Samuel Wilberforce wrote the History of the American Church (1844) and Heroes of Hebrew History (1870), was Deacon of Westminster (England), and Bishop of Oxford. In 1854 he opened a theological college at Cuddesdon, now known as Ripon College. One of the volumes of the English Leaders of Religion is devoted to him, and he is included in Dean Burgon's Lives of Twelve Good Men (1888).
In this seance, Wilberforce returned five years later to speak on the difficulties of conveying an adequate description of life in the afterlife.