Joseph Hardcastle's grave, Bunhill Fields, London

Joseph Hardcastle (1752–1819) was an English merchant. One of the founders of the Missionary Society, later the

London Missionary Society The London Missionary Society was an interdenominational evangelical missionary society formed in England in 1795 at the instigation of Welsh Congregationalist minister Edward Williams. It was largely Reformed in outlook, with Congregational miss ...

, he devoted time and money to its affairs, becoming its first treasurer.

Life

Hardcastle was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, where he lived until the age of 15, at which point he moved to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

to join his uncle's business. He eventually became a merchant, still based in London. During his time in London he lived at Old Swan Stairs, before moving to Hatcham House in

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

, then a rural

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

village, in what is now the

New Cross Gate New Cross is an area in south east London, England, south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwi ...

area of

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

Thomas Clarkson Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 – 26 September 1846) was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known ...

the slavery abolitionist was a frequent guest at Hatcham House. Here Clarkson wrote much of his ''History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade'', and met his future wife, a niece of Mrs Hardcastle. Joseph Hardcastle was especially active in arranging missionary expeditions to Africa, and created schemes through which missionary work could be self-funding by the sale artefacts brought back by the missionaries. Hardcastle is buried in

Bunhill Fields Bunhill Fields is a former burial ground in central London, in the London Borough of Islington, just north of the City of London. What remains is about in extent and the bulk of the site is a public garden maintained by the City of London Cor ...

non-conformist cemetery, in

. The grave is in the north section of the T-plan, close to the red granite obelisk to

Joseph Hart Joseph Hart (1711/12 – 24 May 1768) was a Calvinist minister in London. His works include ''Hart's Hymns'', a much-loved hymn book amongst evangelical Christians throughout its lifetime of over 200 years, which includes the well-known hy ...

Legacy

The story of Joseph's life was published in "Memoir of Joseph Hardcastle Esq., the first Treasurer of the London Missionary Society: A Record of the Past for his Descendants", which was written by his last surviving daughter, Emma Corsbie Hardcastle, and published in 1860. A number of roads in the modern New Cross Gate reflect his time, most notably Joseph Hardcastle Close.

Family

Hardcastle married in 1777 Anne Corsbie, daughter of John Corsbie of Bury St Edmunds. They had nine children, two dying young, with three sons and four daughters becoming adults. They included: *Anne (died 1827), the eldest daughter, who married in 1810

Henry Forster Burder Henry Forster Burder, D.D. (1783–1864) was an English nonconformist minister. Life The eldest son of the Rev. George Burder, and brother of Thomas Harrison Burder, he was born 27 November 1783, at Coventry. He was articled in 1798 to a whole ...

. *Mrs Arnould (Elizabeth, died 1827), mother of Anne Elizabeth Hardcastle Arnould, who married the Rev. Henry Olivier and was grandmother of

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier (; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director who, along with his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud, was one of a trio of male actors who dominated the Theatre of the U ...

. *Alfred (1797–1841), second son, married firstly Anne Cobb Hurry (1789–1815); Joseph Alfred Hardcastle, MP, was their son. He married secondly Emma Smith, in 1820. *Emma Corsbie (1800–1867), youngest daughter, who married in 1822 Alexander Haldane (1800–1882). The other children were Selina, Joseph and Nathaniel.

References

1752 births English Protestant missionaries 1819 deaths Businesspeople from Leeds Merchants from London Burials at Bunhill Fields {{UK-reli-bio-stub