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43 The Romans invaded Britain and Aulus Plautus built a fort to guard the Thames crossing at a point that became Londinium. Boadicea, queen of the Icini, burnt it in AD 60. From 70 to 125 Londinium was rebuilt as a Roman city.

London Wall

The Roman wall around London was built about 200. It enclosed 380 acres, was 2.75 miles long and marked what is now the "square mile" of the City of London. It fell into disuse when the Romans left, but later generations re-built it and re-used its materials.

The gates of London guarded the roads. Bishopsgate is the gate to Ermine Street, running from London Bridge north to Scotland.

The sketch map for Quakers in the City shows some of the streets associated with the wall and the gates.

The gates were demolished in the 1760s

In Roman times:

  • Watling Street ran from the Channel crossing via Canterbury to Londinium [at London Bridge]. In London, it turned west [through Newgate] and then north-west as what is now the Edgware Road (A5) from Marble Arch (Tyburn), going to Verulamium (near St Albans) and on to Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury, (on the Welsh border) or (another branch) to Chester.

  • From the position of London Bridge, Ermine Street (now the A10) ran through Bishopsgate, Tottenham, Edmonton, Waltham Cross, north to Lincoln, York and Scotland. A minor road, Stane Street, ran south-west to Chichester from London Bridge.

  • Another main road ran [through Aldgate] to Colchester on the east and [through Newgate?] to Shepherds Bush, Chiswick, Brentford, Hounslow and Staines to to Silchester to the west of London, branching to Dorchester (through Salisbury) in the south west, Bath (Aquae Sulis) in the west, and Gloucester (on the river Severn).

Stibenhede to Stepney

Stibenhede (on the road to Colchester) is the only east London district entered in the Domesday Book. This Anglo Saxon name became Stepney. In 958 Dunston became Bishop of London. He is said to have replaced a dilapidate wooden church at Stepney with a stone one that was dedicated to him when he became a saint. An exhibition From Stibenhede to Stepney: A Thousand Years of History ws held at the Stepney Central Library from 19.4.1958 to 17.5.1958.

London Bridge

About 994 a wooden bridge was built across the Thames near the site of the present London Bridge. In 1136 the Old London Bridge was built of stone.

1078 William the Conqueror built the White Tower of the present Tower of London, to guard the crossing over the Thames.

1090 The church of St Giles Cripplegate is the successor of one founded some twenty-four years after the Conquest.

Cripplegate without 1090 parish, 1500 bequest - 1727 St Lukes - 1962

1160 The Parish church of St. Leonard, Shoreditch, probably dates from the 12th century (but may have been earlier). The first record of the church occurs in 1160.

Shoreditch Parish starts outside Bishopsgate - the gate through the London wall on the road north to Shoreditch. The parish of St Helen, Bishopsgate is inside the City. Bishopsgate is also the name of the street that runs through where the gate was. Before the first world war it was two streets: Bishopsgate Street Within and Bishopsgate Street Without, depending on which side of the wall it was.

Shoreditch and map
notice Hackney Road going east from the church
External link to Shoreditch history


Shoreditch: 1160 parish, 1736 church, 1740 church, 1774 workhouse, 1777 workhouse, 1813 Parkinson, 1822 Hoxton leaves, 1824 Parkinson, 1834 resistance, 1843 infirmary, 1844 infirmary, 1848 Brentwood, 1863 workhouse, 2003 Hoxton Project, 2004 and 2005 Shoreditch Parade,

1199 King John granted the citizens of London the right to elect their own Sheriff - King's representative who governed the City. By a charter of 1215 he granted them the right to elect a Mayor annually

Hackney: 1317 Rector, 1535 Sutton House, 1613 Select Vestry, 1636 Mare Street Presbyterians, 1695 Homerton College, 1720 Hackney House, 1745 map, 1759 Brooke House asylum, 1769 Price arrives, 1783 Braidwood Academy, 1791 new church and Priestley arrives, 1797 Mary Lamb, 1815 madhouses, 1818 East India Company lunatics, 1836 Poor Law union of Hackney and Stoke Newington, 1841 Clapton daughter church, 1845 German Hospital, Dalston, 1847 Homerton daughter church, 1945 Bannister House, 1955 Hackney Guide, 2002 onwards: Chatsworth Road Market Festival
"Saint Augustine's Tower" "built around 1300" by the Knights' Templars (much altered since), "is all that remains of the original parish church of Hackney"
(1993). - The tower is built of Kentish Ragstone and was actually constructed in the early 16th century as part of a rebuilding of the original church - The classic building in front of it dates from 1802 and was Hackney's original Town Hall]

1317 First Rector of [Parish?] church of St.Augustine's, Hackney, appointed.

1500 John Sworder [Swerder] made a gift in his will, dated 2.4.1500 which is counted as the founding of what became the Cripplegate Foundation in 1891 See Aline Reed and Ken Burnett 2004. Islington Pensioners Forum June 2015 Newsletter said

"Cripplegate foundation has been helping poor people since 1500 when it was founded with an initial donation of £40... There was financial help, apprenticeships as well as donations of shoes and clothes, but this kind of assistance ended after the Second World War when legislation brought in the welfare state"

See 1962

1535 Sutton House built. A tudor diplomat's house. On the road between Hackney village and Homerton

1540 Balmes House, or Baume's House (north of Hoxton), was built about 1540. It was named after its founders, two brothers who were Spanish merchants. In 1631 it was Sir George Whitmore's house. In 1680 it was bought by Richard de Beauvoir. In the 1750s it was taken over by Dr Meyer Low Schomberg for use as a private madhouse. The De Beauvoir family, however, seem to have retained ownership of the estate.

1559 Copperplate map of London. The oldest surviving map of London. (Wikipedia) shows crowded city streets and suburban Bishopsgate and Moorfields

1569 Bethlehem churchyard created to bury people for whom there was inadequate room in their own parish, or who had no parish. A non- parochial churchyard also provided space that could be occupied by people dissenting from established religion. The "churchyard" was created by "Sir Thomas Roe". "Sir Thomas Rowe", Merchant Taylor, was Lord Mayor of London in 1568. He died in 1570 and was buried at Hackney Church. He had a great taste for pageantry. See the Bunhill Quakers and Tindal's burial ground - also 1727 burials.

1600

"A monopoly on all trade in "the Indies" (of which tea was only one item although it was to become arguably the most important) was granted to the East India Company in 1600. The licence was not revoked until 1834 when trade became open to all..........The dates are uncertain but the first auction site was in Philpot Lane which runs between Fenchurch Street and Eastcheap. (Named I believe for a prominent merchant/Lord Mayor circa Richard II.) The second site was Crosby Hall in Bishopsgate (This must have been almost opposite the junction with Threadneedle Street because even today there is a Crosby Square at that location). Alan Davies"

1613

"By reason of a Faculty dated December 9th, 1613, the Parish of Hackney came under the control of a Select Vestry consisting of the Rector, Church- wardens and a few local inhabitants. The Vestry became 'Open' in 1834.

The Minutes of the Select Vestry, 1630, state that the Churchwardens were instructed to erect one cage, a ducking stool for women who were common scolds, and a whipping post, to be furnished with such necessaries as are needful thereat"

1631 Sir George Whitmore lived in Balmes House when he was Lord Mayor of London in 1631 or 1632.

before 1636 a Presbyterian meeting place on the west side of Mare Street. Probably somewhere near London Lane

1661

10.11.1661 Quakers bought land outside the City for Bunhill Fields (Quaker) Burial Ground. This and the nearby Dissenter's Graveyard (Tindal's) are still there as public spaces. The Dissenter's Graveyard is full of gravestones. The older Quaker graveyard was a flat field with no markers for the graves. The Dissenter's Graveyard is a protected heritage, the Quaker's ground is often at risk from "development".

The early history of "Tindal's burial ground" (later the "Dissenter's Graveyard" - See 1818), east of the Quaker ground is obscure and confused. However, a Henry Tindal or Tindale may have leased land in the same year (1661). Notes in the Guildhall are said to say: "Lease 16.6.1661 to Henry Tindale 51 years to 1712, and on expiry lease granted to William Tennent for 52 years till 1784, together with a further lease to J. Browne for 163/4 years to 1781. In 1661, also Lease to James Browne of Burial ground without the adjoining premises, 61 years to 1773; 27.7.1770 Lease to his niece Elizabeth Featherstonehaugh 73/4years to end at same time in 1781."

1665

The City of London Corporation is said to have bought land at Bunhill Fields for burying plague victims. An original inscription at the entrance may have said "This churchyard was inclosed with a brick wall, at the sole charge of the City of London, in the Mayoralty of Sir John Lawrence, Kt., A.D. 1665 ; and afterwards the gates hereof were built and finished in the Mayoralty of Sir Thomas Bludworth, Kt., A.D. 1666." (Light 1913 p.2)

"a stone was found on which was the name of Debora Warr, the date being November 10th, 1623. It is thought probable that this is the date of the woman's death, but that the body was reinterred. There was another, however, of "Joannes Seaman, natus 6 Feb. 1665, ob Jul. 23, 1665," and this is most likely to be the more ancient." (Light 1913 pp 3-4)


[Hoxton] "was one of the birth-places of the illegal Non- Conformist sects, who met behind locked doors and constructed secret escape passages. The Act of Uniformity, passed in 1662, barred these religious Dissenters from schoolteaching and excluded them from the universities. So they started to establish their own colleges, or Academies... One of the earliest Academies was opened - in 1669 - in Hoxton Square... The first Academy in Hoxton Square was followed by two others, both equally successful. The last survived till 1830, when it moved to Highbury. But the name of Hoxton Academy was kept alive in its Chapel and Sunday School. The Chapel, opened in Hoxton Street in 1796" Coombs, T. 1975 p.39)

A dissenting academy was established by Charles Morton at Newington, about 1675. Daniel Defoe was a pupil there. I am not clear if this is Newington Green or Stoke Newington, or of its relation to Newington Green Chapel.

1679 Last of the Whitmores of Balmes House killed.

1680 Richard de Beauvoir purchased Balmes House.

1688

John Strudwick buried his guest, John Bunyan in Tindal's burial ground. Bunyan's former assistant at Bedford, Nehemiah Cox, was buried near him in 1689.

