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Sorry, but William doesn’t live here...
Plaque plan falls foul of history’s inconvenient truth
WILLIAM Wilberforce was a natural choice: the MP had dedicated his life to the abolition of the slave trade and had close links to a home in Hampstead village.
So when the Heath and Hampstead Society were thinking of worthy dignitaries to mark with a plaque, the philanthropist, who died in 1833, made the final cut.
Except for one, minor problem. It appears Wilberforce may never have lived in Hampstead.
The unfortunate historical fact came to light as the Society’s five-strong plaques committee trawled through what chairman Frank Harding described as “a significant number” of candidates. They whittled the worthy names down to a shortlist of eight – before cutting it down to the final four.
The first of the plaques went up this week on the site of a former fire station in the building opposite Hampstead Tube, known as the Clock Tower, while the cartoonist Sir David Low’s high street home is also set to be honoured.
Mr Harding said: “We called for people to make suggestions and Wilberforce’s name was put forward and made it on to our final list.”
The plaques team then approached the home’s owners, and decided to double check the house, on Christchurch Hill, was in fact the right one.
Mr Harding added: “When we looked further into Wilberforce, it emerged he didn’t actually live there. His son lived there and had the same name, and Wilberforce may have owned the house, but we could not find evidence that it was his home.”
Two other plaques are currently being cast by a foundry and will go up in the coming months, although the identities of the names are being kept under wraps. Another four plaques are planned to be up by the end of the year – but who they may be is also being kept secret.
Mr Harding added: “We have another eight-strong shortlist and we are, of course, carefully researching to check they lived in the area.” |
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