Joseph Hardcastle (1752–1819)

[1] Hardcastle was born in Leeds, where he lived until the age of 15, at which point he moved to London to join his uncle's business.

During his time in London he lived at Old Swan Stairs, before moving to Hatcham House in Deptford, then a rural Surrey village, in what is now the New Cross Gate area of Lewisham.

Here Clarkson wrote much of his History of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and met his future wife, a niece of Mrs Hardcastle.

The grave is in the north section of the T-plan, close to the red granite obelisk to Joseph Hart.

[1] A number of roads in the modern New Cross Gate reflect his time, most notably Joseph Hardcastle Close.