George Julian Harney's unfinished column

George Julian Harney spent his final years in Richmond upon Thames, where he lived in a single room surrounded by mementoes and memories that stretched back more than half a century to the high tide of Chartism and his role as one of its most incendiary leaders.

After he died, in December 1897, he was buried, without a great deal of ceremony, in Richmond Cemetery, where his grave is marked by a monumental column erected by his second wife, Marie. Earlier this week, as I live within easy reach I paid Harney a visit.

Harney’s memorial in Richmond Cemetery.
Click on any image for a larger version.

I’m happy to report that the monument remains in good condition. The text is still very legible, and the cemetery is well maintained, though not, I’m pleased to say, gardened to within an inch of its life.

I couldn't help wondering at the form of the monument. The broken column suggests to me a life cut short - even though he lived to the age of 80. 

But since Harney was a journalist by trade and was still writing a weekly 'column' for the Newcastle Chronicle up to his death, I wondered whether this was a tongue-in-cheek reference to an unfinished column for the paper. Probably reading too much into that, and Marie Harney just liked the design.

If you want to pay a visit, you will find that the cemetery is a fair 20-minute walk from Richmond Station. If you go by car, I’d suggest parking at Sheen Gate, just inside Richmond Park, and walking through the park; it takes about ten minutes.

Harney is buried in Section K, as shown on the cemetery’s free map, and when you know what the monument looks like, he is not hard to find. Although it would be even easier if the map wasn’t the wrong way up, with south at the top!

Note, however, that the cemetery is divided into two halves, with a footpath, fenced on both sides, running east-west through the middle. Harney is in the southern half.

As you can see from the photograph below, a couple of fairly substantial memorials now stand between Harney and the footpath. These were not here when he was buried, and rather overshadow his, but do not obscure it.

The main Chartist Ancestors website has been a bit light on material about Harney, but I have now put that right with an article about his life. Read George Julian Harney, 1817-1897.

More info...
Cemetery website.
Cemetery map.