87-471: The Reform League was established in 1865 to press for manhood suffrage and the ballot in Great Britain. It collaborated with the more moderate and middle class Reform Union and gave strong support to the abortive Reform Bill 1866 and the successful Reform Act 1867 . It developed into a formidable force of agitation at the very heart of the country. During the autumn and winter of 1864–65 members of
174-637: A Midland Department of the Reform League to be formed. This prospered and boasted almost 10,000 members and held great mass meetings at critical stages of the Reform campaign of 1867. The Reform League thought it vital to embrace the more middle-class supporters of the Reform Union and were careful to avoid violence or illegitimate actions. Meetings were closely controlled with one reputedly having 10,000 stewards. They encouraged John Bright to speak at events as he
261-452: A Police Notice, but the Reform League resolved to attempt to enter the Park and, if this failed, to move on to Trafalgar Square . The procession started off from the Reform League's headquarters, at 8 Adelphi Terrace , headed by a cab containing the Reform League's president, Edmond Beales , his friend Colonel Dickson and a few other aristocratic supporters. The procession was so vast that when
348-541: A close approximation of universal manhood suffrage among white people being adopted in all states by 1856. Poorer white male citizens gained representation; however, tax-paying requirements remained in five states until 1860, in two states until the 20th century, and many poor white people were later disenfranchised. The expansion of suffrage was largely peaceful, excepting the Rhode Island Dorr Rebellion . Most African-American men remained excluded; though
435-604: A meeting at the Agricultural Hall in Islington . The procession included every sort of Trade Union and Reform League branch from all around the country, all carrying banners and accompanied by bands. That evening a number of "advanced Liberal" MPs arrived fresh from a sitting at the House of Commons with news of how "unsatisfactory" the Tory government's proposals for reform were. This made
522-655: A number of trade unionists, including Thomas Vaze of the Painters and John Bedford Leno the shoemaker poet because they had supported the South during the American Civil War . During the first few months of the League's existence, it proved important that Howell's role was a full-time one that was paid for by a few wealthy supporters. This enabled him to concentrate on marketing the League in newspapers and communicating announcements of
609-697: A political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the slogan, " one man, one vote ". In 1789, Revolutionary France adopted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen and, although short-lived, the National Convention was elected by all men in 1792. It was revoked by the Directory in 1795. Universal male suffrage
696-568: A series of streets and terraces in neo-Classical, Greek revival style. The place names reference the New River company, including Amwell Street (after the New River's source in Hertfordshire) and River Street. The Lloyd Baker estate was laid out immediately to the west of the New River estate from 1820 to 1840. It takes its name from the family of Bishop William Lloyd who inherited the land from his godmother Flower Backhouse, Countess of Clarendon ,
783-493: A shareholder in the New River company. The estate is characterised by neo-classical pedimented villas and garden squares. As it was a suburb beyond the confines of the London Wall , Clerkenwell was outside the jurisdiction of the somewhat puritanical City fathers. Consequently, "base tenements and houses of unlawful and disorderly resort" sprang up, with a "great number of dissolute, loose, and insolent people harboured in such and
870-595: A short walk from the Green. Their new offices are a short distance away in King's Cross . In 2011, an anti-cuts protest march departed from Clerkenwell and ended with a rally at Trafalgar Square demanding trade union rights, human rights and international solidarity. Clerkenwell St James was an ancient parish in the Finsbury division of the Ossulstone hundred of Middlesex . Part of
957-509: A variant of clerc , meaning literate person or clergyman). The first surviving reference to the name is from 1100. In the Middle Ages , the London Parish clerks performed annual mystery plays there, based on biblical themes. Part of the well remains visible, incorporated into a 1980s building called Well Court. It is visible through a window of that building on Farringdon Lane. Access to
