Exeter Hall was a large public meeting place on the north side of the Strand in central London, opposite where the

Savoy Hotel The Savoy Hotel is a luxury hotel located in the Strand in the City of Westminster in central London, England. Built by the impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan opera productions, it opened on 6 August 188 ...

now stands. From 1831 until 1907 Exeter Hall was the venue for many great gatherings by promoters of human betterment, most notably the

anti-slavery movement Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...

History

London in the 19th century was the most populous city in the world, and yet its indoor meeting places were inadequate. The largest, the Freemasons' Hall, could only fit about 1600 people, so a consortium decided that it was time to build a larger venue. Exeter Hall was erected between 1829 and 1831 to designs by

John Peter Gandy John Peter Gandy (1787 – 2 March 1850 in Hanover Square, London), later John Peter Deering, was a British architect. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1847 to 1848. Family Gandy was the youngest of the ten children of Thomas Gandy ...

, the brother of the visionary architect

Joseph Michael Gandy Joseph Michael Gandy (1771–1843) was an English artist, visionary architect and architectural theorist, most noted for his imaginative paintings depicting Sir John Soane's architectural designs. He worked extensively with Soane both as ...

. The hall was built on the site of

Exeter Exchange The Exeter Exchange (signed and popularly known as Exeter Change) was a building on the north side of the Strand in London, with an arcade extending partway across the carriageway. It is most famous for the menagerie that occupied its upper floo ...

, which had been famous for its menagerie of wild animals; prior to the Exeter 'Change, as it was known, the site had been occupied since the 16th century by part of

Exeter House Exeter House was an early 17th-century brick-built mansion, which stood in Full Street, Derby until demolished in 1854. Named for the Earls of Exeter, whose family owned the property until 1757, the house was notable for the stay of Charles ...

(formerly Burghley House and Cecil House), the London residence of the

Earls of Exeter Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

. The official opening date for Exeter Hall was 29 March 1831. The façade on The Strand featured a prominent recessed central entrance behind a screen of paired

Corinthian columns The Corinthian order (Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order w ...

set into a reserved Late Georgian front of housing over shopfronts. The smaller auditorium could hold around 1,000 people, and the main one, more than 4,000. Exeter Hall hosted religious and philanthropic meetings, including those of the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The Soc ...

(founded in 1804), the

Protestant Reformation Society George Bourne (1780–1845) was a 19th-century American abolitionist and editor, credited as the first public proclaimer of "immediate emancipation without compensation" of American slaves. Life George was born on June 13, 1780, in Westbur ...

(founded in 1827), the Protestant Association (revived in 1835), and the

Trinitarian Bible Society The Trinitarian Bible Society was founded in 1831 "to promote the Glory of God and the salvation of men by circulating, both at home and abroad, in dependence on the Divine blessing, the Holy Scriptures, which are given by inspiration of God and ...

(founded in 1831). The

Peace Society The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a pioneering British pacifist organisation that was active from 1816 until the 1930s. H ...

(founded in 1816) used the hall to hold their twentieth anniversary meeting on 25 May 1836. The meetings of the Anti-Slavery Society (founded in 1823) took place there, and such was the significance of these political meetings that the phrase "Exeter Hall" became a metonym for the abolitionist lobby. Significant events there included a huge seven-hour public meeting hosted by the

South Australia Company The South Australian Company, also referred to as the South Australia Company, was formed in London on 9 October 1835, after the '' South Australia (Foundation) Act 1834'' had established the new British Province of South Australia, with the Sou ...

on 30 June 1834 to support the establishment of the free colony of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

. On 10 May 1871, "a meeting in support of the foreign missions of the Free Church of Scotland, and of the

Presbyterian Church of England The Presbyterian Church of England was a late-19th century and 20th century Presbyterian denomination in England. The church's origins lay in the 1876 merger of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish United Presbyterian Church with vario ...

" was hosted in Exeter Hall. The former Lieutenant Governor of Punjab in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

Donald Friell McLeod Sir Donald Friell McLeod (6 May 1810 – 28 November 1872) was an Anglo-Indian civil servant who served as Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab between 1865 and 1870. He was one of the founders of Lahore Oriental College, now part of the Punjab ...

, presided over the meeting, which featured speakers such as Rev. H. L. Mackenzie, of the Swatow Mission in China (now transliterated

Shantou Shantou, alternately romanized as Swatow and sometimes known as Santow, is a prefecture-level city on the eastern coast of Guangdong, China, with a total population of 5,502,031 as of the 2020 census (5,391,028 in 2010) and an administrative ...

). In addition to its primary function as a meeting place, Exeter Hall was also the headquarters of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

(founded in 1844), and (from 1836) a concert hall for the Sacred Harmonic Society.

Hector Berlioz In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

first conducted concerts there in 1852, and again in 1855. Exeter Hall was sold by the YMCA to the J. Lyons & Co. group, which assumed ownership on 27 July 1907. Lyons demolished it and built the Strand Palace Hotel in its place, opening in September 1909.

A contemporary description

The following is from 1838:''Random Recollections of Exeter Hall, in 1834–1837; by One of The Protestant Party'', (1838), pp.5–13. Royal Humane Society Meeting in Exeter Hall

Royal Humane Society Meeting in Exeter Hall

References

External links

About the history and "passing of Exeter Hall"
{{coord, 51.511, N, 0.121, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title, format=dms 1831 establishments in England 1907 disestablishments in England Cultural and educational buildings in London Buildings and structures completed in 1831 Buildings and structures demolished in 1907 Demolished buildings and structures in London Former buildings and structures in the City of Westminster Infrastructure completed in 1831 YMCA buildings Strand, London

History

A contemporary description

References

Further reading

External links