Richard Dykes Alexander

Richard Dykes Alexander was both a banker and an amateur photographer, many of whose images are accessible at the Suffolk Record Office.

A Quaker, a pacifist and involved in the committee of management of the Ipswich Museum in 1850s he was deeply concerned for the social as well as spiritual welfare of the working population of the town.

His grand house was built in the fields to the west of the town on the corner of St Matthews Street and Portman Road, parts of which are still discernible, holding his plaque.

As a devoted supporter of the abolition of slavery, in the 1850s he made land available for housing near to his home and stipulated that some of the street names should be those of leading abolitionists.

The plaque was unveiled in April 2010.