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Traditionally, if a Fellow is still a member of the Society when they die they received a formal, Society obituary which was published in one of the Society's serial publications. These obituaries have not been collated as they are easily retrievable in their published form. Instead this series consists of externally published obituaries or orders of service for Fellows and some members of staff which were mostly collected from the 1990s by Library staff. There is some material which is older, found loose among the backlog of other material and which has been added for ease of use.

It should be noted that the series will include ex members of the Society who resigned their Fellowship at some point before their death, but were kept for informational reasons.

Brothers Joshua William and Francis Thomas Gregory were two of the five sons (another being Sir August Charles Gregory) born to Joshua Gregory, an army officer from Farnfield, Nottinghamshire. The family emigrated in 1829 after their father, who had been wounded in action, was granted land in the new Swan River Colony in Western Australia in lieu of a pension.

The Swan River Colony, on the Swan River, Western Australia, was a British settlement established in 1829. The area was later named officially as Western Australia after its first governor, Captain James Stirling RN, belatedly received his commission. Stirling served as governor until 1839, when he was succeeded by John Hutt.

William Kennett Loftus was born in Rye, Sussex in c 1821. He was educated at Newcastle Grammar School, a school in Twickenham and later at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he did not take a degree. Loftus' interest in geology may have been inspired by the lectures of Prof Adam Sedgwick, Woodwardian Professor at Cambridge, certainly it was Sedgwick who proposed Loftus as a Fellow of the Society in 1842.

Sir Henry De la Beche, Director of the Geological Survey, recommended Loftus to Lord Palmerston for the post of geologist on the staff of Sir William Fenwick Williams on the Turco-Persian frontier commission. This joint commission, consisting of representatives appointed by the British, Russian, Turkish and Persian governments, was charged with defining the border between Turkey and Persia [now Iran], the work which it undertook between 1849-1852.

The publication of the paper was delayed due to a bout of ill health and Loftus' absorption in his archaelogical digs around the biblical cities of Mesopotamia. In 1855, Loftus was appointed to the Geological Survey of India however his health, already weakened from a fever which he developed in the swamps of Assyria, completely broke down due to sunstroke. He died on the return voyage aboard the Tyburnia on 27 November 1858 from the effects of an abscess of the liver.

John MacCulloch was born in his grandparents' house in Guernsey on 6 October 1773. The third of eight children of James MacCulloch, a wine merchant, and Elizabeth de Lisle, the young MacCulloch was sent to schools in Cornwall between 1778-1790, before enrolling as a medical student at Edinburgh University in 1790. Whilst there he also read chemistry under Joseph Black and natural history under John Walker. MacCulloch graduated with an MD in 1793, but the following year his postgraduate studies were cut short by his parents' internment during the French Revolution.

MacCulloch became a surgeon's mate in the Royal Artillery on 15 August 1795, and by 1803 had risen to assistant surgeon. He was then drafted into the ordnance chemical department, becoming ordnance chemist in 1806 and retiring from the army with a small pension. He received his licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians in 1808, and set up a private medical practice in Blackheath, south east London but had to give it up when ordnance duties demanded prolonged absences for geological surveys. He still, however, managed to be appointed physician to Prince Leopold, later king of the Belgians, in 1820. MacCulloch's main contribution to the field of medicine was his writings on fever, notably his work on malaria in the late 1820s.

MacCulloch's burgeoning interest in geology can be traced back at least to the early 1800s, notably on his tours of the Lake District (1805) and the west country (1807), when he visited mines and noted down comments on local rocks in his diary. He was elected a Member of the Geological Society on 5 February 1808, and his paper on the geology of the Channel Islands, opened the first issue of the Society's 'Transactions' in 1811.

In his search for silica-free limestone for millwheels, MacCulloch conducted geological surveys in Wessex, Wales, and Scotland, between 1809-1813, and then from 1814-1821 acted as geologist to the ordnance trigonometrical survey during which he had surveyed hundreds of Scottish peaks and produced a geological map of west Scotland. However this intense survey work affected his health, and in 1821 he developed an enlargement of the spleen. Although he returned to work in 1822, his consitution remained affected thereafter.

Between 1816-1820, MacCulloch served as president of the Geological Society and in 1820 he was elected Fellow of the Royal Society. When in 1824, the chemical department of the ordnance was abolished, the now retired MacCulloch instead spent his summer field seasons surveying Scotland for the geological survey. Essentially MacCulloch became the first government sponsored geological surveyor in Britain, a move which was controversial as it cost the Treasury over £1000 per annum. Despite suffering a stroke in 1831, MacCulloch still managed to draft the final reports and map before his death four years later, his geological map Scotland being issued posthumously in 1836. Although criticised for topographical and geological inaccuracies, the map was not superseded for many years.

MacCulloch was a prolific scientific author, writing not only on geology, medicine and chemistry but on varied subjects such as methods of transferring the habitat of saltwater fish to freshwater and horticulture. His most noted geological works were 'A Description of the Western Islands of Scotland' (1819), 'A Geological Classification of Rocks' (1821), 'The Highlands and Western Islands of Scotland' (1824) and 'The System of Geology' (1831). MacCulloch's 'Proofs and Illustrations of the Attributes of God' which connected theology and geology was published by his widow in 1837.

He married Louisa Margaretta White on 6 July 1835, but on whilst on honeymoon in Cornwall was thrown from his carriage and suffered severe leg injuries. Despite an operation to amputate his leg, John MacCulloch died on 20 August 1835.

John Henry Cooke was born in Weymouth on 29 November 1862, and received his education at St Vincent de Paule Roman Catholic School, Liverpool, and St Mary's Training College of Catholic Teachers, Hammersmith, London. In 1887 he travelled to Malta to take up a post of teacher of English at the Valletta Lyceum. Cooke lived in Malta for seven years, founding an editing the journal 'The Mediterranean Naturalist' after becoming interested in the natural history of the island. He also made significant contributions to the understanding of the geology of Malta, publishing papers on the Tertiary Rocks and Pleistocene deposits of the island, and collecting fossils (which he donated or sold to various European museums).

Cooke was forced to leave Malta in 1894 due to his wife's poor health, but he still produced papers on the geology of Malta on his return to England for the next few years. He became an Inspector in the Science and Art Department of the South Kensington Museum, but when that department closed he was appointed Inspector of Schools in Shropshire and Wolverhampton.

