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St John's Church, Smith Square
Smith Square Hall (formerly St John's Smith Square) is a concert hall in the centre of Smith Square, Westminster, London. Originally a church, this Grade I listed building was designed by Thomas Archer and was completed in 1728 as one of the so-called Fifty New Churches. It is regarded as one of the finest works of English Baroque architecture, and features four corner towers and monumental broken pediments. It is often referred to as 'Queen Anne's Footstool' because as legend has it, when Archer was designing the church he asked the Queen what she wanted it to look like. She kicked over her footstool and said 'Like that!', giving rise to the building's four corner towers. Ruined following firebombing in the Second World War, it was sold to a charitable trust and restored as a concert hall. History In 1710, the long period of Whig domination of British politics ended as the Tories swept to power under the rallying cry of "The Church in Danger". Under the Tories' plan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thomas Archer
Thomas Archer (1668–1743) was an English Baroque architect, whose work is somewhat overshadowed by that of his contemporaries Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His buildings are important as the only ones by an English Baroque architect to show evidence of study of contemporary continental, namely Italian, architecture. Life Archer spent his youth at Umberslade Hall in Tanworth-in-Arden in Warwickshire, the youngest son of Thomas Archer, a country gentleman, Parliamentary Colonel and Member of Parliament, and Ann Leigh, daughter of the London haberdasher, Richard Leigh. The exact date of Archer's birth is unknown, but can be inferred from the two documentary sources that mention his age. One is an entry in the Oxford University register recording his matriculation at Trinity College on 12 June 1686, aged 17; the other, his epitaph, survives in the parish church of Hale, Hampshire. If these records are accurate, he must have been born between 12 June 1668 and 22 May 16 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christopher Wren The Younger
Christopher Wren (1675–1747), of Wroxall Abbey, Warwickshire was a Member of Parliament and the son of the architect Sir Christopher Wren. Life Wren was the second but first surviving son of Sir Christopher Wren and his first wife, Faith Coghill, daughter of Sir John Coghill of Bletchingdon in Oxfordshire. He was educated at Eton and Pembroke College, Cambridge, Cambridge, where his father had built the new college chapel, his first completed work. His son entered the college in 1691, but left without a degree. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1693. He entered the Middle Temple in 1694. In 1698/9 he travelled in Europe making an architectural tour of France, Italy and Holland with Edward Strong the Younger whose father was his father's main building contractor. This trip may indicate a friendship over and above a simple working relationship. On his return, Wren worked for his father as a clerk-of-works. He became Chief Clerk of Works in 1702 (to 1716). In 1708, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
William Vincent (priest)
William Vincent (2 November 1739 – 21 December 1815) was Dean of Westminster from 1802 to 1815. Biography Vincent born on 2 November 1739 in Limehouse Street Ward, London, was the fifth surviving son of Giles Vincent, packer and Portugal merchant, by Sarah (Holloway). Theological career William was admitted at Westminster School as a 'town boy' in 1747; he became a king's scholar in 1753, and in 1757 was elected to Trinity College, Cambridge. After graduating as BA in 1761, he returned to Westminster as usher. He became second master in June 1771, and in the same year was made chaplain in ordinary to the king. He graduated MA in 1764 and DD in 1776, and two years later received the vicarage of Longdon, Wiltshire, which, however, he exchanged within six months for the rectory of All Hallows, Thames Street. In 1784 he became sub-almoner to the king. He shared the tory views of his family, and in 1780 published anonymously a ''Letter'' in reply to a sermon preached at Cambrid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Finch (priest)
Robert Poole Finch (1724-1803) was an English divine. Life Finch was the son of the Rev. Richard Finch. He was born at Greenwich 3 March 1723–4, entered Merchant Taylors' School in 1736, and was admitted a member of Peterhouse, Cambridge, whence he graduated B.A. in 1743, M.A. in 1747 and D.D. in 1772. He was ordained as a deacon in 1744, and appointed a curate at Greenwich in 1748. On becoming a priest he was chosen to be chaplain of Guy's Hospital, a position he held for 37 years. In 1755 he was appointed to the lectureship of St Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange, which he continued to hold to the time of his death. He was a preacher of some eminence. He published numerous sermons, and, in 1788, a treatise entitled ''Considerations upon the Use and Abuse of Oaths judicially taken'', which passed through many editions and became a standard work among the publications of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. In it he insisted that oaths should be administered with solemnity, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Blair (priest)
John Blair FRS, FSA (died 24 June 1782), was a British clergyman, and chronologist. Life He was born and educated in Edinburgh. Leaving Scotland as a young man, he became usher of a school in Hedge Lane, London, in succession to Andrew Henderson, author of a well-known history of the rebellion of 1745. In 1754, he published, 'The Chronology and History of the World, from the Creation to the Year of Christ 1753, illustrated in fifty-six tables.' It was dedicated to the lord chancellor (Hardwicke), and was published by subscription. In the preface he acknowledged great obligations to the Earl of Bute. The plan and scope of the work originated with Dr. Hugh Blair's scheme of chronological tables. The 'Chronology' was reprinted in 1756, 1768, and 1814. It was revised and enlarged 'by Willoughby Rosse in Bohn's 'Scientific Library,' 1856. In 1768, Blair published 'Fourteen Maps of Ancient and Modern Geography, for the illustration of the Tables of Chronology and History ; to whi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Willes (bishop)
