TRIAL WEBSITE: History
We have put together this part of the website to help further understand the breadth of history in our town. We’d love you to explore it, check it, question it, and tell us what’s missing. You can email us at history@lovebarnet.co.uk
A stone plaque marks Livingstone Cottage, where Scottish doctor and explorer David Livingstone lived with his family for nine months (1857–58). There, he wrote Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, a bestseller. They worshipped at the Congregational church on Wood Street. Livingstone was later buried in Westminster Abbey, though his heart was buried in a Zambian village. From Barnet Council’s Barnet Healthy Walks. (Image Source)
“In memory of William Cattley 1788-1833 only child of John and Anne Resident of Wood Street Barnet. Patron of Horticulture Collector of Orchids and Tropical Plants. The Orchid Genus Cattleya was named in his honour in 1821”
Plaque in St John The Baptist Church grounds.
Cattle and sheep drovers brought stock along ancient routes to London markets via Barnet. Their seasonal traffic fed Barnet Fair’s growth and left traces in lanes and inns.
Family of Barnet benefactors from the 17th century, notably James Ravenscroft, lawyer and philanthropist. Endowed almshouses and charities that still shape the townscape, including Ravenscroft Cottages. (Image Source)
Early 18th-century philanthropist who funded a school for poor Barnet children. Lessons began in Tudor Hall before a dedicated Wood Street building opened in 1824. (source) (Image Source)
In March 1611, the English noblewoman Arbella Stuart, on her forced journey north to Durham, stopped at an inn in Barnet where she feigned illness to delay her exile.
Eleanor Palmer (d. 1558), became a notable local benefactor through her landholdings in Barnet and Kentish Town. Her charity endowments funded almshouses and relief for the poor, a legacy that continues today through the Eleanor Palmer Trust and its residential homes. (Image Source)
Birt Acres (1854–1918), photographer and film pioneer, lived at Clovelly Cottage on Park Road, Chipping Barnet, where he shot “Incident at Clovelly Cottage” in 1895 – the first successful motion picture made in Britain. He also gave the country’s first public film show in New Barnet in January 1896. (source)
Ann and Lucy Paget of Hadley Wood, energetic late-Victorian benefactors. Backed schools, church halls and public health; funded the Hadley Green drinking fountain and supported QE Boys and Girls schools. Summarised from Peter Wanders website.
Barnet’s women’s-rights story spans bluestocking Hester Chapone to local suffragettes hosting meetings and earning prison records. Later residents included activists such as Violet Aitken and Dorothy Bowker.
Record-setting teenage cyclist who rode Brighton–London–Brighton in 1893. Later settled in High Barnet, where she lived from marriage to death; her ride became a landmark moment for women’s sport and dress reform.
Julia Hyde (1818–1888), Lady of the Manor at Monken Hadley, left £10,000 in her will to found a literary institute and reading rooms for local people. Her bequest created the Hyde Institute, which later evolved into Barnet’s public library service and continues today through the Hyde Foundation. (Image Source)
Literary mother and son associated with Hadley Green’s “Grandon.”
Notable MPs linked to Chipping Barnet include Reginald Maudling, Sydney Chapman, Theresa Villiers and Dan Tomlinson.
Barnet-born founder of the modern hospice movement and of St Christopher’s Hospice. Her holistic approach to end-of-life care transformed palliative medicine worldwide. (Image Source)
Nevil Maskelyne, Future Astronomer Royal who served as curate in Chipping Barnet. While here he advanced the lunar-distance method of finding longitude, later standardised in the Nautical Almanac. [Did he live in Wood St? Nevil Maskelyne lodged in Richard Hassell’s house (source)].
“Gwyneth Cowing (1899 -1987) was the granddaughter of George Wetton Cowing the founder of Barnet Press. She was chairman of the Board of Directors of Barnet Press and president of Barnet Society; Vice President of Barnet & District Local History Society (now Barnet Museum).” (source)
“Cecil Clarke was a Barbadian physician who trained at Cambridge University. Clarke developed Clark’s rule, a mathematical formula used to calculate the proper dosage of medicine for children aged 2-17 (source). Lived at Belfield House, EN5 1HG.