1689

The Presbyterian Fund Board originated in 1689, projected by a group of Presbyterian and Independent ministers in London, as a Common Fund to assist the poorer country congregations by making grants to their ministers, and to assign the education of students for the ministry. In 1693 the Independents seceded and formed their own Independent, or Congregational, Fund Board

1690

Isaac Watts was born in Southhampton on 17.7.1674. In 1690, he went to the Dissenting Academy at Stoke Newington. "Much of the remainder of his life centred around that village" (Wikipedia). [Description of Quaker beliefs 1702]

Isaac Watts' Hymns and Spiritual Songs, in 1707, provided a new sung theology for established and dissenting churches. See Jennifer Potter on hymns and hymn singing.

Logic published 1724. He died 25.11.1748

1690 John Wowen became the first pastor of Deadman's-Place Independent Church in Southwark. "The meeting-house in which they assembled was a good building, of a moderate size, with three galleries ; and it had a burial ground adjoining, which was long famous for the number of Dissenters buried there. Mr. Wowen falling out with his people, left them in 1702, and was succeeded by Mr. Killinghall, at whose death, in 1740, the church became extinct." The History and Antiquities of Dissenting Churches ... in London by Walter Wilson (1808)

1695

Homerton College established

1706

From 1706 to 1834 the London tea auctions took place at East India House in Leadenhall Street. Alan Davies

1708 Dissenters Chapel, Newington Green opened. Inscription on front is "Newington Green Church". (Now Unitarian Church, 39 Newington Green, Stoke Newington, London N16) built. "It is today the oldest non-conforming place of worship in London". Built by goldsmith Edward Harrison at cost of £200.

1712 Henry Tindal's lease expired.

1713

Tindal's Burial Ground in City Road changed hands. (Wikipedia) -

1715 After a contested election for the minister of the Mare Street Presybyterian Chapel, the losing faction broke away and established the Gravel Pit Meeting House at the north-east end of Chathem Place. (Watson, I. 1998 pp 71-72). [By the early 19th century the congregation began to identify as Unitarian. In 1809 they moved to the New Gravel Pit Chapel nearby, and the "Old Gravel Pit Chapel" was taken over by Congregationalists.

1720

About 1720 that Hackney House, Lower Clapton, was built by Stamp Brooksbank MP. (see map and description of site) This became the Hackney Academy in 1786 It was demolished about 1800 and its materials used in building about six smaller houses. [I am not sure if it was called Hackney Academy or Homerton Academy]

1726

"East India House is a vast edifice; it was originally founded in 1726, but was in 1798 so much altered and enlarged as to become almost an entire new building; it comprises the principal offices of the East India Company, and contains several noble apartments." [Mogg's New Picture of London and Visitor's Guide to it Sights, 1844]

Mary Tuke, Yorkshire spinster, began her tea business in 1725. This may have been linked to he being a Quaker. If she travelled to Gracechurch Street for Yearly Meeting she could have bought tea at the auctions to take back to York.

1727

St Luke's Church in Old Street was built between 1727 and 1733 to relieve St Giles Cripplegate. It was one of the last churches to be built under an Act of 1711 which provided for 50 new churches in London.


Some London burial figures for 1727 from Maitland

Burials during the year: In "Tindale's Burial Ground, Bunhill-fields": 500 - Row's Burial Ground in Moorfelds, figures of registered and unregistered from Benjamin Clitherow, Ground-Keeper: 270 - - in Quaker burial grounds: 246 - in seven Baptist burial grounds: 210 - In the burial grounds for German and Potugese Jews at Mileend and Dutch Jews at Hoxton: 125 - In the Independent Burial Ground in Deadman's Place, from the Reverend Mr. Killinghall, Register-Keeper: 118. [Based on Maitland]

Maitland managed to secure figures from all registers except that of "the Presbyterians great Burial Ground in Bunhill-Fields". The Lessee there "out of a selfish view, would not discover the vast number buried there in the said Year, other than that I might safely insert one for every day of the year. This obftinate refusal put me upon inquiring of John Smith, the Grave-digger, who assured me, that though he kept no Regifter, yet in the Course of his long service he had made such Observations, that he was sure they buried annually between seven and eight hundred ; but lest I sould exceed the number, I have chosen only to insert five hundred for the aforesaid year; which, according to the opinions of divers of the moft eminent undertakers I applied to, is much too few." (Maitland 1756 volume two page 740)


1728

Winter 1728-1729 The first Poor House for the parish of St John, set up by the Hackney parish vestry in a rented house on the north side of Homerton High Street to accommodate 15 paupers. See 1741 - 1750 - 1836 - 1841 - 1930. See Peter Higginbotham's workhouse website

1730 Homerton College Society established (See 1820. From 1730 the College was administered by the King's Head Society.

"Founded as a dissenting academy in 1730 by the Congregational Fund Board and the King's Head Society, Homerton College took its name from Homerton in East London in 1823. By 1850 its theological training became the work of London University and the Congregational Board of Education then combined its training colleges for men and women teachers at Homerton College, which in 1894 moved to the site of Cavendish College in Cambridge. It is an independent specialist college within the University of Cambridge"

King's Head Society for Educating Young Men for the Work of the Ministry among Protestant Dissenters

1731

24.4.1731 Daniel Defoe died in lodgings on Rope Makers' Alley, London. He was buried in Tindal's burial ground on 26.4.1731. His wife, Mary, was buried beside him on 19.12.1732. His bones were disinterred in 1870.

1732

The following represented Homerton on the Hackney Vestry in 1732: Mr Charles Slaughter (dead), Stamp Brooksbank Esq, Matthew Howard Esq, ffisher Jackson Esq, Mr Michael Rean, Mr James Lewis Bershere, John Spillet (resigned), John Nicholas Esg, Stephen Ram esq, Mr John Brewer, Samuel webb esq, Mr Edward Brooksby.

"Stamp Brooksbank, another of the Homerton representatives on the Hackney Vestry, lived at Hackney House, a large house surrounded by 200 acres of park and gardens, extending from Clapton to Brooksby's Walk, part of which is now occupied by the Eastern Hospital. The estate passed through several hands after Brooksbank's death, and in 1786 was purchased by the Calvinist Protestant Dissenters who used the house as a Ministers' Training College - hence College Avenue, the old name of Tresham Avenue" (Heward, A.K.C. 1948 p.17)
[The names are still preserved in Tresham Walk and College Close on the estate to the rear of Lower Clapton Health Centre (map link). The Eastern Hospital has now been replaced by Homerton Hospital. see map below]

1736 Rebuilding of St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, started.

1739


In 1739, William Maitland (c.1693-1757) published the first (one volume) edition of The History of London, from its Foundation by the Romans to the present time. . . . With the several accounts of Westminster, Middlesex, Southwark, and other parts within the Bill of Mortality. The whole illustrated with a variety of fine cuts London, 1739. Another edition, brought down to 1756, was published in two volumes in 1756,

"The above-mentioned Artillery-ground, together with that on the North Side thereof, as far as Old-street, was anciently denominated Bonhill, or Bunhill Field; Part whereof, at present denominated Tindal's, or the Dissenters great Burialground, was, by the Mayor and Citizens of London, in the Year 1665, set apart and consecrated, as a common Cemetery, for the Interment of such Corps as could not have Room in their Parochial Burial-grounds, in that dreadful Year of Pestilence. However, it not being made use of on that Occasion, the said Tindal took a Lease thereof, and converted it into a Burial-ground, for the use of Dissenters , over the West Gate of which was the following Inscription: " This Church-yard was inclosed with a Brick Wall, at the sole Charges of the City of London, in the Mayoralty of Sir John Laurence, Kt. Anno Dom. 1665, and afterwards the Gates thereof were built and finished in the Mayoralty of Sir Tho. Bloudworth, Kt. Anno Dom. 1666."

The Ground between this Cemetery and Old street was a common Laystall, till the Year 1706, but the Soil thereof being soon after removed, divers new Streets were thereon erected." Maitland 1756 volume two, page 1370, under St Luke's. Part quoted Light 1913 p.3)


11.11.1739 John Wesley preached for the first time in his new London headquarters, the Foundery Chapel

1740 Rebuilding of St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, finished.

1741 Stamp Brooksbank was Governor of the Bank of England 1741 to 1743

1741 Poor House for the Parish of St. John Hackney moved to south side of Homerton High Street, to "a Tudor Cottage with numerous tall chimneys and narrow roofs, with an inner courtyard".

1742

Sunday 1.8.1742 Susanna Wesley buried in the Dissenters Graveyard. John Wesley read the funeral service of the Church of England. A plain stone was erected not long afterwards with a verse epitaph by Charles Wesley:
"Here lies the Body of MRS. SUSANNA WESLEY, Youngest and last surviving daughter of Dr. Samuel Annesley."
In sure and stedfast hope to rise,
And claim her mansion in the skies,
A Christian here her flesh laid down,
The cross exchanging for a crown.
True daughter of affliction, she,
Inured to pain and misery,
Mourned a long night of grief and fears,
A legal night of seventy years.
The Father then revealed His Son,
Him in the broken bread made known ;
She knew and felt her sins forgiven,
And found the earnest of her heaven.
Meet for the fellowship above,
She heard the call ' Arise, my love.'
I come, her dying looks replied,
And lamb-like, as her Lord, she died."


1745 Map of the Parish of Hackney, surveyed by John Rocque, 1745

1748

25.11.1748 Death of Isaac Watts at Abney Park, Stoke Newington. He was buried on 5.12.1748 in the Dissenters Graveyard, "attended at his request by two ministers from each of the three dissenting denominations, Independent, Presbyterian, and Baptist". He wrote his own inscription for his grave, defining himself as pastor and successor to Caryl, Owen, Clarkson, and Chauncy. (DNB) His original memorial was replaced in 1808 with the present Chest tomb of Portland stone with a sandstone lid. The sides have raised lozenge panels inscribed ISAAC WATTS D.D. and the lid has the epitaph composed by Watts describing his "50 years of feeble labours in the Gospel" and citing texts from St Paul's Epistles.

1750 Balmes House, Hoxton, was converted to a private madhouse about 1750.

Hoxton Academy, or Hoxton Theological College, was established by Samuel Pike about 1750 [but see below]. It merged with Highbury College in 1830.

