Henry Richard
Encyclopedia
Rev. Henry Richard MP "the Apostle of Peace", was a Congregational minister and Welsh
Member of Parliament
, 1868-88. The son of the Rev. Ebenezer Richard (1781–1837), a Calvinistic
Methodist minister, Henry Richard is chiefly known as an advocate of peace and international arbitration, having been secretary of the Peace Society
for forty years (1848–84). He is less widely known for his other interests, for example his anti-slavery
work.
, Ceredigion, and educated initially at Llangeitho
grammar school
, Henry Richard attended college at Highbury
, near London
, to obtain qualifications for the ministry. In 1835 he was appointed the second in a line of distinguished pastors at Marlborough Chapel, a Congregational chapel in the Old Kent Road
, London, whose foundation stone had been laid by Thomas Wilson in 1826. Here Henry Richard succeeded the Rev. Thomas Hughes, and raised sufficient funds to pay off the chapel's outstanding building loans and establish a flourishing school (British School, Oakley Place).
in the capitals of Europe, and was partly instrumental in securing the insertion of a declaration in favour of arbitration in the treaty of Paris
in 1856. Through this work he became universally known in Europe and the United States until his resignation in 1885.
member of parliament for the Merthyr
boroughs in Wales
, becoming known as one of the foremost nonconformists in the House of Commons
. Here he was a leading member of the party which advocated the removal of Nonconformist grievances and the disestablishment of the church in Wales.
He also prepared some of the material for the life of his friend and associate, Richard Cobden
, which was written by John Morley
, later Lord Morley.
In the field of journalism he contributed to the Morning Star and the Evening Star.
work and unable to support the American Civil War
as an appropriate means to end slavery, Henry Richard was nevertheless respected in this field. Indeed, a few weeks after his death, the Anti-Slavery Society
, now Anti-Slavery International
, published an obituary in their journal, The Anti-slavery Reporter and Aborigine's Friend
. His imposing white stone and marble tomb in the form of a shrine with its own gabled roof, replete with his carved portrait, was erected by public subscription in 1891 over his grave at the Congregationalist model non-denominational garden cemetery, Abney Park Cemetery
, Stoke Newington
, London
.
Photo of tomb on flickr
D. Ben Rees The Life and Work of Henry Richard Nottingham, 2007.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
, 1868-88. The son of the Rev. Ebenezer Richard (1781–1837), a Calvinistic
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
Methodist minister, Henry Richard is chiefly known as an advocate of peace and international arbitration, having been secretary of the Peace Society
Peace Society
The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a society founded on 14 June 1816 for the promotion of permanent and universal peace; it advocated a gradual, proportionate, and...
for forty years (1848–84). He is less widely known for his other interests, for example his anti-slavery
Abolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
work.
Early life
Born in 1812 in TregaronTregaron
Tregaron is a market town in the county of Ceredigion, Wales, lying on the River Brenig , a tributary of the River Teifi. The town is twinned with Plouvien, in Finistere, France. According to the 2001 Census, Tregaron's population was 1,183, of whom 68.8% spoke Welsh fluently.-History:Tregaron...
, Ceredigion, and educated initially at Llangeitho
Llangeitho
Llangeitho is a village and community in Ceredigion, Wales situated on the upper river Aeron about 6 km due west of Tregaron and 11 km north of Lampeter. It has a population of 874....
grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...
, Henry Richard attended college at Highbury
Highbury
- Early Highbury :The area now known as Islington was part of the larger manor of Tolentone, which is mentioned in the Domesday Book. Tolentone was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Road. The manor house was situated by what is now...
, near London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, to obtain qualifications for the ministry. In 1835 he was appointed the second in a line of distinguished pastors at Marlborough Chapel, a Congregational chapel in the Old Kent Road
Old Kent Road
The Old Kent Road is a road in South East London, England and forms part of Watling Street, the Roman road which ran from Dover to Holyhead. The street is famous as the equal cheapest property on the London Monopoly board and as the only one in South London....
, London, whose foundation stone had been laid by Thomas Wilson in 1826. Here Henry Richard succeeded the Rev. Thomas Hughes, and raised sufficient funds to pay off the chapel's outstanding building loans and establish a flourishing school (British School, Oakley Place).