Cooke was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 3rd (Volunteer) Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment in July 1901, transferring to the 1st (Volunteer) Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry (later 4th Battalion, King's Shropshire Light Infantry) in October the same year. He rose to the rank of Captain.

After his retirement from military service and until his death on 7 December 1933, Cooke continued to investigate and write about the prehistory of his local area.

Staff College, Camberley, was inaugurated in 1862 to provide Staff training to British Army officers and remained in existence until 1997 when single-Service Staff training was ended. Staff training for the British Army is now conducted by the Joint Services Command and Staff College.

Staff College, Camberley, was inaugurated in 1862 to provide Staff training to British Army officers, and remained in existence until 1997 when single-Service Staff training was ended. Staff Training for the British Army is now conducted by the Joint Services Command and Staff College.

The British Council was founded in 1934 as the 'British Committee for Relations with Other Countries' and in 1936 it was re-named' The British Council'. The aims of the Council were:

"to promote abroad a wider appreciation of British culture and civilization, by encouraging the study and use of the English language, and thereby, to extend a knowledge of British literature and of the British contribution to music and the fine arts, the sciences, philosophic thought and political practice."

Funded by the British Government the Council's work was developed during World War Two and was particularly important during the 'Cold War' period and this is reflected in the papers in this collection. The Fine Arts Department role was to organize exhibitions of the work of British artists and send them overseas. In this work they established international relationships with overseas arts organisations and brought British art to wide and varied audiences.

The first Director of the Fine Arts Department was Major Alfred A. Longden. He was succeeded in 1947 by Lilian Somerville, who had joined the Council during the war; she was appointed as Director of the Fine Arts Section of the Visual Arts Department). In 1949 she was appointed Director of the retitled Fine Arts Department, and remained in this position until her retirement in 1970. She was succeeded by John Hulton (1971-1975) who had been her deputy. Other heads of the Department include Henry Meyric Hughes (1984-1992). The current Director is Andrea Rose.

The papers in this collection run from 1945-2003. Other documents relating to the British Council Fine Arts Department for this period have been deposited at The National Archives.

Stanley Spencer (1891-1959) was born in Cookham, Berkshire, where he spent much of his life. He attended the Slade School under Tonks, 1908-1912; returning in 1923, where he concentrated on drawing. His contemporaries at the Slade included Nevinson, Bomberg, Roberts, Gertler, Wadsworth, Carrington, Allinson, Jacques and Gwen Raverat, Lightfoot and Ihlee; the latter four being his closest friends. In 1912, Spencer exhibited in the 2nd Post-Impressionist exhibition, organised by Roger Fry, and in 1913 he met Edward Marsh who, with fellow artist Henry Lamb, supported his work. Between 1915 and 1918 he served in the Royal Army Medical Corps where he saw action in Salonika. In 1918 he was commissioned for an official war picture: 'Travoys with Wounded Soldiers' (Imperial War Museum). In 1919 Spencer met Hilda Carline (sister to Richard and Sydney), and they married in 1925. They had two children, Shirin born 1925 and Unity born in 1930. A member of the New English Art Club, 1919-27, his first solo exhibition was at the Goupil Gallery in 1927, where he exhibited 'The Resurrection, Cookham', 1924-26 (Tate). Between 1927 and 1932 he worked on the decorations for the Sandham Memorial Chapel, Burghclere, and he subsequently exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1928, 1930, 1932 and 1938, and at the Tooth, Leger and Zwemmer Galleries in London. Elected Associate Royal Academician in 1932 (resigned 1935) he was re-elected Royal Academician in 1950. In 1937 Hilda divorced Stanley so he could marry Patricia Preece. His second marriage only lasted two years and Spencer remained in love, and in close contact, with Hilda until her death in 1950.

From the 1930s he worked on a series of paintings for his unrealised Church-House scheme and in 1940 he was commissioned by the WAAC to paint shipbuilding subjects at Port Glasgow (Imerpial War Museum). 'The Resurrection, Port Glasgow' (Tate) was one of nine pictures of the Resurrection painted between 1945 and 1950. He received his CBE in 1950 and was knighted in 1959. In 1954 he visited China as part of a cultural delegation, and in 1955 the Tate held a retrospective exhibition of his work. His painting gives an autobiographical, visionary interpretation of secular and religious subjects, often depicting biblical scenes in the contemporary environment of Cookham. Influenced by early Italian painting and work by his contemporaries at the Slade, he used distortions of scale, perspective and anatomy, heightened realistic detail, cool, earthy colour and rhythmical forms to produce work of great imaginative intensity. In the 1920s and 1930s he painted urban, domestic subjects, sometimes with an erotic content. His sharply defined work was based on drawn preparation and painted in a methodical manner which rarely altered or overpainted images. In December 1958 Spencer was diagnosed with cancer and taken into hospital for a colostomy operation. The operation was a success, but Spencer's recovery was slow and painful. During 1959 Spencer limited his social engagements to allow more time for his painting. He also moved back into 'Fernlea', Cookham, his childhood home. Stanley Spencer died at the Canadian War Memorial Hospital, Cliveden, on 14th December 1959.

The Artist Placement Group (APG) emerged in London in the 1960s. The idea of artist placements took its focus from the group of UK artists, including John Latham and Barbara Steveni, who were experimenting with new art forms. Initiated and directed by Steveni, the APG pioneered the concept of art in the social context; from the outset her concept of 'placement' directly acknowledged the isolated and marginal position that artists held within society and was an effort to overcome this situation. The APG acting outside the conventional art gallery system, attempted to place artists, through negotiation and agreement, within industry and in government departments. Artists such as Keith Arnatt, Ian Breakwell, Stuart Brisley, and Barry Flanagan, had important placements or early associations with the APG.

Today the organisation exists as Organisation and Imagination (O + I), and describes itself as 'an independent, radical international artist initiative, a network consultancy and research organisation'. Its board of directors, members and specialist advisors include leading artists, senior civil servants, politicians, scientists, and academics from various disciplines. The name was changed in 1989 in order to distinguish the initiative from arts administrative placement schemes set up following the APG example.