1750 A room for the sick reserved in the Hackney Poorhouse The Hospital Database History begins the history of Hackney Hospital here.

1758 Richard Price became minister of the Newington Green Chapel. Price lived in Newington Green. Hackney Gazette article 6.5.1994 says

"The church became truly Unitarian when the famous Welshman, mathematician and economist, Dr Richard Price became minister in 1758."

27.4.1759 Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) born in Spitalfields, London. In 1763 the family moved to a farm at Epping. In 1765, to Barking, Essex. In 1768, to Beverley in Yorkshire. They returned to London in 1774

Brooke House, Clapton (on the road north from Hackney village), converted to a madhouse.

1760

33 Geo. 2 c.30, the London Streets (City) Act 1759/1760. Act of Parliament which permitted the City to remove its gates in order to improve traffic flow. Parliamentary session began in 1759. Act passed 1760

The narrow medieval gates to the City of London were demolished in the 1760s: These were Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Aldersgate, Newgate and Ludgate, which had been gates through the Roman Wall, plus Cripplegate (originally a gate leading from the Roman Fort by Aldersgate); Moorgate (a later postern gate leading into the Moorfields outside the wall between Aldersgate and Bishopsgate); and the Bridge Gate that had been erected on London Bridge

"City Road is a broad thoroughfare... projected in 1760 by Mr Robert Dingley. Harrison described it in 1776 as an easy and pleasant communication from the eastern parts of the City to all roads between Islington and Paddington and from thence down to Oxford Road and the Great Western Road, thus avoiding the necessity of travelling three miles over the stones. The City Road, which is one mile in length, was then regarded as one of the handsomest in England, and was maintained in proper repair by the tolls levied on horses and carriages. For many years after its construction it remained on the fringe of the country."(Clunn, H.P. 1962 p. 360)

In 1762 Richard Price added the evening preachership in Poor Jewry Lane to his ministry, but in 1769 resigned this and took on the Gravel Pit Meeting House in Hackney.

In 1763 James Albert Ukawsaw Gronniosaw married Betty . source. Betty was a weaver who lived and/or worked in Petticoat Lane.

1768

1770

"In 1770, after being turned down by the better-known academy at Homerton, William [Godwin] attended the Dissenting academy, Hoxton, where he wrote numerous sermons, hymns, and religious paraphrases as well as full- scale tragedies and comedies."

1771

An address to Presbyterians & Independents, or, A letter to a friend in defence of religious liberty : occasioned by several ministers being denied the benefit of the Independent Fund for refusing to send in satisfactory confessions of faith London : printed; and sold by J. Johnson, [1771] 24 pages (8vo) [Date of publication supplied in ms]

1773 Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784): Poems on various subjects, religious and moral. By Phillis Wheatley, Negro servant to Mr. John Wheatley, of Boston, in New England. London: Printed for A. Bell, bookseller, Aldgate; and sold by Messrs. Cox and Berry, King-street, Boston. 1773.

1773 Edward Cross' menagerie, with lions, tigers and monkeys, opened at Exeter 'Change in The Strand. It was there until 1829

1774 Parish of St. Leonard, Shoreditch secured an Act of Parliament enabling it to buy land for the construction of a new workhouse. The workhouse was completed within three years. [Shoreditch Parish Workhouse]

Wollstonecraft family moved to Hoxton, London. They moved to Walworth in 1777 and Enfield in 1778. In 1778 Mary became companion to an elderly lady in Bath.

John Pye Smith (1774-1851) born

1776 Societas Evangelica formed in 1776 to extend the gospel by itinerant preaching. The Academy established by this body was known as HoxtonAcademy and later as Highbury College

1777 Shoreditch Parish Workhouse opened?

21.4.1777 John Wesley laid the foundation stone for his new chapel (Wesley's Chapel) on an acre of land on situated on Royal Row (City Road), where windmills has stood previously. It was opened, by him, on 1.11.1778 - (Wikipedia link)

Young ladies work in Tottenham School?
Quaker
history
Margaret Fell worked this in Tottenham in 1777, but who was Margaret Fell? The sampler is the same as another worked in Tottenham by Jenny Warner in 1782, suggesting that it was model used by a school. The sampler by Jenny Warner the first in the second row of this archive of Madelana Antiques online catalogue - or the first row of this one

The verse on both is

The Youth's Request

Preserve me Lord .amidst the croud,
From every thought that's vain & proud
And raise my wondering mind to see,
How good it is to trust in Thee!

From all enemies of truth,
Do thou O God preserve my Youth!
And free my mind from worldly Cares,
From youthful sins and youthful snares.

Lord in my heart to evil prone,
Let seeds of early Grace be sown;
Still watered with thy heavenly Love,
Till it shall spring to joys above!'

Quaker
history

Quaker
history

Hazel Whitehouse of Bruce Castle Museum has searched for Margaret Fell in the Parish Registers, but not found her. She suggests that Margaret might have been a pupil at a local Quaker school. But even if that mystery is solved - How did Margaret's work get to America? It was found under a print in Ohio, and the pictures sent to me by Peter McGrath of Massachusetts. And who wrote the poem that the young ladies embroidered on their samplers? If you have any suggestions, please share them

1781

November 1782 HoxtonAcademy founded?

Hoxton Academy "Chapel, opened in Hoxton Street in 1796, developed such a large local congregation that it had to be completely rebuilt - ten years later - to house 1,500 people. A purpose built Sunday School (the first of its kind) was added in 1814. Here, every Sunday, six or seven hundred children got some sort of elementary education. The poorest were supplied with cast-off clothes, whilst the best-behaved were rewarded with special lessons in writing and arithmetic. A sunday school survived on the site, in Hoxton Street, till it was bombed in 1941." Coombs, T. 1975 p.39)

1783 Braidwood Academy for the Deaf and Dumb established by Thomas Braidwood (1784-1820) in what became 36 Chatham Place, Hackney. (map link to Chatham Place) "Braidwood took over the lease of a rebuilt Bowling Green House, a property occupied by one Dr Rawlinson, and renamed it Grove House". Lee, R. 7.2001

1783 Hackney Gazette article 6.5.1994 says

"Dr Price moved to the village of Hackney in 1783 and became principal of the newly founded Hackney College in 1786"

1784

Mary Wollstonecraft attended her sister, Eliza Bishop, after Eliza's nervous breakdown. They ran away to Hackney, then to Islington, where, together with Fanny Blood, they tried to establish a school. They then moved to Newington Green where they did establish a school. Mary Wollstonecraft met Richard Price and became friends with many local dissenters.

John Hewlett, schoolmaster at Shacklewell (Hackney) took Mary to visit Samuel Johnson in Islington in the summer of 1784 (He died in December). "Several times she compares Hewlett with Rousseau, whom she had begun to read and worship" [TOMALIN, C. 1974 p. 54] Hewlett later introduced her to the publisher, Joseph Johnson. In November 1785 Mary Wollstonecraft left to help nurse Fanny Blood in Lisbon. Fanny and her baby died shortly after being delivered. Mary returned to London in January 1786. The school was in dire straights and they were forced to close it. Sometime afterwards she recieved a £10 advance from Joseph Johnson on her first book, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters, which was written in 1786.

1786 Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor established. One of its two relief points was at the White Raven tavern in Mile End. Olaudah Equiano was a member of the committee.

In 1786 the Calvinist Protestant Dissenters bought Hackney House and used it as a Ministers' training college. They called it New College. Richard Price was the first Principal. He was succeeded by Joseph Priestley.

Kepis: A Sermon preached at the old Jewry on Wednesday 26th April 1786 on the occasion of the new academical institution among Protestant ministers for the Education of their Ministers and Youth

William Johnson Fox (1786-1864) born

New College, the new Academy at Hackney opened in September 1787.

Wednesday 28.4.1790. Thomas Belsham (1750-1829) delivered a discourse on "The importance of truth, and the duty of making an open profession of it" at the Meeting-House in the Old-Jewry, London; to the supporters of the New College at Hackney. It was published along with 'The report of the Committee to the general meeting of Governors and subscribers to the New College, Hackney, in January, 1790.'

4.11.1789 Richard Price delivered a Discourse on the Love of our Country to the "Revolution Society" (formed to commemorate 1688) in London. The society sent a congratulatory letter to the National Assembly. Price's Discourse published (1789): A Discourse on the Love of Our Country, delivered on Nov. 4, 1789, At the Meeting-House in the Old Jewry, to the Society for Commemorating the Revolution in Great Britain. With an Appendix, containing the report of the Committee of the Society; an Account of the Population of France; and the Declaration of Rights by the National Assembly of France. (See Burke)

1791 Building of the new church of St John at Hackney started following an local Act of Parliament in 1790 - (external link to church history)

April 1791: Death of Richard Price

Joseph Priestley... became minister of the Gravel Pit congregation in 1791, succeeding his friend Richard Price. At New College, Priestley taught religious and scientific subjects to student ministers:

"But his presence was a cause of disquiet to those local people who perceived themselves patriots, not least when he was made an honorary French citizen. He himself found the fervent atmosphere in which the Loyal Hackney Volunteers were established more than enough to make him uneasy. In 1794 he followed his sons to the freer atmosphere of America, never to return." (Watson, I. 1998 p.72)

Unitarian Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue by the Distribution of Books founded. [See external links: Lindsey Press - Spartacus schoolnet

6.4.1794 Thomas Belsham preached at the Gravel Pit Meeting in Hackney on Dishonest shame the primary source of the corruptions of the Christian doctrine Published by Joseph Johnson.

1796 Dissenters bought a house in Homerton High Street to replace the first Homerton Academy

"Between the Lamb and Flag and College Lane stood an old mansion belonging to a Mrs Hawtyn, which was purchased in 1796 by the Protestant Dissenters' Academy, a Theological College for candidates for the Noncomformist Ministry" (Heward, A.K.C. 1948 p.19)

click on the map 
to go back to the 
1786 Acadamy

On this 1950s map, the position of the second Homerton Academy would have been about opposite Digby Road, and to the west of College Lane. [south end of map] The site of the Academy is now part of the housing estate called Bannister House

The position of Hackney House (which became the first (1786) Academy would have been about the junction of Median Road with Glenarm Road. [north end of map] But it had a very large formal garden that stretched down to Homerton Row, and an entrance drive that ran along the line of Tresham Avenue, starting at what was (1960s) College Mansions, on the corner of Tresham Avenue.

