Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
Parallel form(s) of name
Standardized form(s) of name according to other rules
Other form(s) of name
Identifiers for corporate bodies
Description area
Dates of existence
History
The Whitechapel Methodist Mission was a Primitive Methodist foundation, arising from the home mission activities of one of the Methodists' greatest ministers, the Reverend Thomas Jackson, who worked in the East End of London for 56 years. His work at Whitechapel built on his earlier work in Bethnal Green, Walthamstow and Clapton.
The Whitechapel Mission combined social work with evangelical work. The station began in 1897 when Thomas Jackson bought the Working Lads' Institute which was due to close owing to a shortage of funds. He used this as the basis for his work in Whitechapel. In 1901 the Mission acquired a property on Marine Parade, Southend, to continue the provision of holidays and convalescent stays for the poor from the area. In 1906 Brunswick Hall was purchased, and this enabled a physical separation of the social and evangelical work. The Mission's many activities included free breakfasts and penny dinners for local children, a Medical Mission, free legal advice service, night shelter for homeless men, distribution of food, coal and grocery tickets to the poor and prison gate rescue work (especially amongst young men), which developed into full probation work with the opening of Windyridge Hostel.