Keith Vaughan 1912-1977, born on the 23rd August 1912 at Selsey Bill, Sussex, was an English painter and writer. After attending Christ's Hospital school, he worked at Lintas advertising agency until he abandoned his career in advertising in 1939 to pursue painting. When the Second World War broke out Vaughan joined the St John's Ambulance as a conscientious objector. In 1941, Vaughan was attached to the Pioneer Corps and was periodically moved from camp to camp around southern England, generally working on the land until he was transferred north in 1943 to Yorkshire. His drawings of army life attracted attention and he entered the circle of Peter Watson in London. During the war Vaughan formed friendships with the painters Graham Sutherland and John Minton, with whom, after demobilization in 1946, he shared a studio. Through these contacts he formed part of the Neo-Romantic circle of the immediate post-war period. During the 1950s, Paul Cezanne and Henri Matisse were major influences, but most important was that of Nicolas De Stael, who enabled him to reconcile figurative and abstract elements. After 1945 Vaughan travelled in the Mediterranean, North Africa, Mexico and the USA, where he was resident artist at Iowa State University in 1959. He taught in London at Camberwell School of Art (1946-1948) and the Central School of Arts and Crafts (1948-1957) and was a visiting teacher at the Slade School of Fine Art (1959-1977). Vaughan is also known for his journals which he began writing in August 1939, selections from which were published in 1966 and more extensively in 1989 (Keith Vaughan Journals 1939-1977, Alan Ross, London, John Murry, 1989). Vaughan had considerable success, including the award of a CBE in 1965. He was diagnosed with cancer in 1975 and committed suicide on the 4th November 1977.

Naum Gabo was born Naum Pevsner in Russia, in 1890. He was the younger brother of the sculptor Antoine Pevsner. Gabo went to Munich University in 1910 to study medicine and natural sciences, but also attended art history lectures by Heinrich Wölfflin. In 1912 he transferred to an engineering school in Munich. In 1913 he joined Antoine, then a painter, in Paris and whilst there he met Kandinsky. After the outbreak of war, Gabo moved from Paris to Copenhagen and then to Oslo. From 1915 he began to make constructions under the name Naum Gabo. Between 1917 and 1922, Gabo was in Moscow with his brother. Whilst there, they jointly wrote and issued a 'Realistic Manifesto' on the tenets of pure Constructivism. In 1922 Gabo moved to Berlin, where he lived in contact with artists of the de Stijl group and the Bauhaus. In 1926 he co-designed with Antoine, costumes for Diaghilev's ballett 'La Chatte'. In 1932 Gabo moved back to Paris and became a member of Abstraction Création. In 1936 he left Paris, moved to London and married Miriam Franklin (née Israels) in 1937. Gabo edited 'Circle: International Survey of Constructivist Art' along with J.L. Martin and Ben Nicholson. Gabo became good friends with Nicholson, and in 1939 he moved to Carbis Bay, Cornwall, where Nicholson was also based. In 1944 Gabo joined the Design Research Unit and in 1946 he moved to the USA, settling in Conneticut in 1953. He became a US citizen in 1952. Between 1953 and 1954, he was a professor at the Graduate School of Architecture, Harvard University. From 1950 onwards, Gabo took a number of sculpture commmissions, including one for the Bijenkorf store in Rotterdam. In 1971 Gabo was awarded an Honorary KBE. He died in Conneticut in 1977.

Born 1919; joined RAF Volunteer Reserves, 1939; navigator, No 78 Squadron and No 79 Squadron, 1940-1941; Pilot Officer, 1941; navigation instructor, 1942; Navigation Leader, 196 Squadron, 1943; Pathfinder Squadron, Sept 1944; Flight Lieutenant, 1946; RAF Transport Command, 1946-1948; Air Ministry, 1948-1950; Staff College, 1950; Exchange Officer, Washington DC, USA, 1953; Wing Commander (Operations), 1957; Singapore, 1960; staff appointments, Ministry of Defence; Group Captain, 1969; commander, RAF Gaydon, Warwickshire and RAF Finningley, Yorkshire, 1969-1971; chairman, Tactical Air Group, Mutual Balanced Force Reduction talks, NATO, Brussels, 1971-1974; retired, 1974; worked for British Aerospace, Lancashire, 1974-1986; died 2003.

Iran and the West was a three-part series which examined relations between Iran and Western countries for thirty years beginning with the Islamic revolution of 1979. The documentary was produced by Brook Lapping Productions Limited, a London-based television production company. It was first broadcast by the BBC in Feb 2009. The Executive Producer of the series was Brian Lapping, with Series Producer Norma Percy, Producer/Directors Paul Mitchell, Dai Richards and Delphine Jaudeau and in Iran, Producer/Directors Mohammad Shakibania and Hosein Sharif.

Born 1898; educated Eton and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst; 12 Lancers, 1915; served in France, 1915-1918; Staff College, 1928-1929; Brigade Major, 2 Cavalry Brigade, 1930-1933; commanded 12 Lancers (Armoured Car Regiment), 1935-1938; General Staff Officer, 1938-1939; served in France, 1940; Commander, 8 Armoured Division, Home Forces, Dec 1940-Oct 1941; Major General, 1943; Chief of General Staff, Middle East, 1942; Tunisia, 1943; Lieutenant General, 1944; commanded Eight Army, Italy, 1944-1945; General Officer Commanding in Chief, British Forces of Occupation in Austria and British representative on the Allied Commission for Austria, 1945-1946; General Officer Commanding in Chief, British Army on the Rhine, 1946-1948; General, 1948; British Army representative, Military Staff Committee, United Nations, 1948-1949; retired, 1949; Colonel Commandant, Royal Armoured Corps, 1947-1956; Colonel, 12 Lancers, 1951; Colonel, 9/12 Royal Lancers, 1960; died 1967.

The Antients Grand Lodge came into existence following a meeting at the Turk's Head Tavern, Greek Street, Soho, London on 17 July 1751, attended by about eighty freemasons, many of Irish extraction, from five lodges. These were lodges meeting at the Turk's Head [SN 275]; The Cripple, Little Britain [SN 276]; The Cannon, Water Lane, Fleet Street [SN 277]; The Plaisterers' Arms, Grays Inn Lane [SN 278] and The Globe, Bridges Street, Covent Garden [SN 279]. Those present decided to establish a rival to the Moderns (or premier) Grand Lodge, which had been formed in 1717, as the Grand Lodge of England 'according to the old institutions'. The new Grand Lodge, which referred to itself as a Grand Committee until 27 December 1753, claimed the first Grand Lodge in England had introduced innovations and that it was the only one to preserve the ancient customs of freemasonry. It claimed that the first Grand Lodge had changed words in the ceremonies and signs of recognition; had 'dechristianise​d' and abbreviated ceremonies and lectures; used the term Wardens not Deacons for certain Lodge officers; and removed an esoteric installation ceremony for Lodge masters. In consequence, the first Grand Lodge became known as the 'Moderns' (or premier) Grand Lodge, while the new one formed in 1751, assumed the name 'Antients'.