1797

7.4.1797: Letter from Charles Lamb saying he has taken his sister, Mary, out of confinement (Fisher House, Islington), and found her a room in Hackney. This could have been anywhere in a very large parish. However, the other connection between Charles Lamb and Hackney is his attachment to Joseph Priestley and subsequent identification with unitarians in Hackney. It is possible that some members of the Gravel Pit Meeting House cared for Mary after her confinement. It is also possible that she was in a "single house" or some other form of domestic care. We do not know how long she stayed in Hackney or how much she moved around during the years 1797, 1798 and 1799.

15.7.1797: Consecration of the new church of St John at Hackney. Harry Sedgwick, a trustee, oversaw a subscription for planting the churchyard. 129 subscriptions enabled nearly 200 elms and horse chestnuts to be planted in avenues. (see external link)

1798 The body of the old church of St John at Hackney demolished. The tower was left to house the peal of bells. Some of the material from the old church was used for the bridge built to for Hackney brook in 1799. The bells remained in the old tower until 1854

The Bunhill Graveyard of the Quakers gained a new entrance in 1798/1799. It may also have gained a new house and part of that may be the present meeting house.

1799 Building of St John at Hackney finished. (Tower added a few years later).

1800

26.9.1800 Thomas Warburton purchased the White House, Bethnal Green, and its madhouse business from the executers of James Stratton. He already owned Balmes House in Hoxton.

8.4.1804 Thomas Belsham delivered a discourse at Hackney "on occasion of the death of the Rev Joseph Priestley" which was published "at the desire of the congregation" with a brief memoir of Dr Priestley's life and writings. Something in this elicited published letters from John Pye Smith and a response from Belsham (1805) including "a defence of Dr. Priestley's character and writings, in reply to the animadversions of the Rev John Pye Smith".

5.5.1805 Thomas Belsham recommended "Adherence to Christian truth" in a discourse delivered to the Unitarian congregation at Hackney upon the resignation of the pastoral office in that society. He became the Minister at the Unitarian Chapel in Essex Street. [That Charles Lamb, in 1823 should refer to Mr Belsham as being in Hackney suggests his contact with the Hackney Unitarians did not extend to 1805].

William Johnson Fox (1786-1864) was a student at Homerton Independent College from 1806 to 1810. He came by coach from Norwich.

1810

Hackney's original Town Hall.

1812

Regent Canal Company formed. The canal, which opened in 1820, connects the Grand Union Paddington Branch at Little Venice with Regent's Canal Dock (now called Limehouse basin) the Thames and the River Lee. Acton's Lock, near Broadway Market, is named after Joe Acton, through whose land the canal was dug. "Visible from the Lock is the Cat and Mutton Bridge which is named after a public house on what was once Mutton Lane but is now Goldsmith's Row. (1993).

15.12.1812 Report presented to the King's Head Society by a committee appointed to enquire into the circumstances connected with the resignation of a probationary student at Homerton Academy

1813

James Parkinson (1755-1824) appointed surgeon, apothecary and man midwife to the Parish of St.Leonard, Shoreditch. In the Shoreditch Parish Workhouse he set up separate male and female surgical and medical wards as well as imbecile, maternal and refractory wards. James Parkinson lived at 1 Hoxton Square

On the sacrifice of Christ : its nature, value, and efficacy : a discourse delivered at the Rev. George Burder's Meeting House, March 11, 1813, to the patrons and students of the Protestant Dissenting Academy, at Homerton by John Pye Smith. 88 pages. Printed by C. Stower, Homerton, for Josiah Conder; J. Hatchard; J. Black; and T. Hamilton

Letters to the Revd. John Pye Smith, D.D., on the sacrifice of Christ: occasioned by his sermon, preached March 11, 1813, before the patrons and students of the Protestant Dissenting Academy at Homerton by William Johnson Fox. London: Printed by Richard Taylor and Co. Sold by J. Johnson and Co; and D. Eaton

Vindiciae academicae: A letter to the Rev. Robert Winter, D.D. in defence of the Protestant Dissenting Academy at Homerton against the assertions and insinuations of a pamphlet published, in opposition to Dr. Winter, by a "late member of the King's Head Society" by John Pye Smith. 37 pages Printed by C. Stower

Vindiciae academicae: part the second, of a defence of the Protestant Dissenting Academy, at Homerton, against the further attempts of an anonymous writer, called "a late member of the King's Head Society," by John Pye Smith. 108 pages Printed by C. Stower

A letter to the author of a pamphlet entitled The substance of a report presented to the King's Head Society, Dec. 15, 1812 : by a committee appointed to enquire into the circumstances connected with the resignation of a probationary student at Homerton Academy, published by the author of the report by John Pye Smith. 2nd edition with a few explanatory notes and a postscript containing remarks on a letter to the Rev. Robert Winter, D.D., by the Rev. J.P. Smith. 42 pages. London: Printed for, and sold by, S. Burton

1814 Hoxton Academy moved from Hoxton Square to (present day) 91 Hoxton Street. The building was destroyed by bombing in the second world war.

1815

10.11.1815 madhouse list: Madhouses in Hoxton: trustees for Sir Jonathan Miles (Hoxton House), George William Burrow (Holly House), Thomas Warburton, Whitmore House. Madhouses in Hackney: Dr George Rees (Pembroke House?), Samuel Fox, London Lane and William Bignall, Kingsland Road. Madhouse in Clapton: Dr Thomas Monro, Brooke House.

The reasons of the Protestant religion : a discourse delivered at a monthly association of Protestant Dissenting Ministers and Congregations, held at the Meeting-house in Islington, May 4, 1815 by John Pye Smith. 60 pages. London: printed by Stower and Smallfield for Josiah Conder.

1816 The Guilt of neglecting the knowledge of Christ; a sermon [on John i. 10] by John Pye Smith. London

New year 1817: William Johnson Fox installed as minister of Parliament Court, Bishopsgate, following the death of William Vidler. He was installed there at the New Year of 1817.

6.11.1817 Charlotte Augusta, wife of Leopold, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and only daughter of George 4th and Queen Caroline, died in childbirth. Her still-born child would have been third in line to the British throne. Leopold and Charlotte were very popular in London. News of her pregnacy had been celebrated. Her death was mourned in a way which has been compared to the reponse to the recent death of Princess Diana. [external link]

The Sorrows of Britain, her sad forebodings, and her only refuge. A sermon [on Jer. ix. 20, 21] on occasion of the great national calamity of the death of the Her Royal Highness the Princess Charlotte Augusta, delivered on Lord's Day, Nov. 16, 1817, to the congregation of Protestant dissenters assembling in the gravel-pit meeting-house, Hackney. by John Pye Smith. 3rd edition. 31 pages. London. Printed by G. Smallfield ... for Jonathan Conder

30.7.1818 Pembroke House, off Mare Street, Hackney, officially opened for East India Company lunatics


Leigh's New Picture of London 1818:

The present Artillery Ground, together with the land on the north side as far as Old Street, was anciently termed Bonhill, or Bunhill Fields' A part of this field, on the north side of the Artillery Ground, now called Tindal's, or the Dissenters' Burial Ground, was consecrated and walled at the expense of the city in the pestilential year 1665, as a common cemetery for the interment of such bodies as could not have room in their parochial burial- grounds. But not being used on this occasion, Doctor Tindal took a lease of it, and converted it into a burial ground for the use of the dissenters.

In this extended cemetery lie the remains of many distinguished Nonconformists ; - a few of whose names attracted our notice in a late visit to this receptacle of the dead.

Mr. John Bunyan, author of the Pilgrim's Progress, who died August 12, 1688.

Dr. Williams, the founder of the dissenters' library in Red Cross Street, who died February 7, 1716, aged 72.

Mrs. Susannah Wesley, mother of the celebrated John and Charles Wesley, who died July 23, 1742.

Dr. Isaac Watts, who ranked high among the dissenters, as a poet, a divine, and general scholar. He died November 25th, 1748, aged 75.

The Rev. D. Neale, author of the History of the Puritans, who died December 14th, 1765, aged 51.

Dr. Lardner, the learned author of "The Credibility of the Gospel History." He died July 24, 1768, aged 84. .

Dr. John Guise, who died November 22, 1761. Dr. Langford, who died April 23, 1775, aged 71. Dr. Gill, who died October 23, 1771, aged 74. Dr. Stennett, who died August 24, 1795, aged 68. Dr. Harris, who died October 10, 1795, aged 67. Dr. S. M. Savage, who died February 21, 1791, aged 70.

Dr. Richard Price, author of "Reversionary Payments," and other highly distinguished pub lications. He died April 19, 1791, aged 68. Dr. Fisher, who died August 13, 1807, aged 76. Rev. Hugh Worthington, who died July 26, 1813, aged 61. Dr. Robert Young, who died October 8, 1813, aged 36.

Here, also, (enclosed in the family vault of the Rev. Dr. Rees,) lie.the mortal remains of George Walker, Fellow of the Royal Society, late of Nottingham and Manchester. But no memorial yet appears to direct the willing feet of his for mer admirers to the spot made sacred by his ashes! - He died in the year 1807.


30.7.1819 Benjamin and Catherine Clarke came to Hackney, taking over a recently (1815) established chemists shop on Mare Street, just north of Pemberton Place (172 Mare Street). Benjamin Clarke, their eldest son, born 1821, became a surgeon and a local doctor. His series of articles Glimpses of Ancient Hackney and Stoke Newington was published in the Hackney Mercury between April 1892 and November 1893. It was published as a book, by A.T. Roberts and Co. and the author, in 1894. This was republished, with an introduction and notes, the London Borough of Hackney and the Hackney Society in 1986. The glimpses are a series of detailed imaginary walks, into and around Hackney and Stoke Newington, which draw heavily on Benjamin's memories of the rural villages and their development into an urban suburb, and of the people he knew.

1820:

William Johnson Fox and Eliza Florence "were married at St George's-in-the-East, there being as yet no provision for the ceremony outside the Church of England. Their first home was in Hackney, one of several nearby villages where nonconformists were numerous."