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#17328448904991044-530: A waiter's napkin". It is estimated that 200,000 people invaded the park leading the police to call for military support. When the Royal Horse Guards arrived the crowds cried "Three cheers for the Guards - the people's Guards!". The soldiers held back and merely manoeuvred at a distance, despite the police commissioner, Sir Richard Mayne , and others being stoned by the mob. The meeting proceeded as planned under
1131-655: Is claimed that the area has the highest concentration of architects and building professionals in the world. Many of London's leading architectural practices have offices in the area. It is said that Vladimir Lenin and a young Joseph Stalin first met in the Crown and Anchor pub (now known as the Crown Tavern) on Clerkenwell Green, when the latter was visiting London in 1903. The Betsey Trotwood (named after Betsey Trotwood in David Copperfield by Charles Dickens) adopted
1218-684: Is served by the London Underground Circle , Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan lines and the Elizabeth line . The next station west of Farringdon is King's Cross St Pancras , and all westbound trains call at Baker Street tube station . To the east, the next stations are Barbican , Moorgate and Liverpool Street in the City . The Hammersmith and City and Circle lines both terminate in West London at Hammersmith (via Paddington ). Eastbound,
1305-623: Is where Fagin and the Artful Dodger induct Oliver into pickpocketing amongst shoppers in the busy market once held there. In his words it is "an open square in Clerkenwell, which is yet called, by some perversion of terms the Green", despite lacking any "greenery". Indeed, Dickens knew the area well and was a customer of the Finsbury Savings Bank on Sekforde Street , which links Clerkenwell Green to St John Street. Hockley-in-the-Hole
1392-842: The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution , ratified in 1870, upheld their voting rights, they were denied the right to vote in many places for another century until the Civil Rights Movement gained passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 through Congress . In 1925, the Japanese government passed a bill granting universal manhood suffrage , additionally removing the poll tax . The New Women's Society sidestepped its activism that year in order for legislation to freely pass. As women also began to win
1479-651: The Finsbury Estate lie in Clerkenwell, rather than Finsbury. They are named after the former Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury which included Clerkenwell, Finsbury and other areas. For a list of street name etymologies in the Clerkenwell area see Street names of Clerkenwell and Finsbury . Clerkenwell took its name from the Clerks' Well in Farringdon Lane ( clerken was the Middle English genitive plural of clerk ,
1566-613: The International Working Men's Association , including George Howell , George Odger , William Cremer and Benjamin Lucraft . The father of the International, Karl Marx was delighted but he soon came to be disappointed by the outlook of the League. The League leadership also included a number of respectable figures including the barrister, Edmond Beales , as President of the League and Sir Wilfrid Lawson . The League excluded
1653-807: The Liberal Reform Club in Pall Mall and Gladstone's house in Carlton House Terrace and jeered loudly outside the Conservative Carlton Club . A second meeting on 2 July 1866 was even more heated, with rioting in the West End by a "fortuitous concourse of the waifs and strays and roughs of a great city" . The Trafalgar Square meetings were followed by a giant meeting held at Hyde Park on 23 July 1866. The Tory Home Secretary , Spencer Horatio Walpole declared it to be illegal, and issued
1740-701: The Round Pond and an associated building, the Water House . From here water was fed into a network of wooden mains which conveyed water to the cisterns of London. Over the years the New River Head complex expanded with the addition of further reservoirs and pumping stations, driven by windmill , horse gin and, eventually, steam engine . In 1820, the New River Company , owners of the river, moved its offices into an enlarged Water House, beginning an association of
1827-576: The Russell -Gladstone government in June and the bill was dropped. Robert Lowe, 1st Viscount Sherbrooke a Liberal M.P., enraged the working class by describing them as "impulsive, unreflecting, violent people" guilty of "venality, ignorance, drunkenness and intimidation" . "Eight years in Australia and a visit to America had left him a convinced opponent of democracy." A succession of Tory Ministers further frustrated
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#17328448904991914-684: The Universal League for the Material Elevation of the Industrious Classes planned to form a new organisation which would concentrate solely on manhood suffrage . As a result, the Reform League was established on 23 February 1865 and the Universal League for the Material Elevation of the Industrious Classes became defunct. The leadership of the League, which was to remain consistent throughout its life, drew heavily on personalities from
