Henry Richard and Anti-Militarism in Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington

'HENRY RICHARD,

BORN AT TREGARON,

CARDIGANSHIRE

3, APRIL 1812.

MINISTER OF MARLBOROUGH CHAPEL, LONDON,

1835–1850.

SECRETARY TO THE SOCIETY

FOR PROMOTING PERMANENT AND UNIVERSAL PEACE,

1848–1884.

MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

FOR MERTHYR TYDFIL,

1868–1888.

DIED 20, AUGUST 1888,

AGED 76 YEARS.'

I had not as far as I'm aware heard of Henry Richard, who wrote several books – one of them on the abolitionist Joseph Sturge – until last month, when by chance I discovered his tomb in Abney Park Cemetery. Richard was widely known as 'The Apostle of Peace', and this post is particularly relevant in that this year marks the bicentenary of his birth. I was a little too late, as the celebration took place on 1 April this year.

Diane Abbott was present at the ceremony, and she's MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington. She's also the first black woman to enter the House of Commons, but more importantly she was a Labour MP in a New Labour government who voted against the destruction of Iraq, as of course Henry Richard would have done.

Below is a list, taken from the Guardian,  of MPs who voted aginst the destruction of Iraq, and is very revealing:

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Diane Abbott, Graham Allen, John Austin, Tony Banks, Harry Barnes, John Battle, Andrew Bennett, Joe Benton, Roger Berry, Harold Best, Bob Blizzard, Keith Bradley, Kevin Brennan, Karen Buck, Richard Burden, Anne Campbell, Ronnie Campbell, Martin Caton, David Chaytor, Michael Clapham, Helen Clark, Tom Clarke, Tony Clarke, Harry Cohen, Iain Coleman, Michael Connarty, Frank Cook, Robin Cook, Jeremy Corbyn, Jim Cousins, Tom Cox, David Crausby, Ann Cryer, John Cryer, Tam Dalyell , Valerie Davey, Ian Davidson, Denzil Davies, Terry Davis, Hilton Dawson, John Denham, Parmjit Dhanda, Jim Dobbin, Frank Dobson, Frank Doran, David Drew, Huw Edwards, Clive Efford, Bill Etherington, Mark Fisher, Paul Flynn, Hywel Francis,George Galloway, Neil Gerrard, Ian Gibson, Roger Godsiff, Win Griffiths, John Grogan , Patrick Hall, David Hamilton, Fabian Hamilton, Dai Havard, Doug Henderson, Stephen Hepburn, David Heyes, David Hinchliffe, Kate Hoey, Jimmy Hood, Kelvin Hopkins, Joan Humble, Brian Iddon, Eric Illsley, Glenda Jackson, Helen Jackson, Jon Owen Jones, Lynne Jones, Martyn Jones, David Kidney, Peter Kilfoyle, Mark Lazarowicz, David Lepper, Terry Lewis, Tony Lloyd, Ian Lucas, Iain Luke, John Lyons, Christine McCafferty, John McDonnell, Ann McKechin, Kevin McNamara, Tony McWalter, Alice Mahon, Jim Marshall, Robert Marshall-Andrews, Eric Martlew, Julie Morgan, Chris Mullin, Denis Murphy, Doug Naysmith, Eddie O'Hara, Diana Organ, Albert Owen, Linda Perham, Peter Pike, Kerry Pollard, Gordon Prentice, Gwyn Prosser, Ken Purchase, John Robertson, Joan Ruddock, Martin Salter, Mohammad Sarwar, Malcolm Savidge, Philip Sawford, Brian Sedgemore, Debra Shipley, Alan Simpson, Marsha Singh, Chris Smith, Llew Smith, George Stevenson, Gavin Strang, Graham Stringer, David Taylor, Jon Trickett, Paul Truswell, Desmond Turner, Bill Tynan, Rudi Vis, Joan Walley, Robert Wareing, Alan Whitehead, Alan Williams, Betty Williams, Mike Wood, Tony Worthington, David Wright, Tony Wright, Derek Wyatt

· 16 Tory MPs who backed the rebel amendment were: Peter Ainsworth, Richard Bacon, Tony Baldry, John Baron, Kenneth Clarke, John Gummer, John Horam, Douglas Hogg, Edward Leigh, Humphrey Malins, Andrew Murrison, Richard Page, John Randall, Jonathan Sayeed, Ian Taylor, Andrew Turner

· All 53 Liberal Democrat MPs and 11 other MPs also backed the amendment.

Isaac Watts in Stoke Newington, London

'The gateway to

ABNEY HOUSE

Which stood here 1700–1843

ISSAC [sic] WATTS

Hymn-writer and poet

stayed here

1734–1748'

Watts was known as 'the father of hymnody', and is perhaps most remembered for 'Against Idleness and Mischief' (aka 'How Doth the Little Busy Bee')* and 'O God Our Help in Ages Past'.

Abney Park was one of the ‘magnificent seven’ garden cemeteries of London, and is now a memorial park originally laid out by Lady Mary Abney and Isaac Watts. Watts's statue is in a central part of the park, in front of Abney Park Chapel.

'IN

MEMORY OF
ISAAC WATTS D.D.
AND IN TESTIMONY OF THE HIGH AND
LASTING ESTEEM IN WHICH HIS
CHARACTER AND WRITINGS ARE HELD IN
THE GREAT CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY BY
WHOM THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS SPOKEN.
OF HIS PSALMS AND HYMNS IT MAY
BE PREDICTED IN HIS OWN WORDS,

"AGES UNBORN SHALL MAKE HIS SONGS
THE JOY AND LABOUR OF THEIR TONGUES."

HE WAS BORN AT SOUTHAMPTON

JULY 17 1674. DIED NOVEMBER 25 1748
AFTER A RESIDENCE OF 36 YEARS IN THE
MANSION OF SIR THOMAS ABNEY, BART.,
THEN STANDING IN THESE GROUNDS.'

'THIS MOUNT

WAS A

FAVOURITE RETIREMENT

OF THE LATE

ISAAC WATTS, D.D.'

Abney Park did not become a cemetery until 1840. Isaac Watts was buried in Bunhill Fields with other non-Conformists.

*The words of 'Against Idleness and Mischief':

'How doth the little busy bee
Improve each shining hour,
And gather honey all the day
From every opening flower!

How skilfully she builds her cell!
How neat she spreads the wax!
And labours hard to store it well
With the sweet food she makes.

In works of labour or of skill,
I would be busy too;
For Satan finds some mischief still
For idle hands to do.

In books, or work, or healthy play,
Let my first years be passed
That I may give for every day
Some good account at last.'

Lewis Carroll parodies 'Against Idleness and Mischief' when Alice, in Alice in Wonderland, trying to remember a well-known verse, says:

'How doth the little crocodile
Improve his shining tail,
And pour the waters of the Nile
On every golden scale!

How cheerfully he seems to grin,
How neatly spread his claws,
And welcome little fishes in
With gently smiling jaws!'

In Hunger and Love, Lionel Britton suggests that Watts's expression 'For idle hands to do' is about masturbation, and I'm sure that he is in part correct.