Opening of the Regents Canal, from Paddington around northern London to Limehouse Docks

King Square, Finsbury, was named in honour the new King (previously Regent) George 4th. See church

1822

27.1.1822 Foundation stone of St Barnabas Church, King Square. See consecration

Hoxton was part of Shoreditch Parish until the 1820s when St. John the Baptist was built (1822 to 1826) to the design of Francis Edwards, and a separate parish created. -- click for Hoxton madhouses - Hoxton Academy - - Hoxton Hall - Hoxton Market Christian Mission

16.7.1822 Samuel Byles married Elizabeth Barbet at Saint Botolph Bishopsgate, London.

1824

James Parkinson (1755-1824) was succeeded by his son, William Keys Parkinson, as surgeon, apothecary and man midwife to the Parish of St.Leonard, Shoreditch.

Annual report of the Committee of the Homerton College Society, established A.D. 1730 London 1824 With an appendix, containing an account of the receipts and disbursements relative to the building of the New College, lists of donors, donations, &c.&c.&c

1.2.1824 South Place Chapel, Finsbury (near the present Liverpool Street Station), opened.

1826

University College London founded in Gower Street.

Highbury College, a training establishment for dissenting ministers, was designed by John Davies in the classical Ionic style and built in 1825- 1826. The College had been founded in November 1782 and had previously been known as Hoxton Academy when it occupied the buildings later taken over by Hoxton Mission College. Within 30 years, it had become a college for schoolmasters and in 1866 became an Anglican theological college. Part of its grounds were leased to Arsenal Football Club in 1913. The college buildings were destroyed by bombing during the Second World War.

Highbury College, date uncertain (1827/1830?). Clicking on the print will take you to the website of the seller. See below 1831 - As far as I can see from maps, Highbury in 1832 and earlier was still outside London. That is, there were open fields between it and Islington (Angel)

12.6.1826 Consecration of St Barnabas Church, King Square. It was, at first, a chapel of ease for St Luke's. It became a parish in its own right in 1842. Kings Square is just south of City Road. In 1832 building was solid up to the road, but there was not much north of it. As the population increased, other churches were built: St Paul's, Pear Tree Street (1865), St Matthew's on City Road (1849) and St Clement's, Lever Street (1880). The parishes of St Barnabas, St Clement and St Matthew were united in 1952 as St Clement (the present name of the church) with St Barnabas and St Matthew, Finsbury.

1827

Benjamin Flower gave up his business and removed to Dalston, where William Johnson Fox was living. Benjamin Flower died in 1829. Fox became trustee for his daughters, Eliza Flower ("Ariel") (1803-1846) and Sarah Flower (22.2.1805 - August 1848). For a short time they were members of his household. Eliza became a friend of Harriet Taylor. Sarah married William Bridges Adams in 1834. In 1835 Eliza moved in with William Fox to supervise his household. Sarah was author of the words of the hymn "Nearer my God to Thee"

30.7.1829 Eli Lawrence married Caroline Ann Barbet at St Katherine Creechurch in the City of London. From 1833 to about 1848 Eli was a woollen draper. He has been traced as such in Aldgate and then in Leadenhall Street Market. Eli Caroline's children, were Caroline, born 1831, traced as far as the 1851 census when she is a visitor to Eli's sister in Welford. - James Eli, born 1833, married Clara le Maitre in 1858. He was a surgeon in Wandsworth. They had no children and he died 1896 in St Lukes Hospital. Edward and Emily (twins) were born 1835. Edward was apprenticed to Alex Beck at Haydock Lodge and to Samuel Byles in Bethnal Green or Hackney. He died in 1904 - Henry born 1838, married Fanny le Maitre (Clara's sister) in 1866. He was a pharmaceutical chemist in Godalming, Surrey. He died in 1881. Emma, born 1840, married Horatio Tiltman in 1871 and lived in Hastings, where her mother died in 1875. Eli Lawrence became superintendent of Haydock Lodge Lunatic Asylum in Lancashire in October 1848

3.12.1829: Samuel Byles evidence at The Old Bailey

1830

"In 1830 William James - known to his family as Billy Penylan - walked his cattle from West Wales to Hoxton, a distance of 200 miles. He was the last in a long line of drovers in his family, men who had spent much of their lives walking to and from London in the gentle company of their cows." (2step catalogue, Easter 2003)

1831

A Topographical Dictionary of England by Samuel Lewis:

"The Church Missionary Society, in 1827, purchased the house and grounds formerly occupied by a Mr. Sabine, opposite Tyndal-place, on the site of the back premises of which they have erected a spacious and handsome building, for the residence and preparation of young men intended for foreign missions: it is capable of affording accommodation for forty students, who are instructed in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, the Mathematics, &c.: the theological and classical tutors are resident, and a professor of Arabic and other oriental languages, attends two terms in the year. The students usually remain from three to four years, according to circumstances; and ten, on an average, are annually fitted out for the several stations they are required to occupy abroad. Highbury College, established at Mile-End in 1783, removed to Hoxton in 1791, and thence to Highbury in 1826, is an institution for bestowing a liberal education on young men intending to become dissenting ministers: the building, which is a handsome brick edifice, consists of a centre with a fine portico, and two wings, and was erected at an expense of £22,000, for the reception and accommodation of the students, who must be single men, eighteen years of age and upwards, producing testimonials of their piety, and being able to translate Virgil, having also some acquaintance with the Greek grammar, fractional arithmetic, and the elements of geography: the institution is under the management of a committee chosen from among the subscribers, by whose contributions it is supported: the course of studies, conducted under two tutors, comprises the Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, and Syriac languages, the belles lettres, intellectual and moral philosophy, the mathematics, history, biblical criticism, the composition of sermons, theology, Hebrew antiquities, &c. A proprietary grammar school, in connexion with the church of England, was instituted in 1830, for the use of which handsome premises have been erected in the later English style, in Barnsbury-street, at an expense of œ1400, to be defrayed by shares of œ15 each. "

1834

"Being now free of the East India Company's monopoly the trade presumably had no wish to remain at East India House because that same year, 1834, they moved to the London Commercial Salerooms in Mincing Lane which runs parallel to Philpot Lane between Fenchurch Street and Eastcheap. The auctions remained here until 1937" Alan Davies

1834 to 1837: Eventually successful resistance by the trustees of the Shoreditch Parish Workhouse to the New Poor Law.

1836

The Metropolitan Hospital was originally founded in 1836 by Joseph Fry, son of Elizabeth Fry.

31.12.1836 By an order dated 31.12.1836 made by the Poor Law Commissioners for England and Wales under the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act, the parishes of St.John at Hackney and St.Mary, Stoke Newington, were united for the relief of the poor and a Board of Guardians was appointed.

1840

Until 1840 the area now covered by De Beauvoir Town was open country with a few grand houses; then De Beauvoir Town was built to accommodate some of the growing population. [But Balmes House closed as a private asylum about 1850?]

From 1840 'the Old College at Homerton' was affiliated to London University

1840 Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, opened on what were "grounds of the Abney-Fleetwood Estate". "The aim ... was to open the first wholly non-denominational garden cemetery in Europe." (Wikipedia). Buildings designed by William Hoskin. Landscape setting designed and planted by George Loddiges. "Seven great cemeteries" were established in London at this time "(notably Highgate, Norwood and Nunhead)" (1993). Became Hackney's first nature reserve in 1993. In 1998 it was owned by Hackney Council but managed by the Abney Park Cemetery Trust "who, with the aid of Urban Programme funding, are promoting its historical and ecological importance."

1841

Saint James Church, Clapton opened. Saint John of Hackney's first daughter churches, built by Hackney Church Building Society, were Saint Philip's, Dalston and Saint James, Clapton.

Britannia Saloon, Hoxton Street opened.

1841 Census: Highbury College

1841 A new union workhouse was erected, in stages, on the site of the old poor house buildings at the south of Homerton High Street, to the west of Sidney Road (later renamed Kenworthy Road). The first stage, in 1841, was to replace the front block with a new building which, like its predecessor, was U-shaped. Across the front was the Master's accommodation and Guardians' committee room. At either side of the rear courtyard were men's and women's accommodation wings. Other buildings included a potato cellar, flax shop, weaving room, school rooms, and mortuary. Behind the women's quarters was the infirmary which also contained a nursery, laundry and chapel. (Peter Higginbotham)

1842

1843

19.1.1843: Plans were made for a new infirmary and fever block containing 168 beds at Shoreditch Parish Workhouse.

Samuel Byles, surgeon, apothecary and man-midwife, Spitalfields: indenture taking T.N. Brushfield as apprentice. 1843. (MS.5146). (Wellcome Library)

1844

October 1844: New fever block and infirmary completed at Shoreditch Parish Workhouse

1845

The German Hospital, Dalston, founded as a hospital for the German speaking community of London. It was established as a voluntary subscription hospital for the poor German community of the East End.

1846 "One of Whitechapel's medical officers, Sam Byles, took a special interest in insanity and persuaded the guardians to adopt a minimal-restraint policy in advance of other boards of guardians". (Murphy, E. 2003)

1847

St. Barnabas Church, Homerton was consecrated on St. Barnabas day 1847.

Map of the Parish of Hackney, from a Recent Survey, 1847

1848

Erection of a new school at Brentwood for 400 of the older children of the Parish of St Leonard, Shoreditch. [ Peter Higginbotham says that Shoreditch Industrial School, Brentwood, was erected between 1852 and 1854 by Shoreditch Trustees, north side of Brentwood Hill. In 1877, Brentwood School District was formed, covering Hackney and Shoreditch Unions. The Industrial School was sold to it, and extended. It was taken over by Hackney Union in 1885, and further enlarged. The Metropolitan Asylums Board took it over as a colony for epileptics. This became St Faith's Hospital.

