7 May 2012

Robert Owen, and the Reformers' Memorial, Kensal Green, London

The cenotaph to Robert Owen, who was buried in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales, is fittingly at the side of the Reformers' Memorial.

'ROBERT OWEN
PHILANTHROPIST
BORN MAY 14TH. 1771.
DIED NOVR. 17TH. 1858.'

'1879
ERECTED BY SUBSCRIPTION
IN MEMORY OF
ROBERT OWEN
OF NEW LANARK,
BORN AT NEWTOWN, N. WALES 1771.
HE DIED AND WAS BURIED
AT THE SAME PLACE 1858,
AGED 87 YEARS.
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HE ORIGINATED AND ORGANIZED INFANT SCHOOLS, HE SECURED A REDUCTION OF THE HOURS OF LABOUR FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN IN FACTORIES. HE WAS A LIBERAL SUPPORTER OF THE EARLY EFFORTS IN FAVOUR OF NATIONAL EDUCATION AND LABOURED TO PROMOTE INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION. HE WAS ONE OF THE FOREMOST ENGLISHMEN WHO TAUGHT MEN TO ASPIRE TO A HIGHER SOCIAL STATE BY RECONCILING THE INTERESTS OF CAPITAL AND LABOUR. HE SPENT HIS LIFE AND A LARGE FORTUNE IN SEEKING TO IMPROVE HIS FELLOW MEN BY GIVING THEM EDUCATION, SELF-RELIANCE AND MORE WORTH.
                          HIS LIFE WAS SANCTIFIED BY HUMAN AFFECTION AND LOFTY EFFORT.
                                                                     J. W.CORFIELD'

'MR. OWEN'S WRITINGS.
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REPORT TO THE COUNTY OF LANARK.
NEW VIEWS OF SOCIETY.
TWELVE LECTURES.
LECTURES ON MARRIAGE.
LECTURES ON A NEW STATE OF SOCIETY.
THE BOOK OF THE NEW MORAL WORLD.
SIX LECTURES AT MANCHESTER.
MANIFESTO OF ROBERT OWEN.
SELF SUPPORITNG HOME COLONIES.
LETTERS TO THE HUMAN RACE.
REVOLUTION IN MIND AND PRACTICE.
ROBERT OWEN'S JOURNAL.
LIFE OF ROBERT OWEN.'

The Reformers' Memorial, which contains a great number of names.

'THIS MEMORIAL
IS RAISED AS A TOKEN OF REGARD TO THE
BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN WHOSE NAMES IT BEARS BY JOSEPH W. CORFIELD,
AUGUST 1895.'

'THE REFORMERS' MEMORIAL

ERECTED TO THE GLORY OF MEN AND WOMEN WHO HAVE GENEROUSLY GIVEN THEIR TIME AND MEANS TO IMPROVE THE CONDITIONS AND ENHANCE THE HAPPINESS OF ALL CLASSES OF SOCIETY. THEY HAVE FELT THAT A FAR HAPPIER AND MORE PROSPEROUS LIFE IS WITHIN THE REACH OF ALL MEN, AND THEY HAVE EARNESTLY SOUGHT TO REALIZE IT. THE OLD BRUTAL LAWS OF IMPRISONMENT FOR FREE PRINTING HAVE BEEN SWEPT AWAY AND THE RIGHT OF SELECTING OUR OWN LAW MAKERS HAS BEEN GAINED MAINLY BY THEIR EFFORTS. THE EXERCISE OF THESE RIGHTS WILL GIVE THE PEOPLE AN INTEREST IN THE LAWS THAT GOVERN THEM, AND WILL MAKE THEM BETTER MEN AND BETTER CITIZENS.'

A great number of people are mentioned on the monument, and among them are:

Robert Owen (New Lanark), John Bellars, 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, Francis Wright, Thomas Spence, Allan Davenport, Mary Hennell, Francis Place, Harriet Martineau, George Odger, 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, Hodgson Pratt, Francis Newman, Lydia Becker, Josephine Butler, Anna Swanwick, C. Jacob Holyoake, J. Kells Ingram, Joseph Priestley, Thomas Paine, William Hone, John Stuart Mill, Major Cartwright, Richard Carlile, William Lovett, William Carpenter, 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.


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Robert Owen in Manchester

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