Exeter Hall was a large public meeting place on the north side of the Strand in central London, opposite where the Savoy Hotel now stands. From 1831 until 1907 Exeter Hall was the venue for many great gatherings of activists for various causes, most notably the anti-slavery movement and the meeting of the Anti–Corn Law League in 1846.

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, the brother of the visionary architect Joseph Michael Gandy. The hall was built on the site of Exeter Exchange, 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 (formerly Burghley House and Cecil House), the London residence of the Earls of Exeter. 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 (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

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 ...

(founded in 1804), the Protestant Reformation Society (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 a ...

(founded in 1831). The Peace Society (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 on 30 June 1834 to support the establishment of the free colony of

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

. 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 Presbyterianism, Presbyterian denomination in England. The church's origins lay in the 1876 merger of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish United Presbyterian ...

" 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 in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

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 Pun ...

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

Shantou Shantou, Chinese postal romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, 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 20 ...

). 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 organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

(founded in 1844), a concert hall for the Sacred Harmonic Society in 1834, and the venue from 1848 to 1850 of the Wednesday Concerts.

Hector Berlioz Louis-Hector Berlioz (11 December 1803 – 8 March 1869) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer and conductor. His output includes orchestral works such as the ''Symphonie fantastique'' and ''Harold en Italie, Harold in Italy'' ...

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 YMCA buildings Strand, London

History

A contemporary description

References

Further reading

External links