 DATE: Lord Camden (David Hunt) uses "nobless oblige" as his reason  for saluting Wilberforces achievement. However, the first recorded  use of the phrase was in Honoré de Balzacs book "Le Lys dans la  vallée", written in 1835 and published in 1836. Wilberforces last  appearance in Parliament was in 1824, when he resigned from due to  illness.