, A trifle marked, pinned to album leaf, else fine. [MOCK PLAYBILL]. By Desire of the Right Hon. Earl. F--tz--m. On wednesday, May the 13th, At the Theatre, Castle-Yard, York. [s.i.]. [s.n.], May 1807. 140 x 175 mm. Single leaf hand-bill. A trifle marked, creased and chipped to margins, pinned to album leaf. [A FREEHOLDER OF YORKSHIRE]. Yorkshire election and Mr. wilberforce. To the Editor of the York Chronicle. York. W. Blanchard, Printer, [s.d.]. Folio, dimensions 400 x 500 mm. Single leaf broadside in five columns. Folded horizontally and vertically, else fine. A remarkable assembly - compiled in the months following the Parliamentary success of William Wilberforce's two-decade long abolitionist campaign which resulted in the passing of the 1807 Slave Trade Act - of material relating to the election of members of Parliament for the two County seats of Yorkshire during the long, contested general election campaign between 20 May and 5 June 1807. The 1807 general election followed in the wake of the downfall of the Ministry of all the Talents, over the matter of permitting Catholics to serve in the Army and Navy, and the short lived ministry of the Duke of Portland. In Yorkshire, the abolitionist William Wilberforce nobly chose to re-stand - in his usual fashion as an independent - in the seat he had occupied since 1784. Despite the political difficulties that the pre-Great Reform Act campaigning in Yorkshire may have presented, Wilberforce, who justified his position on abolition to his own constituents in A letter on the abolition of the slave trade addressed to the freeholders and other inhabitants of Yorkshire (London, 1807), succeeded in topping the three- way polling battle, securing 11,808 votes - nearly 700 more than the Whig grandee Lord Milton, and almost 1000 clear of his previous seat-mate, the Tory Henry Lascelles. The five separately published items mentioned, all either pro-Wilberforce, or in the case of the mock playbill, anti-Milton, combined with the newspaper clippings, suggest to this cataloguer that the whole was collected by a Wilberforce supporter. All appear unrecorded in their respective formats in OCLC and COPAC bar the last listed above, which is located in a single copy at York University. Of most significance is surely the verse broadside Address To the Freeholders of Yorkshire, by Yorkshire poet Charlotte Richardson, nà e Smith (1775-1825), a York-born working- class poet and widow of a shoe-maker who produced two published collections. A verse summation, in rhyming couplets, of the reasons for supporting Wilberforce at the 1807 election, it explains that whilst 'Three Candidates await your choice', only Wilberforce deserves the freeholder's support. A full stanza celebrates his recent achievement in securing the passage of