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Reformers Memorial

Memorial

What is recorded here

The Reformers Memorial in Kensal Green Cemetery was erected by Joseph William Corfield in 1885 to name people associated with political and social reform rather than one person buried below. Further names were added in 1907, and restoration in 1997 renewed its public purpose.

Read the whole record

The Reformers Memorial in Kensal Green Cemetery was erected by Joseph William Corfield in 1885 to name people associated with political and social reform rather than one person buried below. Further names were added in 1907, and restoration in 1997 renewed its public purpose.

Why it was made

Joseph William Corfield wanted a shared memorial to men and women who had pursued political, social and religious reform, not a grave marker for one family.

People and events

Corfield erected it in 1885 with fifty names; his daughter Emma added twenty-five more in 1907, extending the memorial after his death.

How it worked

Names cut across the tall stone faces gather many separate reform causes into one public list, inviting visitors to connect people who were rarely commemorated together.

What remains

The inscribed monument remains near the memorial to Robert Owen in Kensal Green Cemetery and was repaired with its companion monument in 1997.

Why it mattered

It uses a cemetery setting to remember public action rather than death at that spot, giving a lasting collective presence to a broad reform tradition.

Sources for this account

Sources checked 16 August 2026.

From OpenStreetMap (© OpenStreetMap contributors) n13850387440

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Photo credits
  • Dr Neil Clifton, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Oxyman, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Phillip Perry, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Stephen McKay, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • J Taylor, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Adam Guy, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
  • Natalie_Oxford on Twitter, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 4.0
  • Mike Quinn, Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
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