2001-831: The "advanced Liberalism" of the General Election of Nov 1868. Their help was gratefully received and enough "advanced Liberals" were elected in Nov 1868 to cause the immediate resignation of Benjamin Disraeli 's cabinet. As reward for their help, Morley had also allowed some of his £1,900 to finance a number of the Reform League's leaders (e.g., Edmond Beales in Tower Hamlets , George Howell (aided by John Bedford Leno ) in Aylesbury and William Randal Cremer in Warwick , etc.) to stand themselves in
2088-621: The 1920s and 1930s, 37a Clerkenwell Green was a venue for Communist Party meetings, and the Marx Memorial Library was founded on the same site in 1933. In 1942 the local borough council erected a controversial bust of Vladimir Lenin at the site of a new block of flats in Holford Square (the bust was removed in the 1950s). Clerkenwell's tradition of left-leaning publication continued until late 2008 with The Guardian and The Observer having their headquarters on Farringdon Road,
2175-437: The 1980s, and the area is now known for loft-living in some of the former industrial buildings. It also has young professionals , nightclubs and restaurants and is home to many professional offices as an overspill for the nearby City of London and West End . Amongst other sectors, there is a notable concentration of design professions around Clerkenwell, and supporting industries such as high-end designer furniture showrooms. It
2262-504: The A10 to Clerkenwell's east. Transport for London (TfL) and the London Borough of Islington both provide cycling infrastructure in Clerkenwell, and the area is well connected to London's cycle network . Cycle Superhighway 6 (CS6) runs north–south through Clerkenwell, which provides the area with direct links to King's Cross , Bloomsbury , Blackfriars and Elephant and Castle on
2349-498: The British Social Democratic Federation at 37a Clerkenwell Green, and issues 22 to 38 were indeed edited there. At that time Vladimir Lenin resided on Percy Circus, less than half a mile north of Clerkenwell Green. In 1903, the newspaper was moved to Geneva . It is said that Lenin and a young Joseph Stalin met in the Crown and Anchor pub (now The Crown Tavern) when the latter was visiting London in 1903. In
2436-695: The Hammersmith and City line continues towards Barking in East London , whilst the Circle line loops around the City of London with trains heading westwards towards Tower Hill , Embankment and Victoria . The Metropolitan line terminates at Aldgate to the east, and to the west, trains carry passengers to Wembley Park , Uxbridge , and stations in Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire . There are several tube stations near
2523-456: The League and meetings were held in pubs all over London. It provided left-wing leadership to a broader-based national movement that built up rapidly over the winter of 1865–6. William Ewart Gladstone introduced a Reform Bill in March 1866. It was criticised on all quarters; some thought it went too far, others that it didn't go far enough. Three months later an amendment to the bill brought down
2610-448: The League decided to hold another Hyde Park meeting. The government banned it, saying it was illegal, but the League countered that the ban itself was illegal and posted posters to this effect on 1 May. The government backed down. Eventually 200,000 met at Hyde Park on 6 May and speeches were made on ten different platforms. The government planned to use violence, having sworn in large numbers of special constables on 4 May, but backed down at
2697-567: The League would be spurred on by its success and would continue to campaign for the ballot. Tories were alarmed at the prospect of two permanent bodies of agitation (the League and the Union) of a kind they had never known before. Demonstrations continued, culminating in the surprisingly successful "working men's" assembly of 11 Nov 1867 in Crystal Palace . However, the focus of the league started to recede once most "respectable" working men had received
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2784-551: The League £250 in November 1867, followed by £25 from P. A. Taylor and £20 from Abraham Walter Paulton in January 1868, £100 from Titus Salt in April 1868 and £100 from Thomas Thomasson in June 1868. However, Samuel Morley gave another donation of £1,900 which enabled the League to send out numerous "deputations" to boroughs where a useful Trade Union and working-class vote might be won for