1849

"In 1849 over 1,000 books were taken from the Old Homerton College to form the nucleus of the library of New College, Finchley Road. A number of archives were transferred to New College at this time, including all but two of the minute books of the King's Head Society collection"


"The Church of England Metropolitan Training Institution, which opened at Highbury College in 1849 to train men and women for Anglican schools, included a model school which had 175 boys in 1854. It closed about 1865" History Online

Edward Manning (born 24.10.1833) attended Highbury College sometime between 1850 and 1858, when he was sent to Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada to establish a Church of England grammar school. (Jonathan Tomlinson, who says the college was burned in 1946) "as I understand, the college required its attendees to be at least 18 years old. So I would think then that Edward began his education there in the Spring of 1852. Further, he was described as a prodigy, so he would have graduated in four years or less, so his tenure there would have been 1852 to 1855 or 1856"

1851

Florence Nightingale visited the German Hospital as part of her nursing training, and published a paper on ward arrangements and hygiene.

(Pollock's) Toy Theatre Shop, Hoxton Street, founded by John Redington. It was run by Benjamin Pollock and family. The card theatres sold in this shop were the origin of the phrase 'Penny Plain, Twopence coloured'.

1851 Census: James Eli Lawrence was living with Samuel Byles and his family at "Philadelphia Place, Bethnal Green, Tower Hamlets". Edward Lawrence was, at some time, apprenticed to Samuel Byles of "Philadelphia Place, Hackney, County of Middlesex" - to become a surgeon.

1852 The 1852 Metropolitan Water Act required drinking water to be filtered and covered. Between 1852 and 1855 (or 1856), the New River Company constructed Stoke Newington Pumping Station, designed by William Chadwell Mylne, to serve North London. Its outer appearance was a mock castle. The main tower was a chimney, the 'keep' housed six steam-driven pumps serviced by 18 boilers; and the buttress hid the fly-wheels of the engines. Made redundant in 1942. Listed Grade 2 in 1972. (1993). See thelondonphile .

1853

The Illustrated London News, April 30, 1853: "The annual meeting of the Church of England Metropolitan Training Institution took place at the College of Highbury, on Wednesday"

1855

The 1855 Local Management Act was passed to regulate local and Metropolitan administration in and around London. It set up the Metropolitan Board of Works with responsibility for the main sewers of London, for regulating building, and lending to District Boards. For the purposes of the Act, the parishes of Hackney and Staint Mary, Stoke Newington, were united to form the Hackney District.

1858 Britannia Saloon, Hoxton Street rebuilt as the Britannia Theatre by Samuel Lane (wife Sara). The theatre housed nearly 4,000 people. It was bought by Gaumont in the First World War. It was burnt out in an early raid of 1940 and then wrecked by a land mine on 8.12.1940. It was then demolished.

1863

1863 to 1865 Church of St Michael, Mark Street [EC2] built in "early English style". "One of a number of notable churches in Hackney designed by James Brooks". After "a period of disuse", in (1993) it housed an architectural salvage company. Adjacent landscaped garden won a Civic Trust Award in 1987. By 1993 the east side of the garden was "enclosed by an attractive, modern office building built in the late 1980s".

4.1.1863 Agreement to commence work on the new Shoreditch Parish Workhouse. Building started the next day (5.1.1863). The first block of the new infirmary was completed in 1863. It still stands as the Shoreditch Chest Clinic.

Saturday 7.11.1863 Opening of Hoxton Hall, High St. Hoxton, built by James Mortimer on a piece of land at Wilkes Place, Hoxton Street. The site was one with cowsheds that had been used by drovers bringing cattle form Wales to London. Mortimer intended that his theatre should combine instruction with entertainment. (Hoxton Hall 1977 page 4) Click here for a modern map of Hoxton Street, with arrow pointing to   Hoxton Hall Theatre, 130 Hoxton Street, London, N1 6SH. The short passage way to the north is Wilkes Place. Until 1910, the entrance to Hoxton Hall was down this passage way and the date "1863" can still be seen above the old entrance. The larger Britannia Theatre was south, on the other side of Hoxton Street, between what is now Crondale Street and Fanshaw Street. (Plaque opposite 74 Hoxton Street) Pollock's Toy Theatre Shop was south of Fanshaw Street. (Plaque)
See: Shoreditch Quakers - 1866 - 1871 - 1878 - 1879 - 1885 - 1895 - 1906 (pictures) - 1910 - 1948 - 1972 - 1974 - 1976 - 1977 - 2003

1865

1.11.1865 Broad Street Station, Shoreditch, opened on the edge of the City of London. It closed 30.6.1986.

1865 St Paul's, Pear Tree Street (EC1) opened. Shown on a 1903 marriage certificate as "St. Paul's Church in the Parish of Clerkenwell". A church is shown on the north corner of Pear Tree Street and Central Street on a London map about 1950, but not on later maps. Does anyone have any knowledge about what happened to this church?

1866 A new Town Hall for Hackney built on a site west of Mare Street and south west of the old one.

1866 Hoxton Hall became McDonald's Music Hall, 64 High Street, Hoxton. (By 1878 it was 128a Hoxton Street). The Music Hall had seating for only 300 people. Its use as a Music Hall was short. It was overshadowed by the Britannia Theatre (Hoxton) and it was frequently closed, "either by due course of law or through other stringencies".

1868 Description of Hackney in The National Gazetteer of Great Britain and Ireland says it has eight private lunatic asylums, but does not name them. The six or seven I know are Brooke House - Pembroke House - London House - [and possibly Mare Street House] - Hoxton House and Northumberland House. Grove House had probably closed.

1868 Charles Jacomb bought land on Blurton Road/Elderfield Road for a church. [All Saints Clapton] A temporary iron church was built at first, capable of seating 500. Half the costs of a permanent church were borne by Jacomb himself. A district was formed from part of the parish of Saint John in 1873, the patron being the rector of Saint John. A mission in an iron church was operating by 1881. This was later called The Good Shepherd Mission, which was closed in 1919. The parish was united with Saint John, Saint James and All Souls in 1972. The building was demolished in 1973 and replaced by flats. (AIM25)

1868 The congregation at the Old Gravel Pit Gravel Pit had quadrupled. They decided to build a bigger chapel as part of the new development in Clapton. The Round Chapel was opened in 1871. It was empty in 1993, but has since been redeveloped as a music centre.

1871 McDonald's Music Hall lost its licence. The building was probably empty from 1872 to 1877.

1874 Liverpool Street Station opened as a replacement for Bishopsgate station, which became a goods yard. This was the Great Eastern Railway's main London terminus.

1877

13.6.1877 The British Xylonite Company was incorporated when it took over the business of Messrs Daniel Spill, H. J. Leigh Bennett and A. D. Mackay at 124 High Street, Homerton. Homerton Manufacturing Company was established next door at 122 High Street to manufacture various articles from the cellulose nitrate sheet made by the British Xylonite Company. See below. Source Grace's Guide

1878 Advertisement "Hoxton Hall (No. 128a Hoxton Street) Valuable Freehold Property, area 2300 square feet and fitted with seating for over a 1,000 persons. There is an excellent stage with orchestra, footlight, scenery, drawing rooms etc. Suitable for Bijou Theatre, Public Entertainments, Gymnasium, Lecture rooms etc."

3.9.1879 William Isaac Palmer concluded the purchase of Hoxton Hall for £2,900, for the use of the Blue Ribbon Army (Temperance Movement). It became their headquarters.

1881 John Burtt and Lewis H. Burtt started Hoxton Market Christian Mission in an underground kitchen. In 1883 Hoxton Market Christian Mission secured premises "in Hoxton Market itself" [On the sketch map of Hoxton, the position of Hoxton Market (a street) is clear from "Market Place" in the south west. Hoxton Market is the street parallel with "Old Street Road"

1881 Census C. Buckley, Curate of Hackney, at 21 Sutton Place

1885

"How the Girl's Guild Began In November, 1885, in response to invitations, we commenced with a membership of 56 girls. We began with girls of 16 year, but experience proved that from 13 to 16 was a dangerous age for many, as they got into all sorts of bad ways through running wild through the streets, so the age was reduced to 13. Afterwards we admitted juniors of 19 years" (From the 1912 Annual Report)

"the Girls Guild of Good Life" [had] "bright lively evenings with music, talks and classes of various kinds. Word soon went round the work-rooms of the City that girls could become members, and they flocked in from long distances...many came from the Borough and Old Kent Road, some even from Clapham and Brixton, till Hoxton Hall became so overcrowded the President said "We must start Girl's Clubs among the Churches, Halls and Missions now in existence." This was done, she helping to start them in many places. Miss Maud Stanley's Girls' Club was the only other one in London at that time... Lady Elizabeth Biddulph and Lady Jane Ellice, both firm teetotallers and Ladies-in-Waiting to Queen Victoria, strongly supported the President, and through them the Queen became interested in the Guild" (From the 1932 Annual Report)

Dame Leila Paget was a member of The Guild and Hostel Council of Reference in 1934. Lady Paget is included in the list for 1946-1951.

1887 The British Xylonite Company moved to Brantham, near Manningtree on the Essex/Suffolk border, which allowed expansion and was considered safer than a residential district for producing a highly flammable substance like Xylonite. The fancy goods operation remained at Homerton until 1898. Joan Martin worked briefly at Manningtree in 1947.

late 1880s Ridley Road Market started with about 20 stalls. Grew after the first world war and by the 1930s frequently attracted 200 traders on Saturdays. In 1993 "as well as accommodating 180 stalls, there are some 150 shops and businesses which flank the Market". There were plans to provide new street lighting and related improvements.

1894

After Cavendish College, Cambridge, closed in early 1891, Homerton, a teachers training college in London, moved to Cambridge to occupy the buildings

Hackney Marshes came into public ownership in 1894. The row of forty (plus?) plane trees north of the Hackney Cut between Homerton Road and the A12 was planted about this time, as were the Black Poplars along Hackney Road. (external link) - (map). Plane trees have also been planted (with other trees - at about the same time?) along the bank of the River Lea to the east of Hackney Marsh.

1895 In 1895 the Bedford Institute accepted responsibility for Hoxton Hall.

1897: The Year of Jubilee click for Lancashire

extracts from Hackney and Islington pocket diaries

Islington: Saturday 12.6.1897 Went with Mr Arnold to Stamford Hill, River Lee and then on to Epping Forest with Albert Harris, G. Janes and William Raynham. Fine.