Rules and Orders agreed at the first meeting in 1751, included in the first Antients' Grand Lodge membership register, known as Morgan's Register, were signed by Philip McLoughlin, a member of Enoch Lodge, No. 6 [SN 355], who returned to Ireland by 29 July 1751; Samuel Quay, a member of Lodge of Fidelity, No. 2 [SN 338], a habit maker of Tavistock Street, London, first Senior Grand Warden; James Shee, a member of Royal York Lodge of Perseverance, No. 4 [SN 774], an attorney of Fetter Lane, London, who returned later to Ireland and John Morgan, a member of Antients' Lodge, No. 2 [SN 275], who resigned to join a 'stationed ship' on 4 March 1752, as Grand Secretary. One of the first members listed was Abraham Ardasoif [or Ardisoif], of Broad Court, Bow Street, Covent Garden, 'deemed unworthy' of membership on 17 July 1751 but readmitted the following year. By the end of 1755 over a thousand members had joined the Antients' Grand Lodge, including several members who had transferred across from the Moderns' Grand Lodge.

Considered by some to be more progressive, the Antients attracted as a member Laurence Dermott, a painter and decorator born in 1720, who was initiated as a freemason aged 20 in Good Lodge, No. 26, meeting in Dublin at the house of Thomas Allen (later Worshipful Master of Lodge, No. 2 [SN 275], Antients), under the Grand Lodge of Ireland. Having served as Junior and Senior Deacon in that Lodge, Dermott later served as its Worshipful Master. Dermott served as Secretary and Right Worshipful Master of the Grand Lodge of Ireland from 1746, before relocating to London two years later. On arrival he lived in Stepney, near the burial ground of the Portuguese Synagogue at Bevis Marks, and joined a Lodge meeting under the Moderns Grand Lodge or an independent Lodge, before joining the Antients' Kent Lodge, No. 9 [SN 284] and then a Lodge which became Royal Athelstan Lodge, No. 10 [SN 754]. He married Susannah Neale on 20 January 1759 at St Paul's church, Shadwell, witnesses Edward Newth and Ruth Rush. The couple, who lived at Broad Bridge, Shadwell, had at least three children, Susanna baptised at St Giles' church, Cripplegate on 28 February 1755; Susanna Mary, baptised at the same church on 4 April 1757 and Elizabeth, buried at the same church on 4 August 1758. His wife, Susanna, was buried there on 7 December 1764 and Laurence, a widower of St Clement Danes, described as a vintner, married a widow, Elizabeth Merryman of Bethnal Green on 13 November 1766 at St Matthew's Church in that parish, witnessed by Robert Pell and Isaac Laud(?). On 30 December 1767, their son Laurence was baptised at St Botolph's Church, Aldgate. Laurence Dermott was buried at St Olave's Church, Bermondsey on 8 July 1791, aged seventy one.

Dermott, who maintained that his Grand Lodge acted as the custodian of 'pure ancient freemasonry', served as Grand Secretary for the Antients Grand Lodge from 1752 to 1771; Deputy Grand Master between 1771 and 1777 and again between 1783 and 1787. He was appointed Grand Secretary on the recommendation of his predecessor, John Morgan, in preference to John Morris, Past Master of Lodge, No. 5 [SN 278]. Dermott wrote the first edition of the rule book of the Antients' Grand Lodge, referred to as Ahiman Rezon, or, A help to a brother, in 1756. Dermott encouraged John, 3rd Duke of Atholl, to serve as Grand Master of the Antients from 1771 until his death in 1774. The 3rd Duke was also elected Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Scotland on 30 November 1773. His son, John, 4th Duke of Atholl, was initiated, passed and raised aged nineteen in Grand Masters Lodge, No. 1 on 25 February 1775. He was installed as Master of this Lodge at the same meeting and was proposed as Grand Master of the Antients' at the next Grand Lodge meeting. He was installed as Grand Master on 25 March 1775, serving in this role until 1781, before returning as Grand Master from 1791 to 1813. Due to the significant involvement of both Atholl peers, the Antients' Grand Lodge is also referred to as the Atholl Grand Lodge.

Over time some Moderns' Lodges and members changed allegiance to the Antients' Grand Lodge and vice versa, with rivalry emerging between the two Grand Lodges both in England and Wales and overseas, where lodges sometimes competed to attract members. In 1813 HRH Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex became Grand Master of the Moderns' Grand Lodge. In the Antients' Grand Lodge, the 4th Duke of Atholl stood aside for the installation of HRH Edward, Duke of Kent (brother of the Duke of Sussex and son of King George III) as Grand Master. The brothers led meetings that year to consider and discuss arrangements for the union between the Antients' and Moderns' Grand Lodges to form the United Grand Lodge of England.

No further information.

Great Ormond Street Hospital was founded in 1852 by Charles West on its current site in Bloomsbury as the Hospital for Sick Children. It was the first children's hospital in Britain. It became part of the NHS in 1948 and took over the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Sick Children in 1968. It went through several changes of name during this period and adopted its current name in 1994.

Great Ormond Street Hospital was founded in 1852 by Charles West on its current site in Bloomsbury as the Hospital for Sick Children. It was the first children's hospital in Britain. It became part of the NHS in 1948 and took over the Queen Elizabeth Hospital for Sick Children in 1968. It went through several changes of name during this period and adopted its current name in 1994.

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children was founded on its Bloomsbury site in 1852, as the Hospital for Sick Children. It became part of the National Health Service in 1948.

James Pettigrew Ogilvie (1881-1953) was the son of a well-known sugar refiner and became an authority on the subject of sugar himself, authoring many books and journal titles in the area as well as working within the sugar industry. He became a Fellow of the Chemical Society in 1912 and later presented a number of valuable books on sugar chemistry to the Society.

Henry Weston Elder was a bristlemerchant. He held the manor of Topsfield in Crouch End from 1855. He died in 1882 and his widow sold the property in 1894.

From: 'Hornsey, including Highgate: Manors', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6: Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey with Highgate (1980), pp. 140-146.

A turnpike was barrier placed across a road to stop traffic passing until a toll was paid.