2871-693: The M1 . Beyond London, the A1 passes through the East and North of England before terminating in Edinburgh , Scotland. Farringdon Street is numbered the A201 , which links Clerkenwell to King's Cross , Blackfriars , and Elephant & Castle . The A5201 ( Clerkenwell Road / Old Street ) also runs through Clerkenwell, linking Soho and Holborn in Central London with Shoreditch and
2958-570: The New River Company developed housing on the land surrounding New River Head. At the centre is Myddelton Square, named after Sir Hugh Myddelton , developer of the New River, with the Grade II listed St Mark's Church in the centre. The church was built in 1827 in Victorian Gothic style by William Chadwell Mylne , after whom the nearby Mylne Street and Chadwell Street are named. The estate is
3045-455: The Reform League to cancel a proposed Good Friday procession to Hyde Park , due to fear of a gigantic "profanation", was accepted by the League's leaders as they were concerned it might mobilise religious sentiment against them. This was a disappointment as the prospect of a procession on a bank holiday, like Good Friday, was an excellent opportunity to draw large crowds of workers who had the day off. As pressure for reform built up nationally,
3132-399: The Reform League's Executive Committee. This helped recruit supporters. New branches were rapidly opened in both London and the provinces. During its first year the League received donations of £621, of which £476 came from rich Radicals such as P.A. Taylor MP, Samuel Morley MP and Sir Wilfred Lawson MP. The Liberals remained in power after the 1865 election . Support quickly grew for
3219-542: The Reform League, such as George Odger and James Finlen were seized by the Tory press as chances to scare the population that the Reform League would continue agitation indefinitely. "Advanced Liberal" politicians of respectability, who had worked with the League in 1866–7 and had tasted its power to cause reform, were determined not to let the League die at a time when they needed support against Conservative resistance to changes in Ireland. The very wealthy Samuel Morley gave
3306-450: The Reformer's Tree. At its end it was decided to hold another meeting the next evening in Trafalgar Square . John Bedford Leno and the leaders of the Reform League heard a rumour that the government was determined to crack down on the demonstrators and so decided to confront the Home Secretary, Walpole . They pointed out to him that if the police or military stepped in bloodshed would ensue. With tears in his eyes Walpole agreed that restraint
3393-453: The area around Northampton Square. In the 20th century, Clerkenwell became known as a centre for architecture and design. Clerkenwell is home to City University and the Royal Mail's Mount Pleasant sorting office . It includes the neighbourhoods of Farringdon and Exmouth Market . Goswell Street formed the eastern boundary of the Clerkenwell parishes, with the River Fleet , now buried beneath Farringdon Road and other streets, forming
3480-434: The area directly to North London and Hertfordshire destinations. Clerkenwell is in the London Congestion Charge Zone, as well as the London Low Emission and Ultra Low Emission Zones. Most roads in Clerkenwell are residential, but several key routes cross Clerkenwell. Goswell Road carries the A1 between the City of London ( Barbican ) and Angel , with the road continuing northbound towards Highbury , Archway and
3567-418: The area. The community had mostly dispersed by the 1960s, but the area remains the 'spiritual home' of London's Italians, and is a focal point for more recent Italian immigrants, largely because of St Peter's Italian Church in nearby Saffron Hill . There are officially over 200,000 Italians in London, and possibly many more. The Italian Procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and Sagra takes place each July in
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3654-517: The centre of Clerkenwell. Located on the edge of the City of London , it was the home of the Priory of St John and the site of a number of wells and spas, including Sadlers Wells and Spa Green. The well after which the area was named was rediscovered in 1924. The Marquess of Northampton owned much of the land in Clerkenwell, reflected in placenames such as Northampton Square , Spencer Street and Compton Street. The watchmaking and watch repairing trades were once of great importance, particularly in
3741-420: The chemicals required for their Bromide based papers and negatives. During World War II, they were relocated for security reasons because of the fear that Axis bombs would destroy the photographic equipment used for the war effort. Clerkenwell Green lies at the centre of the old village, by the church, and has a mixture of housing, offices and pubs, dominated by the imposing former Middlesex Sessions House . It
