The National Hall, Holborn was a building in

High Holborn High Holborn ( ) is a street in Holborn and Farringdon Without, Central London, which forms a part of the A40 route from London to Fishguard. It starts in the west at the eastern end of St Giles High Street and runs past the Kingsway and Sou ...

, London, owned in the 1840s by the

National Association for Promoting the Political and Social Improvement of the People The National Association for Promoting the Political and Social Improvement of the People was founded, in Britain, in 1841 by William Lovett in order to put his form of "educational chartism" into practice. This was denounced by the ''Northern Star ...

. 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 Weston's Music Hall was a music hall and theatre that opened on 16 November 1857 at 242-245 High Holborn in London, England. In 1906, the theatre became known as the Holborn Empire. History Early years The theatre was constructed on the site of ...

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 William Lovett (8 May 1800 – 8 August 1877) was a British activist and leader of the Chartism, Chartist political movement. He was one of the leading London-based artisan Radicals (UK), radicals of his generation. A proponent of the idea tha ...

, 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 William Johnson Fox (1 March 1786 – 3 June 1864) was an English Unitarian minister, politician, and political orator. Early life Fox was born at Uggeshall Farm, Wrentham, near Southwold, Suffolk on 1 March 1786. His parents were strict Calvi ...

John Humffreys Parry John Humffreys Parry (24 January 1816 – 10 January 1880) was a British barrister, who became serjeant-at-law. Early life The son of John Humffreys Parry the antiquarian (1786–1825), he was born in London on 24 January 1816. He received a comm ...

and Philip William Perfitt.

Notes

{{coord, 51.5174, -0.1201, type:landmark, display=title Holborn Demolished buildings and structures in London