The Manor of Isleworth Syon was in the hands of Walter de St. Valery in 1086, having been granted to him by William the Conqueror as a reward for his support during the conquest of England. The family retained possession of the manor until 1227 when it escheated to the crown. In 1229 a full grant of the manor was made by Henry III to his brother, Richard, Earl of Cornwall, whose son Edward inherited it in 1272. In 1301, Edward's widow Margaret was assigned the manor by Edward I as part of her dower, but it reverted to the crown on her death in 1312. The manor was eventually granted for life by Edward III to his wife Queen Philippa in 1330. The reversion was included in a grant of lands to Edward, Duke of Cornwall, in 1337. In 1390 Queen Anne the wife of Richard II was given a life interest in the manor. Henry V held the manor, as Prince of Wales, but when king, separated the manor from the duchy of Cornwall by Act of Parliament in 1421 in order to bestow it upon his newly founded convent of Syon. It remained as part of the convent's possessions until the dissolution in 1539 when it fell into the hands of the Crown and was added to the Honour of Hampton Court. In 1604 James I granted the manor to Henry, Earl of Northumberland, in whose family it remained.

Strawberry Hill was the residence of writer Horace Walpole (1717-1797). Situated in Twickenham, it was described as a 'little Gothic castle'. The building eventually came into the ownership of George, Earl of Waldegrave, who sold the contents in 1842 in order to pay off his debts.

Under the Education Act of 1876 Ealing Educational Association was formed instead of a school board to meet current deficits and pay for building extensions to existing local schools, which were mostly church schools. Apart from an unsuccessful voluntary rate in 1880, funds were raised by subscription until 1895. Rates levied for the Association by Ealing council from 1896 were criticized because the demands did not indicate that they were voluntary, and by 1901 only one-third was collected. Average attendance at local schools under the management of the Association rose from 754 in 1878 to 2,388 in 1902 at Ealing. By the late 1890s there may have been overcrowding but a request by the Board of Education for extra places in 1901 was ignored, as responsibility under the Education Act of 1902 was to pass to Ealing Metropolitan Borough (M.B.), which duly became an autonomous part III authority.

Ealing had too few places in 1903, when the population was growing rapidly. In addition to temporary schools, permanent ones were built by the borough engineer Charles Jones: Little Ealing, Northfields, Drayton Grove, Lammas, and North Ealing, the first four containing large boys', girls', and infants' schools on a single site. Few places were needed in North Ealing, where most children were educated privately, and elsewhere the council charged fees, which at Drayton Grove were higher than the Board of Education would permit. After the First World War only Grange school replaced the voluntary schools as they closed. From 1931 school building was concentrated in the expanding north and west parts of the borough; although Jones's buildings were seen as outmoded by 1938, it was only from 1952 that they were replaced.

The county council established secondary schools for boys in 1913 and girls in 1926 at Ealing, where a selective central school was opened in 1925. Following the Hadow report, four of Ealing's council schools acquired a single-sex senior department and after the Education Act of 1944 the former central school became a grammar school. Secondary classes elsewhere used converted premises and the only change before the introduction of the comprehensive system was the transfer of two of the smaller secondary schools to the new Ealing Mead school in 1962. At Brentford the boys' and girls' senior schools and Gunnersbury Roman Catholic grammar school were the only secondary schools. Under the Act of 1944 Ealing M.B. became an 'excepted district', responsible for primary and secondary education. From 1965 they lay within Ealing and Hounslow London Boroughs.

From: 'Ealing and Brentford: Education', A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden (1982), pp. 162-170.

In 1780 Matthias Peter Dupont, an innkeeper from Aldersgate in the City of London, opened the Zion Chapel in Chase Side, Enfield. In 1791 a controversial ministerial appointment caused a split in the congregation and a second chapel was begun, called the Independent Chapel or the Chase Side Chapel. John Stribling became minister of the Zion Chapel in 1832 and retired in 1871. In 1865 the community voted to reunite and the Zion Chapel was demolished in order to make way for a new building, Christ Church. The Independent Chapel became a lecture hall. The church still stands as the Christ Church United Reformed Church.

John Wilkes was born in Clerkenwell in 1725. He was educated at the University of Leiden from 1744, where he developed life-long habits of vice and profligacy. In 1747 he returned to England to enter into an arranged marriage. The dowry was the manor of Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire. In London Wilkes was admitted to several clubs and moved in intellectual circles, while in Aylesbury he participated in local administration as a magistrate. In 1757 he stood for the Aylesbury Parliamentary seat in an uncontested by-election. In 1761 he again won the seat by bribing the voters. Wilkes began to write anonymous political pamphlets and in 1762 he established a political weekly, the North Briton which was highly critical of the Prime Minister Lord Bute and his successor, George Greville. In November 1763 the North Briton was declared to be seditious libel, leaving Wilkes exposed to punitive legal action. At the same time he was badly injured in a pistol duel with another MP. Wilkes fled to Paris to escape legal proceedings and was expelled from Parliament.

In January 1764 Wilkes was convicted for publishing the North Briton. He was summoned to appear at the court of the King's Bench and when he failed to appear was outlawed. Wilkes therefore stayed abroad for four years as returning to England would mean imprisonment. In Paris he moved in intellectual circles and was praised as a champion of freedom, however, he was accruing serious debts. Between 1766 and 1767 he made brief return visits to London, hoping to be pardoned. In 1768 he returned permanently, living under a false name. He announced that he would attend the King's Bench when the court next met, and declared his intention to run for Parliament. He contested for the Middlesex seat and ran a superbly organised campaign backed by popular enthusiasm, winning the seat in March by 1292 votes to 827.

Wilkes was immediately expelled from Parliament as it was assumed he would be imprisoned when he attended court in April. The decision was reversed as it was feared that Wilkes' supporters would riot. In June Wilkes was sentenced to two years imprisonment in the King's Bench Prison. On 3 February 1769 he was again expelled from Parliament, only to be re-elected on 16 February in a by-election. He was expelled again but again re-elected in March, only to be expelled. At the April by-election Parliament produced a rival candidate who was soundly defeated, but nevertheless was awarded the Parliamentary seat. The resulting controversy forced the Prime Minister to resign.

Released in 1770 Wilkes stood for election as alderman for the Ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. In 1771 he was elected Sheriff and in 1774 Lord Mayor. In the same year he was again elected to the Parliamentary seat for Middlesex. He held this seat until 1790. In 1779 he became the City of London Chamberlain and after leaving Parliament concentrated on this post until his death in 1797.

