The National Hall, Holborn was a building in
High Holborn, London, owned in the 1840s by the
National Association for Promoting the Political and Social Improvement of the People. The lease of 242A High Holborn was taken by the National Association in January 1842, for the "Hall of the National Association", which was fitted out in the second half of 1842.
The National Association folded in 1849, and the Hall was transferred to a group of trustees. It retained the name until it was converted, with other properties on the same site, into
Weston's Music Hall in 1857.
Functions
The National Hall was opened in July 1842, and was created from Gate Street Chapel. It had a number of educational and social functions, including meetings and lectures. There was a school on Sundays, run by
William Lovett, and from 1848 he supervised a day school there.
William Ellis taught from 1850. The Hall's capacity was 2,000, and classes were held in dancing and
phrenology
Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...
.
James Watson
James Dewey Watson (born April 6, 1928) is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist. In 1953, he co-authored with Francis Crick the academic paper proposing the double helix structure of the DNA molecule. Watson, Crick and ...
was appointed Treasurer of the Hall, and Lovett Secretary.
Lecturers included
Thomas Cooper,
Edward William Elton
Edward William Elton (August 1794 – 20 July 1843) was an English actor.
Biography
Elton was born in London, in the parish of Lambeth, in August 1794, and was trained for the law in the office of a solicitor named Springhall in Verulam Buildin ...
,
William Johnson Fox,
John Humffreys Parry and
Philip William Perfitt
Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who populariz ...
.
Notes
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Holborn
Demolished buildings and structures in London