Collection ACC/3756 - LONDON METHODIST MISSION (WEST CIRCUIT)

0.01 linear metres

ACC/3756 1915-1931 Collection 0.01 linear metres Methodist Church of Great Britain x United Methodist Church x Wesleyan Methodist Church x Primitive Methodist Church

Hugh Price Hughes a Wesleyan Minister in London founded the West London Mission in 1887 as part of the Forward Movement in Methodism which stressed that faith had to be expressed in social and political as well as personal life. The Inaugural meeting of the then West Central Mission was on 21st October 1887 with the Sermon at St. James' Hall, Piccadilly preached by C.H. Spurgeon. The West London Mission remained at St. James' Hall which was a popular Concert Hall, until 1905 when it was demolished to form the Piccadilly Hotel. The Mission moved to Exeter Hall, another concert hall, in the Strand.

In 1906 the Methodist Conference gave the Mission its own building, the Wesleyan Chapel at Great Queen Street. The building was later condemned by the LCC and the Mission were temporarily housed in the Lyceum Theatre, while on Great Queen Street at the old site a new place of worship, Kingsway Hall, was under construction. Kingsway Hall opened in 1912 and enjoyed nearly 70 years of occupation until it was sold in the eighties after the amalgamation of the Kingsway Circuit and Hinde Street; the Mission returned to the West End to Thayer Street/Hinde Street.

In the early days, much of the day to day work went on in smaller chapels and halls in the middle of slum areas where social needs were great. These buildings such as Craven Hall at Fouberts Place were used for a wide variety of activities not just devotional but social, education and welfare. However, this use of smaller halls was dropped after the First World War in favour of the new Kingsway Hall premises.

Since its beginning the West London Mission has been involved with social work. One of its first services offered was a Crèche. There were also job registries and men's social department catering for the unemployed, dispensaries and free surgeries, a poor man's lawyer service, a Home of Peace for the Dying, a home for homeless girls - The Winchester House, and a clothing store. In the 1920s and 1930s the social work of the West London Mission expanded. They set up hostels for abandoned mothers and for girls in London without jobs and in 1923 a Mission Maternity Hospital was established. The Social work continued and now includes St. Luke's and St. Mary's Hostels for men and women, Emerson Bainbridge House for young offenders and the Katherine Price Hughes house set up in 1937 and which now provides accommodation for men and women on probation and bail.

Another aspect of the work of the Mission was Open Air Ministry. There were open air services on the streets every evening and in Hyde Park on Sundays which included the Mission brass band. One of the most well known open air preachers was the Reverend Lord Donald Soper whose outdoor work began in 1927 at Tower Hill and in 1942 at Speakers' Corner.

The Mission now has its home at 19 Thayer Street.

Holly Park Methodist Church, Crouch Hill, was founded in 1875, although a permament hall was not built until 1882. The Weston Park Mission was begun by the Holly Park Church although it was later taken over by the Middle Lane Church. The Holly Park Methodist Church Hall is now used by the Holly Park Montessori School.

Received in 1996 (Acc/3756).

Annual reports of the West London Methodist Mission: "The Work of a Year in Pictures", 1929-1930 and "West London: Its Glory and Tragedy", 1930-1931. Both reports are well illustrated with photographs showing the work of the Mission.

Also typescript document entitled "Church Story: A history of Holly Park Methodist Church, Crouch Hill (Highgate Circuit)" outlining the history of the Church from 1875 to 1927.

3 items

Available for general access.

Copyright: City of London
English

Fit

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

For the history of the West London Mission see: Outcast London, A Christian Response by Philip Bagwell: Epworth Press 1987.

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997. January to March 2009 Holly Park Methodist Church , Crouch Hill West London Methodist Mission Nonconformists Organisation and management Administration Church administration Religions Ancient religions Christianity Protestantism Protestant nonconformity Methodism Religious history Church history Religious groups Christians Protestants Protestant nonconformists Methodists Holborn London England UK Western Europe St Marylebone King's Cross Camden Westminster Marylebone City of Westminster Crouch End Haringey Barnet Hertfordshire Mary-le-bone Europe Nonconformity

Received in 1996 (Acc/3756).

Annual reports of the West London Methodist Mission: "The Work of a Year in Pictures", 1929-1930 and "West London: Its Glory and Tragedy", 1930-1931. Both reports are well illustrated with photographs showing the work of the Mission.

Also typescript document entitled "Church Story: A history of Holly Park Methodist Church, Crouch Hill (Highgate Circuit)" outlining the history of the Church from 1875 to 1927.

3 items

Available for general access.

Copyright: City of London

• English

• Latin

English

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

• English