THE anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce has been voted the greatest ever Yorkshireman.

He was picked by a panel of judges after hundreds of nominations from the county's public.

Wilberforce attended Pocklington School in the 1700s. Born the son of a wealthy merchant in Hull, he represented the city as an MP and campaigned tirelessly for the abolition of slavery.

His Bill to abolish the slave trade was passed in 1807, and his campaign finally succeeded shortly after his death in 1833, when slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire.

A bronze statue commemorating his work was put on display in the courtyard of Pocklington School in 1998.

Wilberforce beat 81 nominees, including York-born Guy Fawkes, Arthur Scargill, Thomas Crapper, inventor of the flushing toilet, and Constantine, who was first proclaimed as Roman emperor in York.

The runner-up was explorer Captain James Cook, who sailed from Whitby. Sculptor Henry Moore, from Castleford, came third.

Wilberforce emerged victorious during the programme Yorkshire Greats, shown on BBC1 yesterday.

Presenter Richard Whiteley, chairman of the Yorkshire Greats judging panel, said the final vote had been unanimous.

He said: "We were looking for the person who had contributed something formidable affecting a lot of people worldwide.

"William Wilberforce's contribution to the reform of the civilised world is amazing and is not widely known."

Although there was strong support for charity fundraiser Jane Tomlinson, who has been fighting cancer, and former Speaker of the House of Commons Betty Boothroyd, the judges decided to rule out living nominees because it was impossible to tell how they would be judged by history.

Meanwhile, past York headlines are set to feature in a series of programmes by BBC Look North.

Lord Habgood, the Archbishop of York during the York Minster fire of 1984, will tell of his shock and dismay at its destruction, on March 31, at 11.15pm.

BBC weatherman Paul Hudson, will look at the York floods during the 1968 programme on April 14, at 11.15pm.

Updated: 11:04 Monday, March 22, 2004