3828-407: The efforts of the police to restrain them. Simultaneously, two other parts of the demonstration also broke into the park; one from Knightsbridge headed by Charles Bradlaugh , and another from Park Lane . In addition to the members of the procession, large numbers of bystanders, who were sympathetic to the cause, joined in the storming of Hyde Park and the police were overwhelmed "like flies before
3915-410: The election. None succeeded, mainly due to a lack of respectability and also due to a failure of negotiations to allow them to contest suitable constituencies. The Reform League was dissolved in March 1869, and some of its members went on to become Liberal MPs or activists. Manhood suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within
4002-513: The engineering, printing publishing and meat and food trades (the last mostly around Smithfield) fell empty. Several acclaimed council housing estates were commissioned by Finsbury Borough Council . Modernist architect and Russian émigré Berthold Lubetkin 's listed Spa Green Estate, constructed 1943–1950, has recently been restored. The Finsbury Estate , constructed in 1968 to the designs of Joseph Emberton includes flats, since altered and re-clad. A general revival and gentrification process began in
4089-472: The feats he has done about Turnbull Street". Known now as Turnmill Street and adjoining Farringdon station , it had an infamous reputation for brothel-keeping and was described in Sugden's Topographical Dictionary as "the most disreputable street in London, a haunt of thieves and loose women". The Clerkenwell Bridewell , a prison and correctional institute for prostitutes and vagrants, was known for savage punishment and endemic sexual corruption. Clerkenwell
4176-442: The fringes of Clerkenwell: Farringdon is a National Rail station served on the Thameslink route, served by Thameslink trains run by Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR). This links Clerkenwell directly to Luton and Gatwick airports, and destinations including Bedford , Brighton , Cambridge , Luton , Peterborough , and destinations in South London and Kent . Moorgate is also nearby, with Great Northern services linking
4263-424: The grounds of Beaufort House, Fulham to hold a meeting. The march was made in a dispiriting downpour, but the fine discipline displayed by the rain-sodden men gave their leaders another claim to public attention. The next day it was reported in the Times that the working men had done enough to show they were earnest in their demand for enfranchisement and asked them to stop their disturbing actions and to wait for
4350-450: The headquarters of the St John Ambulance Association. An Early English crypt remains beneath the chapel of the order, which was otherwise mostly rebuilt in the 1950s after wartime bombing. The notorious deception of the " Cock Lane Ghost ", in which Johnson took great interest, was perpetrated nearby. Adjoining the priory was St Mary's nunnery of the Benedictine order, now entirely disappeared, and St James's Church , rebuilt in 1792 on
4437-471: The householder or lodger vote. Years of demonstrations began to tire the workers and the thought of many more years of the same no longer held the same appeal. In addition, the Sheffield Outrages and the Fenian "martyrdoms" took over as the main working class issues of the day. Notable events of this time include the "funeral processions" of 24 Nov 1867 and the "Fenian Outrage" at Clerkenwell Prison on 13 Dec 1867. Pro-Fenian indiscretions by some members of
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#17328448904994524-424: The hundred thousands. At one such meeting, in Trafalgar Square on 29 June 1866, speeches were made which refused support for any future Reform Bill which was not based on the League's programme. It was also declared that the advent of Tories to power was "destructive to freedom at home and favourable to despotism abroad". Red flags and the cap of liberty were sported by a march from Clerkenwell Green . Crowds cheered
4611-453: The last minute. Walpole subsequently resigned over the confusion of free speech in Hyde Park and it was never again questioned. Gustave Paul Cluseret fled Ireland and arrived in London immediately after the Reform League's Trafalgar Square meeting. He met a dozen members of the Reform League, including John Bedford Leno , in a private room of the "White Horse" in Rathbone Place. He proposed that they create civil war in England and offered
4698-412: The lawlessness of the area. The locality was also known as a meeting place for gay men. The construction of the New River between 1604 and 1613 resulted in the creation of the New River Head in Clerkenwell, on what is now Rosebery Avenue . The New River was constructed to supply London with fresh drinking water from Hertfordshire , and the New River Head originally consisted of a circular reservoir,
