Friends
Meeting House, St Martin’s Lane WC1. This meeting house opened in
1883, was damaged during the Second World War and reopened in 1956 (Lee and Lee
1983). The first London meeting house was in Westminster close by the abbey on a
site now occupied by Church House and included a school and library (1666 -
1776). The Meeting moved to St Martin’s Lane in 1779 (to a new building close by
St Peter’s Court - a site now occupied by or close to the Duke of York’s
Theatre).
The influence of Friends on the development of the Adult School Movement - and later the Educational Settlements was significant. In the development of non-conformist Christianity from John Wycliffe and the Lollards on, direct access for all to the Bible has been stressed. With it came the the need to the ability to read. This was a key concern of the SPCK and of the pioneering work of the Welsh Circulating Schools under the influence of Rev Griffith Jones. They grew with some speed in the first half of the eighteenth century and could be attended by adults as well as young people. Adults could come on weekday evenings or to Sunday Schools.
The first ‘adult school’ is said to have begun in Nottingham in 1798 to meet the needs of young women in lace and hosiery factories. It was independent of any other organization and run by William Singleton (a Methodist) and Samuel Fox (a Quaker) (Rowntree and Binns 1903: 10-11; 26-28). The main focus was on reading the bible, and then writing from dictation or copies - but there was also a social side to many schools. From London specifically adult schools appear to have been founded in 1814 in Southwark and in 1815 in the City of London (inaugural meeting held at the New London Tavern, Cheapside on July 11). We know this from what is arguably the first study of ‘adult education’ by Thomas Pole (another Quaker) (1816) . As the schools developed they developed institutions such as savings funds and coffee carts.
This particular meeting house hosted a range of educational activities. For example, the 1884 annual report listed a Sunday School, Band of Hope, Mutual Improvement Union for Young Women, an Adult School (for men) and a Mother’s Meeting. While the Society may now have a rather middle class image, at that time ‘tradesmen and handicraftsmen were the chief upholders of Westminster Meeting (Beck and Ball 1869: 249).
Beck, W. and Ball, T. F. (1869) The London Friends Meetings. Showing the rise of the Religious Society of Friends in London, London: F. Bowyer Kitto.
Lee, D. and Lee, D. (1983) Glimpses of Westminster Meeting 1655 - 1956, London: Westminster Friends Meeting.
Pole, T. (1816) A History of the Origin and Progress of Adult Schools (2nd edn.) (reprinted 1969), New York: Augustus M. Kelley.
Rowntree, J. W. and Binns, H. B. (1903) A History of the Adult School Movement, London: Headley Brothers, pages 10-11
Other later histories of the Adult Schools are: G.Currie Martin (1924) The Adult School Movement. Its origin and development, London: National Adult School Union; and W. A. Hall (1985) The Adult School Movement in the Twentieth Century, Nottingham: University of Nottingham, Department of Adult Education.
© Mark K. Smith. First published August 7, 1997.
