John Fielden’s Grave, Unitarian Church, Todmorden

The grave is in the burial ground of the first Unitarian Church off Longfield Road which became the Sunday School when the magnificent new church opened in 1869. Although a very wealthy mill owner and influential politician he requested a very simple grave with an equally simple inscription which reads: Born 17th Jany 1784 – John Fielden – died 29th May 1849 John, ‘Honest John’ as he became known, came from a local yeoman clothier family who by the late 1780s had developed a domestic cotton-spinning and weaving business which by the second half of the 19th century had developed into the largest firm in the cotton industry east of the Pennines with eleven mills in and around Todmorden where it was the largest employer. John’s three sons became amongst the richest people in the two counties. However it as a political and social reformer that John is best known. Following the passage of the Great Reform Act of 1832, for which he had vigorously campaigned, he became Radical MP for Oldham which constituency at the time included Todmorden. Once in Parliament he successfully introduced and piloted through the ‘Ten Hour Act’ as well as opposing the 1836 Poor Law Act and at the same time publishing a pamphlet ‘The Curse of the Factory System’.