4785-424: The leading carriage reached Bond Street , the last had not yet left Holborn . When the procession reached Marble Arch they were confronted by a line of policemen and the park's gates were chained. 1600 constables, on foot and mounted, guarded Marble Arch alone. Barricades of omnibuses were on every side; the carriages of the wealthy blocked the way. A massive crowd assembled at the Arch and Beales attempted to enter
4872-459: The like noisome and disorderly houses, as namely poor cottages, and habitations of beggars and people without trade, stables, inns, alehouses, taverns, garden-houses converted to dwellings, ordinaries, dicing houses, bowling alleys, and brothel houses". During the Elizabethan era Clerkenwell contained a notorious brothel quarter. In Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 2 , Falstaff complains about Justice Shallow boasting of "the wildness of his youth, and
4959-462: The name in 1983, having previously been the Butcher's Arms . In 2005 Mark Bittman of The New York Times wrote that Clerkenwell has "some of the best restaurants in London". Restaurants in Clerkenwell include St John and the Michelin-starred Club Gascon . In the 1850s the south-western part of Clerkenwell and Saffron Hill in the nearby borough of Holborn became known as London's " Little Italy " because around 2,000 Italians had settled in
5046-435: The other side. Leno declared his intention to leave at once, the others agreed, and the room was soon cleared. The next day the meeting was fully reported in The Times , although Leno's speech had been attributed to George Odger , who had in fact supported Cluseret 's proposal. Leno concluded that there had been a leak and that the traitor had been Robert Hartwell , the editor of The Bee-Hive journal. John Bedford Leno
5133-405: The parish of St James was split off as the parish of St John in 1723. However, for civil matters they remained a single parish. The Clerkenwell Vestry became a nominating authority to the Metropolitan Board of Works in 1855. Under the Metropolis Management Act 1855 any parish that exceeded 2,000 ratepayers was to be divided into wards; as such the parish of St James & St John Clerkenwell
5220-460: The park. The police prevented this amid scuffles. Three days of what are variously described as "skirmishes" or "riots" ensued. While arguing with the police, John Bedford Leno's friend, Humphreys, noticed that the railings would stand no pressure and began to sway them backwards and forwards. He was soon helped by the masses and the railings fell in what was to become known as the "Hyde Park Railings Affair" . The people flooded into Hyde Park despite
5307-423: The printing industry. It gained an especial reputation for the making of clocks , marine chronometers and watches , which activity once employed many people from around the area. Flourishing craft workshops still carry on some of the traditional trades, such as jewellery-making. Clerkenwell was home to Witherbys, a printing company who have now split ownership, with the printers having relocated to north London and
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#17328448904995394-566: The publishers to Scotland (see also the Witherby Publishing Group ). It was during the Industrial Revolution that Clerkenwell became known as London's Italian district, although the total number of Italian residents probably numbered no more than 2,000 at any one time. The Kodak United Company opened a factory and storefront at 41–43 Clerkenwell and took advantage of the surplus of unemployed Jewelers and Watch makers to build their Stereoscopic and Folding Pocket Cameras that they produced and repaired. The location also allowed them easy access to
5481-403: The rebuilt form of the Priory Gate. Its gateway, erected in 1504 in St John's Square, served various purposes after the Dissolution of the Monasteries . For example, it was the birthplace of the Gentleman's Magazine in 1731, and the scene of Dr Johnson 's work in connection with that journal. In modern times the gatehouse again became associated with the order and was in the early 20th century
5568-467: The reforms that the Parliament was now certain to make. In the winter of 1866 discontent increased as cold gripped the nation with great East End distress, a growing Fenian problem in Ireland and amongst the Irish in English cities, Trade Union restlessness grew and a feverish international atmosphere followed Bismarck 's foundation of an apparent democracy in the North German Confederation . The Reform League continued to campaign and soon found that it
5655-495: The right to vote during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the goal of universal manhood suffrage was replaced by universal suffrage . Clerkenwell Green Clerkenwell ( / ˈ k l ɑːr k ən w ɛ l / ) is an area of central London , England. Clerkenwell was an ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington . The church of St James in Clerkenwell Close and nearby Clerkenwell Green sit at
