Person    | Male  Born 1797  Died 15/5/1862

Sir Benjamin Hawes

From British History Online: Master of the Haberdashers Company 1833-4 and leading force in the rebuilding of Aske’s Hospital 1826.

We have found some links between this politician and the Haberdashers so we feel reasonably confident in identifying him as the Benjamin Hawes on the plaque.

Early on he worked in the firm run by his father and uncle, in the business of soap-boiling. This brought him the parliamentary nick-name "Hawes the Soap-Boiler" (expecting something witty, weren't you?). Whig MP for Lambeth 1832 - 47. Married Isambard Kingdom Brunel's sister.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Sir Benjamin Hawes

Commemorated ati

Aske's Hospital - left - 1828

Note that the plaque says that not only was a new building erected but also t...

Read More

Other Subjects

Joseph Beck

Joseph Beck

Saving Clissold Park have some lovely old photos of this man but they have eschewed the normal form of potted biography and instead have provided 13 bullets points:  Chairman of the Clissold Par...

Person, Gardens / Agriculture, Politics & Administration

2 memorials
George Cressall

George Cressall

Poplar councillor imprisoned during the 1921 rates protest. George Joseph Cressall  was born on 29 August 1880, the eldest of the sixteen children of Thomas Walter Cressall (1856-1927) and Clara T...

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
James Clements

James Clements

JP, elected to Brentford Council in 1895 and was the Chairman of the Council a number of times.

Person, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
W. H. Church

W. H. Church

Alderman in the Borough of Hammersmith in 1948. Our colleague Andrew Behan has researched this man: William Henry Church was born in 1876 in Knightsbridge, a son of Joseph Church and Mary Ann Chur...

Person, Law, Politics & Administration

1 memorial