Wilberforce and the Oak the Wilberforce Oak, Keston Marks the Site of an Impor Tant Historical Event Which Was to Have Far-Reaching Con Sequences
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THE NEWSLETTER OF THE LOCAL HISTORY SOCIETY FOR THE LONDON BOROUGH OF BROMLEY AUGUST 1987 PRICE 10p Free to Members Wilberforce and the Oak The Wilberforce Oak, Keston marks the site of an impor tant historical event which was to have far-reaching con sequences. William Wilberforce decided to speak against the slave-trade. He was visiting Holwood, the country estate of his friend William Pitt (1759-1806). There is some doubt about the exact year but the meeting is thought to have taken place in May 1787. Wilberforce described the event in his diary thus: “At length I well remember after a conversation with Mr Pitt in the open air at the root of an ~'d tree at Holwood, just above the steep descent into the s of Keston, I resolved to give notice on a fit occasion in Arte House of Commons of my intention to bring forward the abolition of the slave trade”. A stone seat was erected by the Oak in 1862, inscribed with the above diary entry. To mark the two hundredth anniversary, Bromley Council held a ceremony at Holwood in May 1987. A plaque was unveiled and the stone seat moved into the estate grounds and replaced by a wooden bench. William Wilberforce was born into a wealthy Hull family in 1759. At Cambridge he enjoyed an idle and carefree life. His personal fortune enabled him to be elected as M.P. for Hull in 1780. Wilberforce had led a comfortable existence until this time. His life, however, was soon to change direc tion. He was introduced to Isaac Milner, in 1784, an Evangelical Christian and was encouraged by him to fight for the abolition of slavery. Thus the meeting with Pitt came at an important time. Wilberforce’s decision to fight slavery, in Parliament, required a life-time of commitment Wilberforce Oak — First black bishop Samuel Crowther in and could not be treated lightly. centre. There were numerous setbacks to the anti-slavery cam paign. Despite the support of influential friends, such as Pitt, Charles James Fox and John Wesley, abolitionists " rtions were defeated in Parliament. Throughout this e, Wilberforce was associated with the Clapham Sect, me founding of the Church Missionary Society and the Bible Society. He was also involved in work with prisons, schools and hospitals. Years of campaigning had taken their toll as Wilberforce suffered periods of ill-health. He FUTURE retired from Parliament in 1825, but eight years later Parli ament abolished all slavery in British territory. A few days after this Wilberforce died on 29th July 1833. The following year 800,000 slaves became free. MEETINGS A framed inscription at Wilberforce House, Hull sum marises his life in the following words: “Statesman, orator, Thursday A journey from the Yorkshire 1st October Stingo — Public Transport in philanthropist, saint” . 7.45 p.m. Londonfrom 1829 by John Today the original Wilberforce oak remains as a hollow Small Hall, Bromley Wagstaffwho is Vice-Chairman trunk, but a new tree is growing inside, grown from an Central Library of the Beckenham and Bromley acorn from the first oak. Branch ofthe Historical Association and a noted speaker Sally Adcock on public transport. Friday 30th The Bromley Museum — Dr. Alan October 7.45p.m. Tyler, Curator of the Museum. VISIT TO MICHELHAM PRIORY The Museum 12th SEPTEMBER 1987 Orpington Priory Do not miss this opportunity to visit Michelham Priory Thursday An unusual aspect of industrial which will include a guided tour of some of the 13th-16th 3rd December archaeology — Trevor Woodman. 7.45p.m. century buildings and an opportunity to visit the 16th cen Small Hall, Bromley Coalposts in the Borough — tury Great Barn, gardens and working watermill. Central Library Robin Cooper. The cost, including coach and cream tea, is £6.50. Book ings to Tom Hollobone, “Oakwood”, 266D Pickhurst Lane, West Wickham, KentBR4 0HR. REGENCY RICHNESS AT BROMLEY HILL LORD AND LADY FARNBOROUGH- One of Bromley’s most colourful couples CHARLES AND AMELIA LONG deserve their place in the local history of Bromley. Amelia (1762-1837) ranks high in her own right, gaining an entry in the Dictionary of National Biography as an artist and landscape gardener. Charles Long (1761-1838) was a politician, a Tory, with a special allegiance to William Pitt the Younger; he held office for most of his career, but is remembered chiefly for his interest in the arts. Childless, their home at Bromley Hill was perhaps their greatest creation, for they trans formed a suburban villa, set in rough woodland, with their fine art collection and their skill as landscape gardeners. The woodland walks and water gardens, the artfully revealed vistas of distant London made Bromley Hill a fam ous beauty-spot, and it is hard to better the