Paying tribute to a man of the people

October 17, 2003

HENDERSON ROAD
(Earlham Road)

HE WAS the rebel with a cause — a champion of the poor and believed to be the last prisoner on the treadmill at Norwich Castle.

His name was Fred Henderson. A pioneer of socialism. A man the people listened to and loved.

They called him the “father” of Norwich City Council and thousands mourned his loss when he died in the summer of 1956 at the age of 90.

Fred had been a member of the council for more than half a century. He had been Lord Mayor at the outbreak of war in 1939.

Fred Henderson, the man known as the father of Norwich City Council, receiving a visit from the Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress on his 90th birthday at his home in Norwich.

An alderman, an honorary freeman of the city, an author, a poet, a journalist and a socialist who travelled the world and broadcast across America.

In the 1920s, author Sir Rider Haggard described Henderson’s writing as “some of the most brilliant and yet most sound journalistic work of the period”.

Born in Norwich in 1867, he was educated in Belfast where his father went to school. When he came back to Norwich he hated what he saw — hundreds of people starving in the slums.

Fred was barely 20 when he was involved in the bread riots that ripped through the heart of the city.

It was in 1887 that a large number of angry and hungry people gathered on Hay Hill. They had watched as their families got thinner and the rich got fatter.

One of the speakers was young Fred — he told the crowd he had rebel blood in his veins as he was related to Robert Kett. They cheered their working-class hero.

He led a deputation to the steps of the Guildhall. The mayor of the day offered to form a committee to discuss their problems.

But they had heard it all before. Fred and a man called Mowbray sang the song The Starving Poor on the steps of the Guildhall.

The crowd surged along The Walk. Some looting took place and a ham was seen flying through the air. From then on it became known as “The Battle of Ham Run.”

Fred and Mowbray were arrested and charged with incitement to riot.

At his trial, Fred told the judge his intention had been to lead the crowd to the shops and let them take what they needed, and then send the bill to the local authorities.

While those in the public gallery laughed, the judge was not amused. He praised the police before the jury arrived at a verdict. Guilty. Fred got four months and ended up on the treadmill.

But if those in power thought this would shut him up, they were mistaken.
A great writer and thinker, he threw himself into public life and later on, thanks largely to him, Parliament did away with the treadmill.

In 1902, he became the first socialist to be elected to Norwich City Council standing then as an Independent Labour Party candidate.

One of his books The Case for Socialism was officially issued as the party text book by the British Labour Party, the Social Party of America and the party in Canada.

It was translated into many different languages and Fred was invited to lecture across the USA. He gave one of the first coast-to-coast broadcasts on radio from New York and spoke to an estimated 12 million people.
And in the 1950s his life story was told on BBC radio in a programme called “Prophet with Honour.”

His poetry had enchanted Gladstone when he was Prime Minister.
Over dinner he asked Fred to be the Poet Laureate, but he declined the offer, saying he was “quite incapable of writing odes on ceremonial occasions”.

Back in Norwich, he went on to service a host of organisations and groups. He had stepped off the treadmill to become a magistrate and was chairman of the Food Control Committee during the war and played a leading role in helping people in their darkest hour.

His wife Lucy, the daughter of Christopher Slaughter, had died so his daughter Edith, who wrote The Story of Norwich and other books, served as Mayoress.

In 1947, Norwich honoured him and the artist Sir Alfred Munnings by making them honorary freeman of the city. Fred went on to play an active role in Norwich life until he died in his sleep at home on Earlham Road aged 90.

It is said Henderson Road is actually named after Edith — but we should all remember Fred, the “Sage of Earlham.” They did name a school after him — and next week I’ll bring you news of a reunion.

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