Secretary of the Peace Society
Rev. Henry Richard resigned in 1850 to devote himself full time as secretary to the Peace Society, a post he had undertaken two years earlier on a part-time basis. He helped organize a series of congressesInternational Peace Congress
International Peace Congress, or International Congress of the Friends of Peace, was the name of a series of international meetings of representatives from peace societies from throughout the world held in various places in Europe from 1843 to 1853...
in the capitals of Europe, and was partly instrumental in securing the insertion of a declaration in favour of arbitration in the treaty of Paris
Treaty of Paris (1856)
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 settled the Crimean War between Russia and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the British Empire, Second French Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The treaty, signed on March 30, 1856 at the Congress of Paris, made the Black Sea neutral territory, closing it to all...
in 1856. Through this work he became universally known in Europe and the United States until his resignation in 1885.
Member of Parliament
In 1868 Henry Richard was elected LiberalLiberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
member of parliament for the Merthyr
Merthyr Tydfil (UK Parliament constituency)
Merthyr Tydfil was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Glamorgan. From 1832 to 1868 it returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and in 1868 this was increased to two members...
boroughs in Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, becoming known as one of the foremost nonconformists in the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
. Here he was a leading member of the party which advocated the removal of Nonconformist grievances and the disestablishment of the church in Wales.
Chairman of the Congregational Union
In 1877 Henry Richard MP was appointed chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales.Author and journalist
Among Richard's writings may be mentioned:- Defensive War (1846 and 1890)
- The Recent Progress of International Arbitration (1884) on the subject of peace and conflict
- Memoirs of Joseph SturgeJoseph SturgeJoseph Sturge , son of a farmer in Gloucestershire, was an English Quaker, abolitionist and activist. He founded the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society . He worked throughout his life in Radical political actions supporting pacifism, working-class rights, and the universal emancipation of...
(1864) in memory of the abolitionist and founder of the mid-nineteenth century Anti-Slavery SocietyAnti-Slavery SocietyThe Anti-Slavery Society or A.S.S. was the everyday name of two different British organizations.The first was founded in 1823 and was committed to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. Its official name was the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the...
; - Letters on the Social and Political Condition of the Principality of Wales (1866 and 1884) reflecting his love of Wales;
He also prepared some of the material for the life of his friend and associate, Richard Cobden
Richard Cobden
Richard Cobden was a British manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with John Bright in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League as well as with the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty...
, which was written by John Morley
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn OM, PC was a British Liberal statesman, writer and newspaper editor. Initially a journalist, he was elected a Member of Parliament in 1883...
, later Lord Morley.
In the field of journalism he contributed to the Morning Star and the Evening Star.
Abolitionist
Less well known for his anti-slaveryAbolitionism
Abolitionism is a movement to end slavery.In western Europe and the Americas abolitionism was a movement to end the slave trade and set slaves free. At the behest of Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas who was shocked at the treatment of natives in the New World, Spain enacted the first...
work and unable to support the American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
as an appropriate means to end slavery, Henry Richard was nevertheless respected in this field. Indeed, a few weeks after his death, the Anti-Slavery Society
Anti-Slavery Society
The Anti-Slavery Society or A.S.S. was the everyday name of two different British organizations.The first was founded in 1823 and was committed to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. Its official name was the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the...
, now Anti-Slavery International
Anti-Slavery International
Anti-Slavery International is an international nongovernmental organization, charity and a lobby group, based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1839, it is the world's oldest international human rights organization, and the only charity in the United Kingdom to work exclusively against slavery and...
, published an obituary in their journal, The Anti-slavery Reporter and Aborigine's Friend
Death and memorial
Rev. Henry Richard MP died in 1888 at Treborth, near BangorBangor, Wales
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...
. His imposing white stone and marble tomb in the form of a shrine with its own gabled roof, replete with his carved portrait, was erected by public subscription in 1891 over his grave at the Congregationalist model non-denominational garden cemetery, Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park Cemetery
Abney Park in Stoke Newington, in the London Borough of Hackney, is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney and Dr. Isaac Watts, and the neighbouring Hartopp family. In 1840 it became a non-denominational garden cemetery, semi-public park arboretum, and...
, Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington
Stoke Newington is a district in the London Borough of Hackney. It is north-east of Charing Cross.-Boundaries:In modern terms, Stoke Newington can be roughly defined by the N16 postcode area . Its southern boundary with Dalston is quite ill-defined too...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
.
Photo of tomb on flickr
Sources
- Miall, Charles .S. (1899), Henry Richard, M.P. : a biography, London:Cassell'
- Appleton, L. (1899), Memoirs of Henry Richard, London:Trubner
- articles in Cymru Fydd The Anti-Slavery Reporter for 1888.
D. Ben Rees The Life and Work of Henry Richard Nottingham, 2007.