Tomb Of William Clarkson

Tomb of William Clarkson

This cast iron tomb, dating from 1830, stands in the churchyard to the south of the Grade I listed Church of St Mary in Hitchin. It commemorates William Clarkson (1758–1830) and was manufactured by Brown Iron Founder of Coppice Row, Clerkenwell, as recorded on the monument itself.

The tomb is constructed principally from cast iron, set upon a stone plinth. It features a hipped stone roof crowned with an urn, corner pilasters with carved stops, and is surrounded by spiked iron railings. The three-tiered base plinth is plain in character.

The sides of the tomb are inscribed with memorial script. The principal inscription records that William Clarkson, who died at Wraby in Lincolnshire on 24 November 1830 in his seventy-third year, is deposited there. It notes that he zealously supported his friend Thomas Clarkson of Playford Hall, Suffolk, in promoting measures for the abolition of the slave trade. The inscription further states that he left money for keeping the tomb in perpetual repair and for an annual statutory sermon, with the rector and church warden appointed as trustees of this fund. A separate inscription commemorates his wife. Beneath the iron is inscribed the phrase "Life's a Span. Death's Eternity".

William Clarkson worked closely with Thomas Clarkson (1760–1846) in anti-slavery campaigning. Thomas Clarkson, first introduced to the anti-slavery movement by a Quaker, wrote a prize-winning essay whilst at Cambridge entitled "An Essay of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, Particularly the African". This essay led to the creation of an informal committee to lobby Members of Parliament and was instrumental in recruiting William Wilberforce, with Clarkson playing the chief part. Clarkson dedicated his career to campaigning for the abolition of slavery until the act abolishing slavery in the British Empire was passed in 1833. He died in 1846 at Playford and was buried at St Mary's Church; a large monument to his memory was erected in 1880 at Wisbech and is listed at Grade II*.

The tomb derives special interest from its commemoration of a public figure and his contribution to the abolition of British slavery, from its accomplished architectural design demonstrating distinguished proportion, form and detailing, and from its unusual use of cast iron as the primary construction material in preference to stone, with the foundry's signature present on the monument. Its visual and spatial association with the Grade I listed Church of St Mary to the north and the Old George and Dragon Hotel to the south-east adds to its group value.