Hackney: Sunday 20.6.1897. "To St Johns (Parish Church) at 11 (unreadable word) Hackney: Special service for Queen and Jubilee in addition to it being Hospital Sunday. Islington: Fine

Hackney: Monday 21.6.1897 "Letter from Annie. In all day. Longest day". Islington: Fine

Hackney: Tuesday 22.6.1897 "Lovely weather. Out at 9.30 up High St to see illuminations with Arthur. In at 10. Stayed up till 11.25. Diamond Jubilee. 60 years reign". Islington: Stamford Hill. Fine

The diamond jubilee was the first royal occasion of which there is a film record.

Hackney: Wednesday 23.6.1897 "Out at 7.20. Walked round to see illuminations." Islington: "illuminations. Fine"

Hackney: Thursday 24.6.1897 "Letter from Arthur and Mother. Wrote to Arthur and posted Mother's on to him. In all day. Thunder storm 5pm to 6. 81 degrees in shade at 9am." Islington [shorthand words] 5 o'clock. Fine

Islington: Friday 25.6.1897 Fine

Islington: Saturday 26.6.1897 Fine

Islington: Sunday 27.6.1897 Wet morning. Dull later.

1898

3.12.1898 Heinrich Lunkenheimer, aged 41 of 71 Chatsworth Road, Clapton, London, a subject of Germany who had lived in London for some years, became a British citizen. A "master baker" he was married with seven children under age living with him. The eldest was Catherine Elizabeth Lunkenheimer, aged 13.

1902

1901

Hackney Empire as a music hall. Designed by the architect Frank Matcham. It hosted stars such as Louis Armstrong, Charlie Chaplin and Marie Lloyd. It became an ATV television studio in the 1950s. From 1963 to 1984 it was a bingo hall. It reopened as a variety theatre in 1986.

9.1.1902 Mile End Library, a public lending library for the new borough of Stepney, opened in the former vestry hall on Bancroft Road. online exhibition - archive. By 1958 the library was known as Stepney Central Library.

1904 Hoxton Market Christian Mission premise rebuilt. Official reopening not until 11.2.1915

Inside and outside Hoxton Hall about 1906

The banners at the back are for the [Something - Not Blue Ribbon] "Gospel Temperance Mission" and "Hoxton Hall Mission Choir"

Both pictures are scanned from postcards published by Hoxton Hall in 1978 or after. The inside one [whole picture reproduced] says "Harvest Thanksgiving, Hoxton Hall, c.1906" The outside [only part of picture reproduced] says "Proclaiming the Good News c.1906"

3.6.1907 Joseph Engel, aged 27, bachelor, baker of 155 High Street, East Ham - Father Nikolaus Engel, baker - married Katherine Lunken, aged 22, spinster, of 71 Chatsworth Road, Clapton - Father: Henry Lunken, Baker. at All Saints Church, Clapton, Witnessed by Henry and Paul Lunkenheimer. All signed. [Katharina Elizabeth Lunkenheimer 1885-1957]

1910 Extra rooms were added to Hoxton Hall, doubling its size. Next to the hall (down Wilkes Place) a new mission centre was built on the site of the last remaining cowsheds. This is the present Coffee bar, Stewart Hall and rooms above. The Music Hall itself was dramatically altered. The Wilkes Place entrance was blocked up and a new entrance opened on Hoxton Street in the gap between old Hoxton Hall building (134 Hoxton Street) and 130 Hoxton Street, which had been leased in 1883. There was a "setting of the first memorial stone of the new Institute" on Saturday 11.6.1910. Several groups operated in the Hall, including the Girls Guild of Good Life, a men's club, a boy's club, and a mission church that met in the theatre.

Chatsworth Road Market is called "Hackney's oldest street market. But how old is it? In 1841, Chatsworth Road did not exist - There was a footpath from Homerton to Millfields where it now is. A Hackney Today feature said that Ridley Road Market started in the 1880s as a Saturday Market in Kingsland Road. Well Street had barrows in 1919. The earliest I have heard of Chatsworth was in the 1920s and 1930s. Hackney Today said it had over 200 stalls in the 1930s. In the 1990s I spoke to the man whose father supplied many of them. It was a big business wheeling them out and setting up the staging that held the lamps to allow shopping after dark. In the 1970s, when I first knew it, you could buy fish, eggs, vegetables, fruit, clothes, household goods, crockery, ornaments, cleaning materials. By about 1988 when my friend Jack Thompson left Well Street and took over the established vegetable stall near Clifden Road (the furthest south) there were still a scattering of stalls down past Glenarm. They died out in the 1990s.

1914

5.8.1914 "Newspaper reports show that on the nights of 5 and 6 August 1914, there were attacks against a German baker's shop in Chatsworth Road". (Hackney Today 7.3.2016) [Henry Lunken, a wealthy baker from the same area of Germany the Engel family had a bakery at 71 Chatsworth Road. His daughter Kathleen married Joseph Engel.

1914 Henry Percy Jelley. 174 High Street, Homerton, Hackney.

1919, Joseph Engel changed his German surname to Ingle. His son Percy Ingle was born in 1920.

1923 Henry Percy Jelley and Harold Jelley, 84 High Street, Homerton.

1924 14 & 15 Geo. 5 c.43 Hackney and New College local Act

Alfred E. Garvie, D.D., Principal of Hackney and New College, Hampstead, London, 1927. [Garvie, Alfred Ernest (1861-1945) Principal of Hackney and New College]

Howard Hayes Scullard (1903-1983) was Classical Tutor, Hackney and New College, London, 1926-1935; Reader in Ancient History, New College, London, 1935-1959

1929

1930

Hackney workhouse came under the control of the London County Council, becoming Hackney Hospital. Control of the Eastern Hospital passed to the London County Council.

"Hackney Hospital was a Workhouse and is now [1995] a repository for Special Services: Geriatric, Psycho-Geriatric, Psychiatric, and Drug Dependency. However, from the mid 1930s to the late 1980s, it was, at around, 800 beds, one of the largest General Hospital in London." (Rear window)

1934

1934 to 1937 Hackney's present Town Hall erected on the site of the 1866 one. The Town Hall Square was laid out at the same time. Substantial renovation was completed in 1994 (1993). It is south of the Hackney Empire.

1937

"In 1937 the tea auctions moved a few yards to Plantation House, a new and grand building...Plantation House was so large that it had imposing and grand entrances on four sides---from Fenchurch Street, Mincing Lane, Rood Lane, and Eastcheap. At the time it was one of the tallest office buildings in the city, eight stories high........From there it was all downhill as companies consolidated and the industry became dominated by just a few companies. At the same time consumption in the U.K. slowly declined, auctions in countries of origin grew it importance and in number. Plantation House became too large and expensive. In 1971 the auctions moved to more modest quarters in Sir John Lyon House on High Timber Street, Upper Thames Street. Finally in 1990 they moved to the London Chamber of Commerce, a fraction of their former size. The last London tea auction was held in 1998. A sad day." Alan Davies

8.12.1940 Landmine wrecked Britannia Theatre

10.5.1941 During the night, oil bombs fell on Hoxton Market Christian Mission and three floors were completely destroyed by fire. Work continued in the "Mission Institute" nearby and Sunday Services and women's meetings were carried on in various halls lent by local churches. Temporary repairs were effected and, after twelve months, the Mission resumed in its old premises.

1939

Middlesex. The Jubilee of the County Council. 1889-1939 by C.W. Radcliffe. Clerk of the Peace and Clerk and Solicitor to the County Council. Evans Brothers. London. 240 pages. Introductory note dated January 1939. The book was prepared (1937-1939) "for presentation to all the senior school-children" of the county.

1945 Post war housing

Bannister House The blocks of flats on Homerton High Street called "Bannister House" are anonymous and nameless apart from letters. They have obliterated the pattern of street names evident on maps until the 1950s (see 1950s map). Bannister Street, College Lane and half of Holmebrook Street are either no more, or are anonymous roads through the estate. This may have happened from the early 1950s. A block (or blocks) of flats known as Bannister House was erected before the war. After the war new blocks were built in stages as "Bannister House extensions". By 31.3.1955 two were completed: First extension: (two) five storey blocks with lifts, a community hall and laundry (100 dwellings). Second extension: a six storey block with lifts (50 dwellings). Flats for another 65 dwellings were in course of construction. Hackney Guide 1955 pp 80-87)

1947 The Bearsted Memorial Hospital in Lordship Road, Stoke Newington opened. It closed about 1980. Following demolition, the site was shared between two Jewish charities and a Jewish Housing Association, and is now occupied by the Bearsted Centre, the Somers Children and Family Centre and housing at Schonfeld Square.

1948 Second Edition of Homerton. Its History and its Church by F.C.Heward, A.K.C. St Barnabas Church House, Homerton published.

1.5.1951 Re-building of Hoxton Market Christian Mission began. For six months, during the re-building "alternative accommodation had to be found for Sunday Services and the Women's Meetings. This time our friends at Hoxton Hall came to the rescue".

Homerton's Archives lay undisturbed in the strong room of the old Combination Room until 1951, when nearly 1,500 items were catalogued and studied by T. H. Simms, who published his history of Homerton College 1695-1978 in 1979

16.5.1952 Hoxton Market Christian Mission official re- opening. In 1952 the Mission Council was (all men) L.A. Anderson, FCA (Chairman); H. Basil Foster (Honorary Treasurer); P.T. Shorey, MBE; M.H. Knott; Dr D. Perkins, MRCS (England), FRCP (London). The Superintendent was Frederick Jerman and the Secretary D.M. McCombie.

1950

About 1950: The Authentic Atlas of London by Geographia Latest date is April 1948 on p.136, Roosevelt Memorial.

1954

First Percy Ingle bakery opened in Clarence Road in 1954. The business now includes a branche on Chatsworth Road, close to the location of grandfather's original business.

1955

Hackney Guide 1955: The Metropolitan Borough of Hackney Official Guide. Information of the Borough, its Amenities, Industries and Local Trade. Produced under the direction of the Public Relations Officer. R.W. Raby, esq. (Dated from an entry on page 81 that gives housing to 31.3.1955 and then gives further schemes in progress).

22.9.1962 Cripplegate Foundation registered as charity number 207499. "Cripplegate Foundation is a grant-giving trust which aims to improve the quality of life of people who live or work in our area of benefit which is the borough of Islington and parts of the City of London. It is a proactive funder, whose work addresses poverty and inequality. Our grants improve access to opportunities and promote social cohesion."

