Monument MPM1739 - John Pounds Memorial

Memorial stone situated on the grave of John Pounds (1766-1839), founder of the Ragged Schools. Pounds, a cripple, taught the children of the poor from his shoemakers shop in St Mary Street (now Highbury Street). The memorial and grave are located in the Memorial Garden of the John Pounds Unitarian Church in the High Street. The original church which Pounds attended was bombed during the Second World War and the present building erected in its place. [1] There are a number of headstones lined up along the wall of the garden which belonged to the former burial ground. A modern replica of John Pounds shop has been constructed at the far end of the garden, behind the church. [HER Officer] The memorial is in the form of a column of white stone with an inscription on two sides which reads [1]: UNDERNEATH THIS MONUMENT REST THE MORTAL REMAINS OF JOHN POUNDS THE PHILANTHROPIC SHOEMAKER OF ST MARY'S STREET PORTSMOUTH WHO WHILE WORKING AT HIS TRADE IN A VERY SMALL ROOM GRATUITOUSLY INSTRUCTED IN A USEFUL EDUCATION AND PARTLY CLOTHED AND FED SOME HUNDREDS OF GIRLS AND BOYS HE DIED SUDDENLY ON NEW YEARS DAY MDCCCXXXIX WHILE IN HIS ACTIVE BENIFICENCE AGED LXXII YEARS THIS MONUMENT HAS BEEN ERECTED CHIEFLY BY MEANS OF PENNY SUBSCRIPTIONS NOT ONLY FROM THE CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD WITH WHOM JOHN POUNDS HABITUALLY WORSHIPPED IN THE ADJOINING CHAPEL BUT FROM PERSONS OF WIDELY DIFFERING RELIGIOUS OPINION THROUGHOUT GREAT BRITAIN AND FROM THE MOST DISTANT PARTS OF THE WORLD IN CONNECTION WITH THIS MONUMENT HAS ALSO BEEN FOUNDED IN LIKE MANNER WITHIN THESE PRECINCTS A LIBRARY TO HIS MEMORY DESIGNED TO EXTEND TO AN INDEFINITE FUTURITY THE SOLID MENTAL AND MORAL USEFULNESS TO WHICH THE PHILANTHROPIC SHOEMAKER WAS SO EARNESTLY DEVOTED TO THE LAST DAY OF HIS LIFE