Joanna Southcott was born in Devon in April 1750, the daughter of a farmer. She promised her dying mother that she would devote her life to piety, and rejected all her suitors to work as a maid or labourer in households in and around Exeter. It was not until she was 42 years old, in 1792, that she began to experience the voices and visions which were to make her a celebrated public figure. She was spoken to by a voice which predicted future events. Joanna attempted to interest clergy of several denominations in her prophesies, sending them sealed copies of her predictions to be opened after a certain date - thus proving her foreknowledge of events. In 1801, spurred by the correct predictions she had made for 1796-1800, she spent her life savings and published a book of her prophesy entitled "The Strange Effects of Faith". Her publication was a success and began to attract followers. Joanna moved to London and received the patronage of Jane Townley, who promoted her cause, welcomed Joanna into her household and provided her with a maid to act as her amanuensis. Between 1801 and 1814 Joanna published 65 pamphlets outlining her prophesy and spiritual vision, becoming one of the most popular writers of her time. In 1815 it is estimated that her followers numbered 20,000.

At the age of 64 she claimed to be pregnant with Shiloh, the second coming of Christ. She was due to give birth in November 1814 but despite experiencing labour pains no child was forthcoming and instead Joanna died in London on 27 December 1814. An autopsy found no foetus, although the doctor noted swelling in the abdomen which could have mimicked the symptoms of pregnancy and caused pain similar to labour.

After Joanna's death a core of her inner circle kept the faith quietly, and protected the 'great box', which contained sealed prophecies that were to be opened some time in the unspecified future. In 1816 the box was passed to Jane Townley, and upon her death in 1825 to Thomas Philip Foley, and finally in 1835 to Foley's son, the Revd Richard Foley. In 1839, in order to gain control of Southcott's legacy, Lavinia Taylor Jones (niece of Lucy Taylor, one of Joanna's Exeter employers) dressed as a man to enter Richard Foley's rectory, where she tried to steal the box. Soon after that, rival boxes began to appear. As recently as 1977, the Panacea Society, a twentieth-century millenarian group dedicated to Southcott, claimed to know the secret whereabouts of the true box.

Source: Sylvia Bowerbank, 'Southcott, Joanna (1750-1814)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.

In 1819 there were two Methodist meeting houses in Edmonton, (W Robinson, The History and Antiquities of Edmonton, 1819, p 186). One of these was probably replaced by the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Fore Street, built in 1860. In 1909 the trustees purchased the freehold of the "Manor House", a site adjoining the chapel, for the building of the Edmonton Wesleyan Mission or Central Hall, which was opened in 1911. The old chapel and school were demolished and new Sunday school premises erected on the site in 1929. The Edmonton Methodist Church was part of the Stoke Newington Methodist Circuit until about 1896 when it joined the Tottenham Circuit. In 1941 Edmonton was one of the churches which constituted the Enfield Circuit.

Princess Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was born on 17 May 1768 at Brunswick, the second daughter of Karl II, duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, and Princess Augusta, sister of George III. She was married to George, Prince of Wales on 8 April. The Prince was reportedly the worse for alcohol and had to be supported to go through the ceremony. This inauspicious beginning heralded a series of quarrels between the royal couple. Caroline alleged that throughout the honeymoon the Prince consorted with his drunken cronies and ignored her. On his part, the Prince took offence at Caroline's accusation that he had mistresses, refused to change his social and domestic habits for her benefit, and demanded that she should submit to his authority, which she refused to do.

The only child of this stormy marriage, Princess Charlotte Augusta (1796-1817), was born on 7 January 1796. Caroline had attempted to live on amicable terms with George, but he neglected her and she became increasingly lonely, bored, and resentful. The inevitable separation took place in 1796. Caroline left Carlton House in 1797 and went to live in a rented house near Blackheath. The Prince would have forbidden her access to her child, but King George III, who always favoured Caroline, insisted that she should be allowed to visit Charlotte.

Caroline made no attempt to exploit her situation politically. She remained prominent in society and entertained frequently at Blackheath, often in an informal and high-spirited atmosphere. During the Regency she was excluded from the court and only with difficulty could she obtain permission to see Charlotte, who was educated under the Prince of Wales's supervision. Caroline therefore decided to leave England, and set off on a series of travels, initially to Brunswick but shortly afterwards around the Mediterranean. Almost weekly reports came in of indiscreet and scandalous behaviour, improper entertainments in which she took part, and extravagant and theatrical behaviour which became a subject of scandal in the newspapers, providing further ammunition for her estranged husband in his efforts to divorce her.

As soon as George IV became king Caroline set off for England to claim her position as Queen. She was met at St Omer by Henry Brougham, whom she made her Attorney-General, and by Lord Hutchinson on behalf of the Cabinet who brought a proposal, reluctantly accepted by the King, to give her an annuity of £50,000 provided she would not cross the Channel nor claim the title of Queen. She refused, despite Brougham's plea to her to negotiate a settlement. She was now being advised by Matthew Wood, an alderman and former Lord Mayor of London, who represented a group of metropolitan radicals who wanted to use her to stir up opposition to the king and the government. The Queen's arrival became, as the government had feared, the occasion for widespread public rejoicings. She reached London on 6 June and went first to Alderman Wood's house in South Audley Street, later renting Brandenburg House at Hammersmith. Throughout the proceedings against her in the summer and autumn of 1820 she was the focus of many demonstrations, receiving over 350 addresses of support from all sections of the population, many from groups of women who saw her as a symbol of the oppression of their sex. She also had the support of The Times and many other opposition or radical newspapers. She herself had no interest in or sympathy with radicalism, but her cause was now overtly political as the nation divided into two camps.

The Cabinet, spurred on by the vengeful King, unwillingly prepared a bill of pains and penalties to strip Caroline of her title and to end her marriage by Act of Parliament. The bill was introduced into the House of Lords on 17 August. It was one of the most spectacular and dramatic events of the century. The Queen's progresses to and from Westminster to attend the 'trial', as it became known, were attended by cheering crowds; deputations by the dozen visited Brandenburg House to present addresses, the newspapers published verbatim accounts of the Lords' proceedings, and the caricaturists on both sides had a field day. So obscene were some of the prints against the King that over £2500 was spent in buying them up and suppressing their publication. Against this proof of public support for the Queen the 'trial' was doomed to failure. The witnesses were clearly unreliable and were discredited by the cross-examination of her counsel, Henry Brougham and Thomas Denman. Many of the witnesses were believed to have been bribed or intimidated, and the widespread knowledge that George himself had had several mistresses added to the belief that Caroline was a victim, if not an entirely innocent one, of royal and political persecution. In the end, though the circumstantial evidence against her was strong enough to convince many peers of her guilt, many also feared that her condemnation would spark off popular rioting or even revolution. Ministers realized that even if the Lords passed the bill the House of Commons would almost certainly reject it under intense pressure from their constituents. The bill passed its third reading in the Lords by only nine votes and Liverpool, the Prime Minister, announced on 10 November that it would proceed no further.

