Monument To Henry Hunter, Middle Enclosure

Monument to Henry Hunter, Middle Enclosure

This is an obelisk and chest tomb of Henry Hunter, dated 1801, designed and made by Coade and Sealy of Lambeth. The monument is constructed of Coade stone—a ceramic material made to imitate marble—set on a Portland stone plinth over a brick vault.

The structure consists of a squat obelisk of whitewashed Coade stone with a flared and moulded base, mounted on a rectangular chest tomb with raised side panels and end projections in the form of sarcophagi. The southern side panel bears the main inscription, written in elaborate language, which describes Hunter's achievements and qualities and expresses the hope that "finally sinking under the pressure of years / THIS PILLAR / shall tremble and fall over the dust it covers, his Name shall be transmitted to Generations unborn". The north panel commemorates Hunter's wife Margaret, their son Henry and daughter Christian. The base carries the names of the manufacturers (Coade and Sealy of Lambeth) and the date 1801. The monument was originally topped with an urn finial and surrounded by railings, both now lost.

Henry Hunter (1742–1802) was a Church of Scotland minister, writer and translator. Born in Perthshire and educated at Edinburgh University, he worked as a private tutor in aristocratic households before being ordained minister of South Leith in 1762. He moved to London seven years later and in 1771 was appointed minister to the Scottish congregation at London Wall. He was awarded the degree of Doctor of Divinity by Edinburgh University around the same time. His published work consisted mainly of sermons, lecture collections and translations of modern European texts, including the first English translation of Johann Caspar Lavater's influential Essays on Physiognomy. He died at Bristol in 1802, having witnessed the deaths of five of his eight children.

Coade stone was first manufactured by Eleanor Coade in 1769 at a factory in Lambeth, on the present site of the Royal Festival Hall. The material proved extremely popular for both free-standing sculpture and architectural ornament due to its ease of manufacture and resistance to weather and pollution. Mrs Coade entered into partnership with her cousin John Sealy in 1799 and received royal appointments from George III and the Prince Regent. The Coade factory ceased production around 1840.

The monument stands within Bunhill Fields Burial Ground, which was first enclosed as a burial ground in 1665. Located just outside the City boundary and independent of any Established place of worship, it became London's principal Nonconformist cemetery, the burial place of John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe, William Blake and other leading religious and intellectual figures. The burial ground was closed for burials in 1853, laid out as a public park in 1867, and re-landscaped following war damage by Bridgewater and Shepheard in 1964–65.