imaginative account which E.L.S. Horsburgh gives of it in his history of Bromley. With Amelia’s help Charles gained high place in the art world; advising the royal family on the decoration of palaces; becoming a trustee both of the British Museum and the National Gallery, and making the acquaintance of practising artists. One such was George Cumberland, son of a scrivener, and author of books on picturesque land scapes, and best known for his friendship with William Blake. In 1811 Cumberland wrote his descriptive account of Bromley Hill, as he had earlier done for Thomas Johnes, in his “Attempt to describe Hafod in Cardiganshire”. The account of Bromley Hill may have been written to gain favour for his sons, for Long was then Postmaster General; certainly Cumberland, the friend of radicals like Horne Tooke, did not share all Long’s political views, which seem to have been those of a strict Tory. Nor did another artistic friend, Richard Payne Knight, of Downton in Hereford shire, a Whig, and cousin of Thomas Johnes who, with his friend Sir Uvedale Price, dominated artistic life in Wales at the beginning of the 19th century. Knight’s friendship may explain the landscaping at Bromley Hill. The Longs, who married in 1793, were only moderately wealthy, and the new home at Bromley Hill was chosen for its modest size and near distance to Pitt’s home, Holwood in Keston. Other neighbours were the Amelia Long. Scotts, local dignitaries who had come to own Sundridge Park. Sir Claude Scott had just pulled down the old man slavery movement the Tories were certainly better off with sion and built and landscaped his new home on the advice out the known pro-slavery views of the Long family^ of Wyatt, Nash and Humphrey Repton. As Repton in par expressed forcibly by Charles’ nephew, Charles Edward ticular was a foe of Payne Knight’s, the Longs may have Long. decided to do their own landscaping, Amelia gaining a New leaders and new generations were rising in Bromley reputation thereby almost as great as the distinguished too. Thus the young Grotes and Normans and Camerons Repton’s. were now openly radical and Benthamite, supporting a new And indeed, their reputation came to centre increasingly “godless” University of London, or, in the case of the on Bromley. In 1800 it was still the tiny hamlet, dominated Camerons, rehabilitating an ancestor executed after the by the Bishops of Rochester, that the Pitt family had known ’45. George Grote Senior had been a Huguenot banker of for the previous fifty years. Both Prime Ministers lived in Threadneedle Street; his sons, born and bred in Bromley, the region, ideally placed for transport: only ten miles from were Benthamite philosophers, though still keeping a love London and on the main road to Tonbridge and Hastings. of the classics. Charles Cameron, Governor of the The population was small, only 2,700 in 1800, mostly Bahamas, had retired to Bromley where his son, Charles engaged in agriculture and trade. The climate and the Hay, was born in 1795. The latter became a judge in India schools were excellent, and the local surgeon, Dr. James and supporter of Benthamite views on education. Scott, enjoyed a European reputation. There was a good Above all, the new power in Bromley by the 1820s was Chalybeate spring, and the Bishops had sought to make the Norman family. Small local gentry, perhaps of Quaker Bromley a retirement home for the widows of Anglican origin, they had begun to acquire large holdings on Brom clergy. There was a growing local gentry, especially the ley Common with the coming of enclosures. They con Wells shipbuilding family and the Norman family (property tinued the high cultural traditions of the past, but theirs was and banking). more muscular Christianity, being ardent cricketers and CHARLES LONG was created Baron Farnborough in active in social welfare locally. George Ward Norman 1826 and effectively retired from political life, possibly hav (1793-1882) followed local tradition as a banker, possibly ing fallen out with George Canning. He had spoken rarely the most influential to have lived at Bromley, being a in Parliament, and with the rise after 1823 of a new anti- Director of the Bank of England from 1821 to 1872. A friend of young George Grote, he had liberal views, though National Gallery, others, including rare Jamaican items, to he seems not to have championed the abolition of Negro join the Egerton Manuscripts bequest in the British slavery. But as a free trader, an opponent of excessive taxa Museum library. Despite building developments, their tion and an advocate of decimal coinage, his influence was Bromley Hill still stood in 1860 and one visitor, Samuel real. Loyd Jones, Lord Overstone, a banker friend of G.W. Nor How far change, especially in Benthamite views, man, remarked that “the place is indeed a marvellous impinged on the Longs of Bromley Hill is not clear.