5742-419: The same time. Clerkenwell Town Hall, which had been built on Rosebery Avenue in 1895, became Finsbury Town Hall . Finsbury became part of the London Borough of Islington in 1965 and the old town hall lay empty and deteriorating for many years. It has since been sold to the Urdang Dance Academy. After the Second World War Clerkenwell suffered from industrial decline and many of the premises occupied by
5829-480: The service of two thousand sworn members of the Fenian body, and that he would act as their leader. John Bedford Leno was the first to reply and denounced the proposal, stating that it would surely lead to their "discomfiture and transportation", and added that the government would surely hear of the plot. During subsequent speeches Leno noticed that only a matchboard partition divided the room they occupied, with another adjoining room, and that voices could be heard on
5916-402: The site is now a campus of Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry . Black Mary’s Hole was a locality and small rural settlement in a low-lying area on the eastern, Clerkenwell side of the valley of the River Fleet . The area included fields called Black Mary’s Hole , and Robin Hood’s Field , which together with the name of the former local pub, The Fox at Bay , seem to reflect
6003-438: The site of the original church which was partly of Norman provenance. The Charterhouse , near the boundary with the City of London , was originally a Carthusian monastery. Following the Dissolution of the Monasteries the Charterhouse became a private mansion and one owner, Thomas Sutton, subsequently left it with an endowment as a school and almshouse . The almshouse remains but the school relocated to Surrey and its part of
6090-439: The site with the administration of London's water supply that was to last some 170 years. In 1920, the Metropolitan Water Board opened a new office building at New River Head, and this remained the headquarters for London's water supply up to the privatisation of the Thames Water Authority in 1989. The site is now largely in residential use, including both converted buildings and newly built apartment blocks. From 1810 to 1850,
6177-508: The streets surrounding the church. A small number of Italian businesses remain from the nineteenth century including organ builders Chiappa Ltd, and food outlets such as the deli Terroni of Clerkenwell and Gazzano's. Many other Italian firms survive from the period but have relocated elsewhere. Farringdon station is the only station in Clerkenwell itself. 12.618 million journeys began or ended at Farringdon in 2017–18. The station first opened in 1863 as Farringdon Street . Farringdon
6264-527: The vote to representatives of working class men for the first time. Despite a Reform Bill being on the Statute Book by mid-August, the League's leaders resolved that the organisation needed to be kept going to watch over the Scottish and Irish Representation Bills, whose enactment was reserved for 1868, and to forward Vote by Ballot and a wider county franchise. They received support from John Bright , who hoped
6351-558: The well is managed by Islington Local History Centre and visits can be arranged by appointment. The Monastic Order of the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem had its English headquarters at the Priory of Clerkenwell . ( The Blessed Gerard founded the Order to provide medical assistance during the crusades .) St John's Gate (built by Sir Thomas Docwra in 1504) survives in
6438-534: The western boundary with Holborn and, in part, St Pancras . This western boundary with both neighbouring areas is now used as part of the London Borough of Islington 's western boundary with the London Borough of Camden . Pentonville is a part of northern Clerkenwell, while the southern part is sometimes referred to as Farringdon, after the railway station of that name – which was named after Farringdon Road (an extension of Farringdon Street) and originally named Farringdon Street Station. Finsbury Town Hall and
6525-468: The working classes and the Reform League saw the chance to start major agitations which were to achieve pre-eminent national importance and put the Reform Union in the shade. Disappointed with the failure of the Bill, the Reform League, organised a series of demonstrations throughout the nation. The radical MPs John Bright and Charles Bradlaugh were prominent in these public meetings which attracted crowds in
6612-448: The working men at the packed and excited meeting all the more determined not to give up the "pressure from without" until the Tory cabinet made much more generous proposals for reform. The league now numbered one hundred branches in London alone and its deputations to Gladstone on 30 March 1867 and to Disraeli on 2 April 1867 were received with great attention. Lord Shaftesbury 's appeal to
