Reformers' Memorial
Erected in 1885, the Reformers' Memorial pays homage to all those who gave their time, energy and resources to the improvement of all classes. The freedom of the press and the system of democracy that Britain enjoys came from the struggles of the Reformers. The monument, raised by Joseph Cornfield, was amended by Emma Cornfield in 1907 and includes names such as William Morris, Beatrice Webb and Robert Owen. The project has picked out a few notables:
Lydia Becker (born 1827 - 1890) was a passionate advocate for women’s suffrage and educational reform. She established the Women's Suffrage Committee in Manchester in 1866. Educated as a botanist, Becker encouraged women’s active engagement with scientific advancement. She was against educational discrimination and demanded that boys mend their socks and cook. Although mocked in the press, Becker is remembered as a key organiser of the suffrage movement.
Thomas Spence (born 1750 - 1814) was a militant socialist. He railed against the enclosures of land and aristocracy of all sorts. His most forceful political demand, laid out in the ‘Spence Plan,’ demanded common land. His ideas spread amongst industrial workers and his demands adorned the walls of working class neighbourhoods, often written in chalk. Clubs and acolytes formed under the ‘Spencean’ banner - which the state banned in the 1800s. Described as ‘single minded’ he cared little for anything but justice for working people and the fortification of their rights.
Mary Carpenter (born 1807 - 1877) was a passionate advocate for the destitute in industrial Britain. Her main focus was children who were inducted into a life of crime by circumstance. She sought to provide positive influences and pioneered reform school models. Carpenter held that young people had to want to change their condition and that their participation should be voluntary. She internationalised her political positions, touring her ideas. She was also an anti-slavery campaigner and in her later years a passionate supporter of the universal suffrage movement.
The other names on the memorial are:
EAST FACE: Robert Owen (New Lanark), John Bellers, Robert Dale Owen, Abraham Combe, Joseph Lancaster, William Thompson, John Minter Morgan, William Pare, William Galpin, Henry Travis MD, Alex Campbell, James Rigby, W. D. Saull, Julian Hibbert, Rev. Charles Kingsley, Lady Noel Byron, Frances Wright, Thomas Spence, Allan Davenport, Mary Hennell, Francis Place, Harriet Martineau, George Odger, Lloyd Jones.
SOUTH FACE: Elizabeth Fry, Sarah Martin, Mary Carpenter, Benjamin Flower, Henry Fawcett, Barbara Bodichon, Maria Grey, Arnold Toynbee, W. K. Clifford, Edward T. Craig, C. Dobson Collet, Charles Bradlaugh, Richard Congreve, William Morris, John Ruskin, F. Power Cobbe, Herbert Spencer, Wathen M.W. Call, Francis Newman, Hodgson Pratt, Lydia Becker, Josephine Butler, Anna Swanwick, C. Jacob Holyoake, J. Kells Ingram,
NORTH FACE: Joseph Priestley, Thomas Paine, William Hone, John Stuart Mill, Major Cartwright, Richard Carlile, William Lovett, William Carpenter, Henry Hetherington, John Frost, William Cobbett, W. J. Fox, Richard Moore, William Howitt, Samuel Bamford, Henry Hunt, George Thompson, David Williams, Thomas Wooller, Ebenezer Elliott, Ernest Jones, Alex Macdonald, Richard Cobden, Robert Cooper.
Erected in 1885, the Reformers' Memorial pays homage to all those who gave their time, energy and resources to the improvement of all classes. The freedom of the press and the system of democracy that Britain enjoys came from the struggles of the Reformers. The monument, raised by Joseph Cornfield, was amended by Emma Cornfield in 1907 and includes names such as William Morris, Beatrice Webb and Robert Owen. The project has picked out a few notables:
Lydia Becker (born 1827 - 1890) was a passionate advocate for women’s suffrage and educational reform. She established the Women's Suffrage Committee in Manchester in 1866. Educated as a botanist, Becker encouraged women’s active engagement with scientific advancement. She was against educational discrimination and demanded that boys mend their socks and cook. Although mocked in the press, Becker is remembered as a key organiser of the suffrage movement.
Thomas Spence (born 1750 - 1814) was a militant socialist. He railed against the enclosures of land and aristocracy of all sorts. His most forceful political demand, laid out in the ‘Spence Plan,’ demanded common land. His ideas spread amongst industrial workers and his demands adorned the walls of working class neighbourhoods, often written in chalk. Clubs and acolytes formed under the ‘Spencean’ banner - which the state banned in the 1800s. Described as ‘single minded’ he cared little for anything but justice for working people and the fortification of their rights.
Mary Carpenter (born 1807 - 1877) was a passionate advocate for the destitute in industrial Britain. Her main focus was children who were inducted into a life of crime by circumstance. She sought to provide positive influences and pioneered reform school models. Carpenter held that young people had to want to change their condition and that their participation should be voluntary. She internationalised her political positions, touring her ideas. She was also an anti-slavery campaigner and in her later years a passionate supporter of the universal suffrage movement.
The other names on the memorial are:
EAST FACE: Robert Owen (New Lanark), John Bellers, Robert Dale Owen, Abraham Combe, Joseph Lancaster, William Thompson, John Minter Morgan, William Pare, William Galpin, Henry Travis MD, Alex Campbell, James Rigby, W. D. Saull, Julian Hibbert, Rev. Charles Kingsley, Lady Noel Byron, Frances Wright, Thomas Spence, Allan Davenport, Mary Hennell, Francis Place, Harriet Martineau, George Odger, Lloyd Jones.
SOUTH FACE: Elizabeth Fry, Sarah Martin, Mary Carpenter, Benjamin Flower, Henry Fawcett, Barbara Bodichon, Maria Grey, Arnold Toynbee, W. K. Clifford, Edward T. Craig, C. Dobson Collet, Charles Bradlaugh, Richard Congreve, William Morris, John Ruskin, F. Power Cobbe, Herbert Spencer, Wathen M.W. Call, Francis Newman, Hodgson Pratt, Lydia Becker, Josephine Butler, Anna Swanwick, C. Jacob Holyoake, J. Kells Ingram,
NORTH FACE: Joseph Priestley, Thomas Paine, William Hone, John Stuart Mill, Major Cartwright, Richard Carlile, William Lovett, William Carpenter, Henry Hetherington, John Frost, William Cobbett, W. J. Fox, Richard Moore, William Howitt, Samuel Bamford, Henry Hunt, George Thompson, David Williams, Thomas Wooller, Ebenezer Elliott, Ernest Jones, Alex Macdonald, Richard Cobden, Robert Cooper.