Caroline had not, strictly speaking, been acquitted of the charges against her, but the public verdict was in her favour as a wronged woman unjustly persecuted by a husband no better than she was. A great crowd turned out to witness her procession to a thanksgiving service organized by her supporters in St Paul's Cathedral on 29 November 1820, when the psalm ordered for the service was no. 140-'Deliver me, O Lord, from the evil man'. Nevertheless, attempts to exploit her victory were unsuccessful. The Cabinet rejected her demand for a palace and the King refused to let her be crowned with him. He was supported by the Privy Council who declared that a Queen had no inherent right to coronation, which was at her husband's discretion. When she tried to force her way into the Abbey on coronation day, 20 July 1821, she was humiliated by being refused entry and she was jeered by the crowd that had so recently acclaimed her.

Caroline now accepted the Government's offer of an allowance of £50,000 a year if she went to live abroad, but less than a fortnight after the coronation she was taken ill at the theatre, and after a short but painful illness she died, apparently of an intestinal obstruction, on 7 August 1821. She wished to be buried beside her father at Brunswick, and the British government was only too anxious to get her corpse out of the country. Her funeral procession was intended to pass round to the north of the City of London to avoid public demonstrations. The cortège was intercepted by a crowd at Hyde Park Corner and forced to go through the city after a battle with the Life Guards in which two men were killed by the soldiers. The coffin was eventually embarked from Harwich, her supporters placing on it as it left British waters the inscription 'Caroline, the injured Queen of England'. Her body was taken to Brunswick and laid in the ducal vault on 24 August.

Source: E. A. Smith, 'Caroline (1768-1821)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004.

For a detailed history please see the entries for each individual chapel (ACC/1388-01, ACC/1388-02 and so on).

In 1819 there were two Methodist meeting houses in Edmonton, (W. Robinson, The History and Antiquities of Edmonton, 1819, p 186). One of these was probably replaced by the Wesleyan Methodist Chapel in Fore Street, built in 1860. In 1909 the trustees purchased the freehold of the "Manor House", a site adjoining the chapel, for the building of the Edmonton Wesleyan Mission or Central Hall, which was opened in 1911. The old chapel and school were demolished and new Sunday school premises erected on the site in 1929. The Edmonton Methodist Church was part of the Stoke Newington Methodist Circuit until about 1896 when it joined the Tottenham Circuit. In 1941 Edmonton was one of the churches which constituted the Enfield Circuit.

Methodists were the largest non-established denomination in the Harrow and Wembley area, with the first of many chapels in this area erected in 1810. The Methodist church on East Lane, North Wembley, was opened in 1938.

The Bath Road Methodist Church, Hounslow West, was opened in 1956. Before this, services had been held in the Hounslow Heath schools in Martindale Road since about 1930.

Trinity Wesleyan Methodist chapel was built in 1899 at the corner of Walm Lane and Dartmouth Road, Willesden. The church was closed in 1948.

The Local Government Act 1894 made provision for local self-government in England and Wales in the form of parish councils for every rural parish with a population of 300 and upwards. The existing rural and urban sanitary authorities became the new district councils. Further re-arrangement of districts was carried out by review, by county councils under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1929.

Rating remained in the hands of the parish overseers in 1894, although under the Public Health Act 1875 a general district rate was levied by the urban authorities. The Rating and Valuation Act 1925 abolished the rating powers of the overseers of the poor and named the new rating authorities as the councils of every county borough and urban and rural districts. A consolidated rate - 'the general rate' - replaced the confusion of various separate rates. In addition, a new valuation list was to be made for every rating area, to come into force on either 1 April 1928 or April 1929, followed by a second list in 1932, 1933 or 1934. Instructions were given in the act for draft valuation lists and records of totals to be made.

Summary of constituencies of Sunbury and Staines District Councils:

Sunbury Urban District Council:

Sunbury UDC included Sunbury Common, Charlton and Upper Halliford, Shepperton (including Lower Halliford and Shepperton Green), Ashford Common and Littleton. By the Middlesex (Feltham, Hayes, Staines and Sunbury-on-Thames) Confirmation Order, 1930, the parish of Shepperton and parts of Ashford and Littleton were transferred to Sunbury Urban District on the dissolution of Staines Rural District. As a result of local government re-organisation in the Greater London area, Sunbury Urban District was transferred to the administrative county of Surrey with effect from 1 April 1965.

Staines Urban District Council:

Staines UDC included Staines, Ashford, Laleham, Stanwell (including Stanwell Moor and Poyle). As a result of local government re-organisation in the Greater London area, Staines Urban District was transferred to the administrative county of Surrey with effect from 1 April 1965.

Staines Rural District Council:

Staine RDC included Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Cranford, Hanworth, Harlington, Harmondsworth, Laleham, Littleton, Shepperton, Stanwell (part). On the dissolution of Staines Rural District in 1930, East Bedfont with Hatton and Hanworth were transferred to Feltham Urban District, Cranford and Harlington to Hayes and Harlington Urban District, and Harmondsworth to Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District. The remaining areas were transferred to Sunbury and Staines Urban Districts, as detailed above.

In 1974 the Urban Districts of Sunbury and Staines became part of Spelthorne Borough Council, in the administrative county of Surrey.

The Local Government Act 1894 made further provision for local self-government in England and Wales by establishing parish meetings for every rural parish and parish councils for every rural parish with a population of 300 and upwards. The existing urban and rural sanitary authorities became the new district councils, thus Staines Local Board of Health, set up in 1872, became Staines Urban District Council and Staines Rural District Council was formed out of the Staines Union Rural Sanitary Authority. Under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1929 a rearrangement of county districts was carried out by review by Middlesex County Council. Staines Rural District Council was dissolved in 1930 and the constituent parishes were transferred to neighbouring urban districts.

