LEYSIAN MISSION CIRCUIT

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: ACC/3422
Held at	: London Metropolitan Archives   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/lma ›
Full title	: LEYSIAN MISSION CIRCUIT
Date(s)	: 1870-1989
Level of description	: Collection
Extent	: 11.72 linear metres
Name of creator(s)	: Methodist Church of Great Britain x United Methodist Church x Wesleyan Methodist Church x Primitive Methodist Church

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

The Leysian Mission was founded in 1886 as a large Wesleyan Methodist settlement and mission by past and present scholars of the Leys School, Cambridge. The work started in Whitecross Street, moved to 12 Errol Street in 1890, and then moved in 1904 to the new headquarters building in City Road, Finsbury. This striking building of terracotta bricks and red granite, costing £124,000, was designed by Messrs Bradshaw and Gass. The Queen Victoria Hall seated 2,000 persons and the building itself accommodated 125 rooms and four roof gardens for settlement purposes, with commercial premises at street frontage level.

At the opening of the building by the Prince and Princess of Wales in 1904, Lord Strathcona described the object of the mission as two-fold "to bring religious and ameliorative influences to bear upon the lives of toilers in one of the most crowded districts in London" and "to give to those who have enjoyed the privilege of a public school education the opportunity of coming into direct and sympathetic contact with the social problems that appeal for their solution to the Christian Church and to all good citizens at large".

The Circuit included Haggerston Methodist Mission, Brownlow Street and Shoreditch Methodist Mission, Nichols Square, Hackney Road. The Leysian Mission closed in 1989 and the congregation united with Wesley's Chapel, City Road to form Wesley's Chapel and Leysian Centre.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records of the Leysian Mission Circuit; Leysian Mission; Haggerston Methodist Mission and Shoreditch Methodist Mission, 1870-1989.

Records of the Leysian Mission Circuit, 1885-1989, including Quarterly Meeting minutes; Circuit Meeting minutes; papers of the Home Mission; Christian Citizenship Committee minutes; papers regarding property and investments; financial accounts; Circuit newsletters; annual reports; plans of chapels and halls; orders of service for special occasions; papers regarding the Mission including Executive Committee minutes and papers regarding Resthaven Holiday Home.

Records of the Leysian Mission, 1889-1989, including Trustees Meeting minutes; Leaders' Meeting minutes; Executive Committee minutes; Relief Committee minutes and papers; financial records; papers regarding staff; annual reports; membership registers; Sunday School registers and other papers; Brass Band Committee minutes; Men's Club Committee minutes and papers; papers of various other Mission groups and societies; issues of the "Leysian Mission Magazine"; publications and reports about the work of the Mission.

Records of the Haggerston Methodist Mission, Brownlow Street, 1870-1989, including Trustees Meeting minutes; Leaders Meeting minutes; collection journals and other financial records; correspondence; papers regarding the Sunday School; papers of various other Mission groups and societies and Temperance Roll pledge book.

Records of the Shoreditch Methodist Mission, Nichols Square, Hackney Road, 1941-1972, including cash book and administrative papers.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

In 4 sections: Leysian Mission Circuit; Leysian Mission; Haggerston Methodist Mission and Shoreditch Methodist Mission.

Conditions governing access:

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copyright: Depositor

Finding aids:

Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Received in 1994 (Acc/3422).

Allied Materials

Related material:

The LMA also holds marriage registers for Leysian Mission 1910-1987 (ref ACC/2745/1-5) and some records of Shoreditch Methodist Mission (ref N/M/23/11,12).

Publication note:

For further information see Islington Chapels, Philip Temple (published by Survey of London, RCHME 1992) Library ref 59.1 TEM.

Description Notes

Archivist's note:

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
January to March 2009