Place Name
Henry Peter Brougham (September 19, 1778 – May 7, 1868) was a Whig MP who became Lord High Chancellor and as an advocate of liberal causes played a prominent role in passing both the 1832 Reform Act and the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act. His passions on the subject of law reform also ensured his place in the record books when on February 7, 1828 he spoke continuously for six hours, the longest non-stop speech by a member of Parliament. He helped establish the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge and University College London. It was his interest in promoting education that he is immortalised here, having been the ideological mentor of the London Mechanics’ Institute where he inspired its young Committee of Management Francis Ravenscroft, who would go on to chair his family’s bank that financed the Birkbeck Freehold Land Society, which funded the building of this residential street.