Summary of local authorities in Staines:-

Staines Local Board of Health, 1872-1894

Staines Urban District Council, 1894-1974, comprising:

1894-1930 Staines, Stanwell (part from 1896)

1930-1974 Staines, Ashford, Laleham, Stanwell (including Stanwell Moor and Poyle).

Staines Rural District Council, 1894-1930, comprising:

Ashford, East Bedfont with Hatton, Cranford, Hanworth, Harlington, Harmondsworth, Laleham, Littleton, Shepperton, Stanwell (part).

A Methodist circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.

Doctor Mildred Burgess trained at the London School of Medicine for Women, graduating MD in 1905. She held various medical positions including Assistant School Medical Officer for the London County Council and Medical Officer for two London County Council institutions: Stockwell Training College and Ponton Road Place of Detention. She was also the Medical Officer for Cornwall Nursery Hostel and Brixton and Herne Hill Creche and a House Surgeon at the Royal Free Hospital. She gave lectures on nursing and child health and wrote on the subject, including her book "The care of Infants and Young Children in Health", 1913. Her interest in the training of nurses is evidenced by a letter to the British Journal of Medicine, 19 February 1916, in which she calls for better theoretical training before nurses entered wards.

The Millwall Wesleyan Methodist Church was built in 1887, while the Alpha Hall was added in 1926. The Church is now a community centre.

In 1868 the Stratford circuit was founded and a large new church built on The Grove by 1871, with a schoolroom added in 1873. The Grove was the leading Wesleyan church in the area for many years.

The Stratford Conference Hall was built as a non-denominational space but in 1934 it joined the Methodists as part of the London Mission (West Ham). The Grove buildings were bombed in 1940 (and demolished in 1953) and by 1941 the congregation had joined that of the Conference Hall, making it the predominant Methodist church in the locality.

The Primitive Methodists had a chapel at the south east corner of London Fields from 1863. By 1873 it was called the Jubilee chapel. It was closed between 1935 and 1938.

Driffield Road Primitive Methodist Church was built in 1878 and closed around 1951.

The Primitive Methodist Connexion Chapel, Maria Street was built, with seats for 230, in the 1860s. It was part of the London Eighth Circuit. Primitive Methodist Connexion chapels were more laity led in contrast to Wesleyan Methodists where the Ministers had greater power.

Canning Town Primitive Methodist Church, Swanscombe Street, later Mary Street, originated in 1853 when members of the 3rd London circuit started mission meetings. A church was built in Swanscombe Street in 1858 and enlarged in 1861. It was included in the new 8th London circuit (1874) and in 1877 a new church, seating over 1,000, was opened in Mary Street. The importance of open-air work was stressed by the erection of a permanent platform on land adjoining the church and by frequent street processions. Mary Street headed the new Canning Town circuit (1881) and in 1903 had the largest Primitive Methodist congregation in West Ham. It was bombed about 1943 and was later demolished.

From: A History of the County of Essex: Volume 6 (1973), pp. 123-141.

Hayes Methodist Church began in Station Road, in 1907. It was registered at that address in 1927. In 1930 the registered name was changed to Queen's Hall Methodist Church, Station Road. In 1973 Queen's Hall closed and work began on a new church, which opened in September 1977, and was renamed Hayes Methodist Church. Barnhill Church was built in 1960 as a 'daughter' church of Hayes Methodist Church, intended to serve a new housing estate. The two churches retain close links with each other. Hayes and Harlington Club for the Blind met in Queen's Hall and their records have been deposited with those of the Church.

The Staines and Feltham Circuit includes churches in Staines, Feltham, Ashford, Egham, Virginia Water and Englefield Green. A Methodist circuit is normally a group of churches in a local area served by a team of ministers. A minister will have pastoral charge of one or more churches, but will preach and lead worship in different local churches in the circuit, along with local preachers. The arrangements for leading worship in a circuit are drawn up in a quarterly Plan.

Yiewsley Methodist Church moved in 1927 to Central Hall, Fairfield Road, which replaced an older building used since 1873 by the small Primitive Methodist Congregation. Central Hall was extended and renovated in 1959. In 1969, the site was redeveloped to include a smaller church, which opened in 1973. During the redevelopment services were held in a temporary church.

It would appear that from 1859 Wesleyans were meeting for worship at a coffee house and dining rooms in Whittington Terrace, Upper Holloway. The society acquired its own premises when in 1864 a site was purchased in St John's Road and an iron building erected upon it. This was the site later occupied by the Archway Central Hall. In 1873 a far more substantial chapel was opened on the adjacent site - on the junction of five roads opposite the Archway Tavern, since Victorian times one of the busiest traffic centres in North London. Up to that point still part of the Islington (Liverpool Road) Circuit, Archway Road Chapel became the head of the newly formed Highgate Circuit (1873), which reached out to the new suburbs rapidly growing up on the Northern Heights.

Archway was one of no less than 85 Wesleyan chapels built in 1872. In 1932 it was decided to replace the crumbling, out of date building with a large Central Hall, to be set back from the busy and noisy Great North Road. It was to be the first central hall scheme initiated after Methodist Union and the last Central Hall built in London.

Source: http://www.londonmethodist.org.uk/index.html

Norah Schuster (1892-1991) qualified as a doctor at the University of Manchester in 1918. After working in the pathology departments of the Queen's Hospital for Children, Hackney Road, St George's Hospital, Hyde Park Corner, and the Infants Hospital, Vincent Square, in 1927 she was appointed pathologist to the Royal Chest Hospital, City Road. Apart from a period in the Emergency Medical Service from 1939 to 1943, she remained at the Royal Chest Hospital until its closure and demolition in 1954. She then worked at Pinewood Hospital, Wokingham, until her retirement in 1959. She was a founder fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists and in 1950 she was elected to the presidency of the Association of Clinical Pathologists.

The closure of the Royal Chest Hospital in 1954 prompted her to investigate the origins of what was the oldest chest hospital in Europe, founded in 1814, and to rehabilitate the reputation of its founder, Doctoor Isaac Buxton, unjustly attacked in E.W. Morris's History of the London Hospital.

See H33/RCH for a detailed history of the Royal Chest Hospital.

Ponders End Wesleyan Methodist Church began when a chapel was built in 1849. In 1892, another chapel was built on the western side of High Street. Another Methodist Chapel, in Alma Road, existed from 1882 to 1898.