1965

1965

1965 Tower Hamlets created by merging Poplar, Bethnal Green and Stepney. Hackney was formed by merging Hackney, Shoreditch and Stoke Newington - Islington by merging Finsbury and Islington - Haringey by merging Hornsey, Tottenham and Wood Green.

Bethnal Green Library became the central reference library for Tower Hamlets and Stepney its central library with a local history library and archives service based in what had been its reference library room. Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives, 277 Bancroft Road, London E1 4DQ website

1969 Hackney Gazette article 6.5.1994 says Gravel Pit Chapel in Chatham Place was demolished. Another source says the building survives with an industrial use.

1972 Hoxton Hall added to the Statutory List of buildings of historic or architectural interest.

1974 Mary Scott wrote a short pamphlet on Hoxton Hall and afterwards researched its history at Westminster and Colindale libraries. She passed her material on to Terence Goodfellow.

1976 The Bedford Institute handed over the running of Hoxton Hall to a group of educationalists and community workers who wanted to use the arts to enrich people's lives. Quaker trustees oversaw the activities and grants were awarded to restore the building. The theatre was re-opened for public performance and creative classes for all age group were introduced, often provided by the Inner London Education Association or (sometimes) the Workers Educational Association. The community work continued with a pensioners lunch club, daily playgroup, youth and junior clubs, free legal advice and information.

1977

Hoxton Hall. A Short History published by Hoxton Hall. Introduction signed "Terence Goodfellow, March 1977" said "The completion of the present restoration work seemed a suitable time to publish something about the history of Hoxton Hall. The discovery of handbills and other interesting debris during the course of building works was another spur".

1978

1979

Simms, T H: Homerton College 1695 - 1978: From Dissenting Academy to Approved Society in the University of Cambridge. Privately Published: Homerton College 1979. 109p pb 13 illustrations, appendices, index,

1981

Friday 8.5.1981 (about 2am) Murder in Glyn Road, Hackney (Homerton High Street end) of Anthony Donnelly ("Scouse") a 22 year old white labourer with National Font connections who had walked Sandra Alexander (black) home. Newton Rose (a black decorator, aged 20), who had been Sandra's lover, was convicted of the murder. The Newton Rose Defence Campaign counter-claimed that Anthony Donnelly had been murdered by National Font connections who objected to his friendships with black people. Newton Rose was released from Wormwood Scrubs on Tuesday 9.3.1982 after his conviction was quashed due to "a grave material irregularity" at the original trial. [I heard about this murder in the middle of a night when a young white man came to talk to me about it]. - Inquest file - A "Newton Rose Action Committee" was chaired by John La Rose (1927-2006), who also chaired the New Cross Massacre Action Committee.

July 1981 Riots. Atmosphere of fear and tension in Hackney.

1983

Stephens department store in Stoke Newington demolished. On its site "Abney Park Court" was constructed with "retail and restaurant floorspace at ground level and 50 residential units above". "Together with the refurbishment and remodelling of Abney Park Cemetery Forecourt, pavement resurfacing and the installation of new street furniture along Stoke Newington High Street, this development greatly enhances this part of Stoke Newington" (1993).

1984

Hackney City Farm opened "inspired by the success of the newly formed Kentish Town City Farm" - website archives

1986

30.6.1986 Broad Street Station, Shoreditch, closed. The 29 acre Broadgate office and retail complex includes some of the land it occupied. Now entirely in the City, until 1.4.1994 part of Broadgate was in Hackney. The Arena in Broadgate Circle is used for open air concerts and other entertainment in the summer and as an ice rink in the winter. (1993).

1988 Islington Past by John Richardson. Historical Publications.
Revised edition 2000.

1990 Hackney and Stoke Newington Past. A visual history of Hackney and Stoke Newington by Isobel Watson. Historical Publications.
Revised edition 1998.

Late 1980s Perseverance Works, a "complex of Victorian buildings located between Kingsland Road and Hackney Road" in Shoreditch, restored and renovated. The buildings had originally been used "primarily for engineering and printing purposes". The restored buildings "provide attractive offices, designers's studios and general purpose workspace" (1993). See online history.

1993

16.11.1993 Hackney 2000 Conference at which a presentation titled "Planning Hackney" was made by the Planning Division of the Directorate of Environmental Services. The presentation was then used as the basis of a 1994 Calendar with illustrations by Brian Sweet (Arena). See, in historical order, Saint Augustine's Church (about 1300 and early 1500s - Acton's Lock on the Regents Canal (1812) - Abney Park Cemetery (1840) - Stoke Newington Pumping Station (1852) - Church of Saint Michael, Mark Street (1865) - Round Chapel, Lower Clapton (1868) - Ridley Road Market (late 1880s) - Hackney Town Hall (1937) - Abney Park Court (after 1983) - Broadgate Circle, Shoreditch (after 1986) - Perseverance Works (late 1980s) - Schonfeld Square (1994)

1994

early 1994 Schonfeld Square due for completion. The greater part developed by the Agudas Israel Housing Association "to provide a mixture of family houses, flats and sheltered accommodation for frail and elderly people. Designed by Hunt Thompson Associates, it received an RIBA design award in 1992. Named in memory of Rabbi Dr Solomon Schonfeld who secured the escape of thousands of people from the Holocaust. (1993).

2.8.1994 Tower Hamlets Health Strategy Group formed as a company limited by guarantee without share capital. (Company number 02954744) Operated under this name until 29.12.2000, when it became Social Action For Health. The registered office changed on 17.8.1999 from: Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, London E2 6HG to The Brady Centre 192 Hanbury Street london E1 5HU. In place of a part-time coordinator, a full time Director (Elizabeth Bayliss) was appointed in June 2000 to restructure the organisation. THACMHO (Tower Hamlets African and Caribbean Mental Health Organisation) moved to the offices of Social Action For Health in 2002, due to the imminent closure of the Community Health Council, where it was based.

1995 City of London Past by Richard Thames. Historical Publications.

1999

April 1999 Culture Secretary officially launched the "Idea Stores" concept in Tower Hamlets. Plans to invest £20 million in library and learning services "at a time when the national trend was to decrease funding". First, prototype Idea Store opened at Bow in May 2002. Idea Store Chrisp Street opened in July 2004, Idea Store Whitechapel in September 2005, Idea Store Canary Wharf in March 2006 and Idea Store Watney Market in May 2013. (source - Wikipedia)

2000

The Hamlets and the Tower: 1000 Years of Tower Hamlets' History by David Rich published by the London Borough of Tower Hamlets 2000. David Rich worked at Tower Hamlets Local History, Library and Archives. This history did not take the African presence in Tower Hamletts back before Windrush, but THACHMO organised an historical walk to sites related to five African writers who came to the East End of London in the 18th century.

2000 Mellow was founded in 2000 as part of East London NHS Foundation Trust to work with African and Caribbean people with mental health problems. Sandra Griffiths (now Director of Red Earth Consultants Ltd) was Head of Mellow from 2000 to May 2012. - 17.2.2009 Guardian article by Catherine Jackson - archive of Delivering Race Equality programme website linked to from article.

2002

Hackney historians Mike Gray and Sean Gubbins set up Walk Hackney to provided guided walks through interesting historical areas. Walks were available for Heart of Hackney, Stoke Newington, Clapton and London Fields. Visit the archive of their website to learn more.

7.12.2002 Revival of the Chatsworth Road Market.

2003

Easter Weekend 2003 The Hoxton Project Most of Hoxton Hall was opened for anyone to wander round and illustrated in the spirit by a group of artists called 2Step Digital Arts. In the Theatre a ballerina's dance was projected onto a roof high sheet of gauze as she performed her version of the "skirt dance" swirling the enormous drape of coloured silk around her in sweeps of wings above her head and panties high around her legs. Performed like this in Victorian music hall, it must have been an erotic highlight. Here it was movement heavenwards and earthwards, centring every now and then on a terrifying pulsation of creativity around her belly. The notes suggested she might be the spirit of a woman trapped in one of the local asylums, but it seemed to me more like a woman free. A path of pebbles, winding its way around the building, carried the words of Billy Penylan the drover and in a quite corner the pong of strong lavender was hung to remind you of an actor (Dan Leo) who needed to cover a more offensive smell. In one room, the litter at the side included recently discovered Quaker magazines wrapped in old newspapers and the blocks that had been used to print pictures in them.

Saturday 6.12.2003 second Chatsworth Road Market Fetival

August 2004 The 2004 Shoreditch Festival theme was Dreams and Memories. As a finale to Festival 2004, there was a parade through the streets of Haggerston, Hoxton, Shoreditch and Hoxton Market. on Saturday 21.8.2004. Web archive includes links to groups that took part.

Saturday 4.12.2004 The Chatsworth Market Festival, in the school as well as the market. There is music in the playground. And mulled wine to warm you up. Visit the website: .

2005

Booklet containing extracts from Annual Reports of The Girls' Guild of Good Life held in the archives of Hackney Council. (Unpublished)

2006

2006 Mental Health Guide Programme developed from the Health Guide Programme of Social Action for Health. Mental Health Guides are "service users, carers and concerned citizens who are trained and supported to act as health guides within their community, in their own language". Autherine Atkinson wrote "In 2006, I joined a Mental Health Guide course... While on the course I met some lovely people, and we created a bond, hence the book came about. The book was Lifting Barriers - African and Caribbean people tell stories of struggle, strength and achieving mental health. published in the Spring of 2008.

2007

November 2007 Black History Walks in Tower Hamlets [Walks 4 and 5]. See also archive of walks


Alan Davies is an historian of the tea trade

The address of Historical Publications Ltd is 32 Ellington Street, London, N7 8PL (Telephone 020 7607 1628)


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Churches were built for communities. Local government developed around the churches. Look at the Parish.

Hackney Parish
(the largest in Middlesex) included Hackney (village), Homerton, Clapton, Dalston, Stamford Hill, and Shacklewell

Hoxton Parish

Kings Square and nearby parishes

Shoreditch Parish
2004 2005 Shoreditch Parade,

St Giles Parish

St Luke's Parish

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