6699-645: Was also the location of three prisons: the Clerkenwell Bridewell , Coldbath Fields Prison (later Clerkenwell Gaol) and the New Prison , later the Clerkenwell House of Detention , notorious as the scene of the Clerkenwell Outrage in 1867, an attempted prison break by Fenians who killed many in the tenement houses on Corporation Row in trying to blow a hole in the prison wall. The House of Detention
6786-550: Was an area of Clerkenwell Green where bull-baiting , bear-baiting and similar activities occurred in the 17th and 18th centuries. Clerkenwell Green has historically been associated with radicalism, from the Lollards in the 16th century, the Chartists in the 19th century and communists in the early 20th century. In 1902, Vladimir Lenin moved the publication of the Iskra (Spark) to
6873-480: Was built in 1782, extended during the Victorian era , and by the early 21st century used as a Masonic hall. The name is something of a historical relic – Clerkenwell Green has had no grass for over 300 years. However, in conveying some impression of its history, it gives the appearance of one of the better-preserved village centres in what is now central London . In Charles Dickens 's Oliver Twist , Clerkenwell Green
6960-511: Was demolished in 1890 but the extensive vaults and cells beneath, now known as the Clerkenwell Catacombs, remained. They were reopened as air raid shelters during the Blitz, and for a few years were open as a minor tourist attraction. Various film scenes have been shot in the catacombs. The Industrial Revolution changed the area greatly. It became a centre for breweries , distilleries and
7047-589: Was divided into five wards (electing vestrymen ): No. 1 (12), No. 2 (15), No. 3 (12), No. 4 (18) and No. 5 (15). The area of the metropolitan board became the County of London in 1889. A reform of local government in 1900 abolished the Clerkenwell Vestry and the parish became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Finsbury . Alexandra Park , an exclave of the parish, was transferred to Hornsey , Middlesex at
7134-510: Was fully satisfied with the success the Reform League had met and, being opposed to unnecessary violence, bitterly opposed the interference of Cluseret, as did most of the other members of the Reform League. Cluseret's "call to arms" was rejected and he left England for Paris to start his "War of the Commune". The Reform League's campaigning culminated in the passing of the Reform Act 1867 which gave
7221-438: Was one of the Reform movement's intellectual leaders. Bright addressed meetings including Manchester (24 September), West Riding/Leeds (8 October), Glasgow (16 October) and Dublin (2 November). Keen to avoid scaring their new-found middle-class supporters the Reform League's London Executive decided to avoid holding meetings in central London for a while. On 3 December 1866 thousands of League supporters marched from Whitehall to
7308-637: Was re-established in France in the wake of the French Revolution of 1848 . In the Australian colonies, universal male suffrage first became law in the colony of South Australia in 1856. This was followed by the colonies of Victoria and New South Wales in 1857 and 1858. This included the introduction of the secret ballot. In the United States , the rise of Jacksonian democracy from the 1820s to 1850s led to
7395-525: Was supported by most of the British working-class. The Reform League's leaders were determined not to make the mistake of easing off that they had made at the time of the Reform Bill 1866 , and so continued demonstrating. On 11 February 1867, the very day the Tory government had fixed for the announcement of its reforms, the League arranged an impressive demonstration that started from Trafalgar Square and ended at
7482-418: Was the best option. John Bedford Leno and George Odger went back to the crowds and announced the next evening's meeting at Trafalgar Square. As the sun set the crowds dispersed and the police and military held back, out of sight, and the meeting passed without undue violence. The next evening's meeting at Trafalgar Square was chaired by John Bedford Leno and was also peaceful. The "Hyde Park Railings Affair"
7569-489: Was widely reported and made the Reform League's leaders household names. They were in hot demand to speak at public meetings and demonstrations across the country and saw a rapid increase in support of the Reform League. During the next few months the Reform League expanded its branches and demonstrations around the country. A notable success was achieved at the Birmingham Reform demonstrations on 28 Aug 1866 which allowed
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