Abney Park’s MPs

Abney Park is a place famous for hosting people of strong political opinions. A lesser-known fact is that there are four elected MPs laid to rest in Abney Park Cemetery. All four MPs were on the radical side of the House, often in dispute with their own parties and promoters of progressive reforms and liberation movements.

Charles Reed (1819 – 1881): Charles Reed was the first MP to represent Hackney, that 'hotbed of Radicalism', in the free-for-all before the secret ballot. He was a shaper of London's education, a trustee of Abney Park and saviour of Bunhill Fields.

Henry Richard (1812 – 1888): Henry Richard was the 'Member for Wales'. He was also the Secretary of the Peace Society for forty years so horrified was he by the Crimean War and was known as the 'Apostle of Peace'. This Society has been seen as the forerunner of the League of Nations, United Nations and CND.

Samuel Morley (1809 – 1886): Samuel Morley was a businessman turned philanthropist, a Radical, Dissenter, and a Temperance campaigner. Morley was also known as the 'man who saved the Old Vic' and was the host to Afro-American anti-slavery campaigners.

John O'Connor Power (1846 – 1919): John O’Connor Power was educated in a workhouse. He went from being a Fenian who had to flee the country for alleged terrorist activities to the 'finest Parliamentary orator since Gladstone'. Power was a barrister, journalist, and habitué of Fleet Street's Old Cheshire Cheese.

Alan Gartrell’s talk disucsses the lives, trials, triumphs of these four men to gain a greater understanding of the political climate they lived in.

Watch the recording

Biography: Alan Gatrell

Alan Gartrell has given talks at Abney Park on a regular basis for many years. He is a Stoke Newington local who modestly declares that he is not a historian, but simply a few clicks ahead on Wikipedia of everyone else.