picture from awesomepeople.com
I wonder if the men of God who owned the manor of Hyde got a chance to speak freely when Henry VIII decided to acquire their home and livelihood.
I think, on reflection, not.
I’m sure, if someone had given them a soapbox and assured them that their lives were safe, that they would have had plenty to say on the subject of Bluff King Hal slipping the whole place under his vast doublet and making off with it, enclosing it as a private deer park for a very long time, and calling it ‘Hyde Park’. It had been the property of the Canons of Westminster for as long as anyone could remember. Not even William the Conqueror wrested it from them.
But Hal, he was a great blunderbuss of an acquirer.
It was not until some considerable time later – the first quarter of the seventeenth century – that James I decided that a trickle of gentlefolk would be good for the verdure.And then Charles I opened Hyde Park to all the hoi polloi in 1637.
Something nasty was happening at the park’s north-east corner., Since the 1100s, executions had been taking place at the gallows there, drawing huge crowds; and these only began to thin out towards end of the 18th century.
Meanwhile the business of great public gatherings and protests was becoming more and more of an issue in London. Riots broke out there in 1855 over the Sunday Trading Bill. The Reform League – campaigning for equal votes for all men – held massive demonstrations in 1866 and 1867. The appetite for speaking out was out there, and London politicians were on the hot plate.
They made a historic decision. Or rather, they made no decision at all: they delegated that pleasure to the park keepers. The Parks Regulation Act of 1872 said that the Parks should decide whether or not public meetings should be held.
And so it remains today.
This is how Speaker’s Corner began. Hyde Park was not the only one; there were others all over London. But this one endures. At 1:30pm on a Sunday, you can still stroll through the park and have a jolly good heckle.
Many are the speakers who have taken it upon themselves to sound off on a Sunday. But none fascinates me more than someone who may only ever have attempted to speak there once: the leader of a tiny revolutionary movement in exile in London.
His name was Vladimir Lenin.
In Memories of Lenin – written by his wife Nadya Krupskaya – she relates how the leader was fascinated by London, back at the dawn of the 20th century. “We started going to all kinds of meetings,” she relates. “We stood in the front row and carefully studied the orator’s mouth.
“We went fairly often to Hyde Park, where speakers harangued the passing crowds on diverse themes. An atheist, standing among a group of curious listeners, proved there was no God.”
She adds: “We were particularly keen on listening to one speaker of this kind. He spoke with an Irish accent, which was easier for us to understand. Nearby a Salvation Army officer uttered hysterical shouts in appeal to God Almighty, while a little farther on a shop-assistant was holding forth on the hours of servitude of assistants in the big stores…We learnt a great deal by listening to spoken English.”
All human life was there, and Lenin loved it. he was not alone: Karl Marx, William Morris, George Orwell and Christabel Pankhurst all spoke there too.
But Lenin lodged with an Irish family, and his English left much to be desired; a Russian speaking halting English with an Irish accent was rather difficult to understand.
There is no account of what happened if, or when, he stepped up to the soap box. But it is likely to have been a damp squib, and history left it until much later, and chose a far distant country, for his flame to ignite a great nation.
Kate Shrewsday 
So interesting!
I love this story, Julie.
It seems that he didn’t suffer from stage fright. I can’t imagine standing up in front of a crowd of strangers and haranguing them.
I quite fancy it myself, Roger. Though I’m not sure how I’d manage the heckling. Might have to give it a go.
Ack! Listening to them made my hair hurt.
I prefer blogs . . . where I can change the channel as soon as I tire of the diatribe.
They do require patience. I think people only stick around if they fancy an argument. There’s a great tradition of debate here – did you see how the crowds flocked to the arguments? But if you don’t like it, you can toddle off for a stroll in the park.
Interesting that he used that platform to practice, where he knew he could not advance.
His wife’s memoirs tell how he was incredibly excited by the debate going on in all the working class outlets – working men’s clubs, pubs, and so forth. I wonder if, even though he was unintelligible, he just wanted to join this groundswell of change. He was so much part of that zeitgeist.
Funny, funny clip, Kate – can you hear me laughing here on the Cutoff? Loved this post.
Chicago has Bughouse Square, which isn’t far from Lincoln Park Zoo, Oz Park (as in the Wizard of Oz, which was written in Chicago), and the renowned Newbury Library, and Lake Michigan. Makes for interesting, er, dialogue.
You always make my day. Thank you.
Pleasure, Penny 🙂 One day I hope to see Bughouse Square in action.
Most of the speakers do tend to get Bolshie, don’t they?
In South Africa, the Canons of Westminster would now be saying they wanted Hyde Park back.
They do, Col, they do. I shall potter off cradling the delicious image of the Canons of Westminster petitioning for Hyde Park back.
Fascinating – I knew Stalin lived in Stepney but had no idea about Vladimir’s oratorical debut.
The Memoirs of his wife are well worth a read, Jim!
Her name always cheers me up!
I am just fascinated with this whole slice of history. Who hasn’t heard of Hyde Park, but I didn’t know a thing about Speakers Corner. It is a remarkable tale to think of Lenin practicing his oratory while in London, and perhaps refining his thesis before moving on. It just brings to mind the “what ifs” that could have changed history, had he perhaps encountered the other thinkers and speakers , possibly leading to a change in his personal direction. It’s all just so interesting. I can’t wait to sit with the video. Thank you for providing that, Kate.
Pleasure, Debra. I shall take a trip up there at the first opportunity. the last time I went I arived many hours early at 9:15 in the morning!
I don’t know if there was an official name for one I saw in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, but I was fascinated by what I saw and heard there as a child. Thanks for providing the diverse speakers that were in Hyde Park. Some do seem to have a great time heckling one another.
And just over 10 years later he (Lenin) created the world’s first socialist state, in his native Russia…