Person    | Male  Born 20/12/1818  Died 19/12/1891

John Runtz

Born at 3 William Street, Kingsland Road. He became a Tunbridge Ware manufacturer, then a music teacher. He broadened his interests to the general education of working-class children and became the foundation headmaster of the Birkbeck Schools, set up by William Ellis using the London Mechanics Institute in Southampton Buildings near Holborn. Five other such schools followed, with Runtz's brothers George and James being headmasters at two of them. Runtz became the Superintendent of all the schools. The 1870 Education Act, 1870 made these schools unnecessary and by 1905 they had all closed or been taken over.

Runtz also worked in the business finance world, joining the boards and then becoming the chair of an insurance company and of a building society. He was also on the board of a number of other companies including the New River Company.

He entered local government in 1842. From 1867 he was the Stoke Newington Vestry's representative on the Metropolitan Board of Works on which he served for 22 years.

As well as the saving of Clissold Park, he was involved in the preservation of Hackney Downs, Mill Hill Fields, Newington Green and Finsbury Park. In these projects he often worked with Joseph Beck. He was also involved in the freeing of London bridges from tolls.

Our information is from Saving Clissold Park.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
John Runtz

Commemorated ati

Beck and Runtz fountain

MDFCTA confirms that this fountain is of a unique design but we can find no r...

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Other Subjects

Royal Army Medical College

Royal Army Medical College

Built on the site of Millbank Prison.

Group, Armed Forces, Education, Medicine

1 memorial
Worshipful Company of Skinners

Worshipful Company of Skinners

Originally an association of fur traders, it is now an educational and charitable institution. It is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London.

Group, Commerce, Education, Liveries & Guilds

1 memorial
Blind Veterans UK

Blind Veterans UK

This charity was founded at the start of WW1 by Arthur Pearson, the newspaper magnate who became blind in later life, as The Blinded Soldiers' and Sailors' Care Committee. February 1915 it opened t...

Building, Education, Social Welfare

2 memorials
Thomas Huxley

Thomas Huxley

Thomas Henry Huxley. Biologist and anthropologist. Born Ealing.  An early adherent to Darwin's theory of evolution, he was a strong supporter while also pointing out what he saw as flaws.  At the R...

Person, Education, Race Issues, Science

1 memorial
Westminster School

Westminster School

Public school. It's full name is The Royal College of St Peter in Westminster. Pupils were taught here from at least the 12th century until the Dissolution of the Monasteries. It was re-founded by ...

Place, Education

2 memorials