Edward Willes (6 March 1693 – 24 November 1773) was an Anglican bishop who was Bishop of St David's and later Bishop of Bath and Wells and one of the most prominent English cryptanalysts of his time. Life He was born in Warwickshire son of the Rev John Willes and his wife Anne (or Mary) Walker, daughter of Sir William Walker, Mayor of Oxford. They belonged to a junior branch of the long-established Willes family of Newbold Comyn; Sir John Willes, the long-serving Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, was his brother. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford and graduated with a BA degree in 1712. While there he learned cryptography from William Blencowe. In 1716 he became a Decipherer for George II, and distinguished himself by deciphering messages between Swedish diplomats which were sympathetic to the Jacobite cause. He was rewarded by the government by being granted the living of Barton in the Clay, Bedfordshire, which he held between 1718 and 1730. He subsequently deciphe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Gee (priest, Born 1657)
Edward Gee (1657–1730) was an English churchman, known as a controversialist, and later successively Dean of Peterborough and Dean of Lincoln. Life The son of George Gee of Manchester, a shoemaker, he was baptised at Manchester Collegiate Church on 29 August 1657. After attending Manchester Grammar School, he was admitted a sub-sizar at St John's College, Cambridge, on 9 May 1676. He graduated B.A. in 1679 and M.A. in 1683. He was incorporated in his master's degree at Oxford 4 March 1684. Subsequently, he is styled D.D., a Lambeth degree from 1695. He took a prominent part in the anti-Catholic controversy towards the end of James II's reign. In May 1688 he was appointed rector of St Benet's, Paul's Wharf, London, and soon after he was called chaplain in ordinary to William III and Mary II. On 6 December 1701 he was installed prebendary of Westminster. Twenty years afterwards, on 9 December 1721, he was instituted dean of Peterborough, but he resigned that office for the dean ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Jennings (priest)
John Jennings (1798 – 26 March 1883) was Archdeacon of Westminster from 1868 until his death in 1883. ''Alumni Cantabrigienses'' previously identified the John Jennings educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge as "doubtless" the Rector of St John's and Archdeacon of Westminster, but now states that this is a mistaken identity: Archdeacon Jennings was educated at Trinity College Dublin, graduating B.A. 1820, M.A. 1832. After a curacy at West Meon, Hampshire, Jennings moved to St John's, Smith Square as a curate to Canon H. H. Edwards, succeeding Edwards as rector on Edwards' resignation in 1832. He became a canon of Westminster Abbey in 1837, Rural dean In the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion as well as some Lutheran denominations, a rural dean is a member of clergy who presides over a "rural deanery" (often referred to as a deanery); "ruridecanal" is the corresponding adjective. ... of St Margaret and St John, Archdeacon of Westminster in 1868, and Sub-Dean. Re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United Kingdom's most notable religious buildings and since Edward the Confessor, a burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have occurred in Westminster Abbey. Sixteen royal weddings have occurred at the abbey since 1100. According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site (then known as Thorney Island) in the seventh century, at the time of Mellitus, Bishop of London. Construction of the present church began in 1245 on the orders of Henry III. The church was originally part of a Catholic Benedictine abbey, which was dissolved in 1539. It then served as the cathedral of the Dioce ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Southbank Sinfonia
Southbank Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra founded in 2002. Composed of young professionals from around the world, each year it brings together 33 graduate musicians for a programme of performance and professional development. The annual fellowship comprises performances across Britain and Europe, and features orchestral repertoire, chamber music, opera, dance and theatre, alongside artist development sessions. An integral part of the programme is the orchestra's creative partnerships with performing arts organisations including the Royal Opera House, Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the National Theatre and artists such as Patron Vladimir Ashkenazy. Southbank Sinfonia is based at St John's, Smith Square, where a regular series of free 'Rush Hour' concerts are held throughout the year. The orchestra frequently collaborates with artists from other music genres, including Squarepusher in 2013, as well as in theatrical projects with the National Theatre. These have inclu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Restoration As A Concert Hall
Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration *Restoration ecology **Environmental restoration Film and television * ''The Restoration'' (1909 film), a film by D.W. Griffith starring Mary Pickford * ''The Restoration'' (1910 film), an American silent short drama produced by the Thanhouser Company *The Restoration (2020 film), a Peruvian comedy film * ''Restoration'' (1995 film), a film by Michael Hoffman starring Robert Downey Jr * ''Restoration'' (2011 film), an Israeli film by Yossi Madmoni * ''Restoration'' (2016 film), an Australian science fiction thriller by Stuart Willis * ''Restoration'' (TV series), a BBC TV series * "Restoration" (''Arrow''), an episode of ''Arrow'' History * Kenmu Restoration (1333) in Japan * Portuguese Restoration War (1640–1668) * Stuart Restoration (1660) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pamela Digby
Pamela Beryl Harriman (''née'' Digby; 20 March 1920 – 5 February 1997), also known as Pamela Churchill Harriman, was an English-born American political activist for the Democratic Party, diplomat, and socialite. She married three times, her first husband was Randolph Churchill, the son of prime minister Winston Churchill, Her third husband was W. Averell Harriman, an American diplomat who also served as Governor of New York. Her only child, Winston Churchill, was named after his famous grandfather. She served as US ambassador to France from 1993 to 1997. Early life Pamela Digby was born in Farnborough, Hampshire, England, the daughter of Edward Digby, 11th Baron Digby, and his wife, Constance Pamela Alice, the daughter of Henry Campbell Bruce, 2nd Baron Aberdare. She was educated by governesses in the ancestral home at Minterne Magna in Dorset, along with her three younger siblings. Her great-great aunt was the nineteenth-century adventurer and courtesan Jane Digby ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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