London Tavern

The City of London Tavern or London Tavern was a notable meeting place in London during the 18th and 19th centuries. A place of business where people gathered to drink alcoholic beverages and be served food, the tavern was situated in Bishopsgate in the City of London (the site today of Nos. 1–3 Bishopsgate). The original tavern was destroyed in a fire on 7 November 1765 and the new building was designed by William Jupp the elder (with support from William Newton, 1765–1768) and opened in September 1768. In 1828, the proprietor was Charles Bleaden.[1] The building was demolished in 1876.[2] The tavern boasted a large and well-decorated dining room with Corinthian columns. It hosted numerous public and private meetings held to rally support to various political, charitable and other causes.[3][4]

The London Tavern in 1809

In 1841, Charles Dickens presided at a meeting for the benefit of the Sanatorium for Sick Authors and Artists, and in 1851 at the annual dinner for the General Theatrical Fund.[2] While he was attending a dinner at the London Tavern on 14 April 1851, Dickens learned of the death of his daughter Dora Annie Dickens.

Notable meetings

• 1769 – The Society of Gentlemen Supporters of the Bill of Rights was founded at the London Tavern on 20 February to support John Wilkes after he was expelled from the House of Commons.[5]
• 1788 – The London Tavern hosted a meeting of the Revolution Society discussing the French Revolution.[6]
• 1789 – In 1789, pro-slavery campaigner George Hibbert spoke at a meeting of Merchants at the London Tavern, seeking to demolish William Wilberforce’s speech on abolition of slavery in a 40-minute address entitled 'The Slave Trade Indispensable…'.[7]
• 1791 – On 4 November a Revolution Dinner was held at the London Tavern, with Thomas Walker, Joseph Priestley, Tom Paine, and Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve.[8]
• 1805 – On 23 May the London Tavern hosted a meeting chaired by Sir Francis Baring that led to the formation of the London Institution.
• 1818 - On 18 March, a public meeting took place at the City of London Tavern, under the chairmanship of Benjamin Shaw (MP) when a new Society known as the Port of London Society was formed to minister to the religious needs of seamen. The charity, which is based in Southampton is now called Sailors' Society.
• 1822 – Supporters of Francisco Antonio Zea and South American independence movements held a dinner on 10 July at the London Tavern to show support and raise money for Colombia.[9]
• 1824 – On 18 Feb Marc Brunel, William Smith MP and a provisional board of directors hosted the first public meeting for the Thames Tunnel project which culminated with the sale of 1,250 shares. [10]
• 1824 – The National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck (today the Royal National Lifeboat Institution) was founded on 4 March 1824 at a meeting in the London Tavern.[11]
• 1839 - Proprietors of Great Western Railway met to decide whether Brunel's broad gauge or Stephenson's narrow gauge should prevail.[12]
• 1847 - Frederick Douglass's "Farewell address to the British people, London." London Morning Chronicle, 31 March 1847.[13]
• 1851 – A March meeting of coffee merchants condemned the high price and the adulteration of coffee sold to "the lower class of consumer".[14]
• 1852 – The first general meeting of The Marine and General Mutual Life Assurance Society was held at the London Tavern.
• 1858 - The first meeting of The Railway Benevolent Society took place at the London Tavern on Saturday 8 May. At this meeting, a resolution was carried unanimously, stating that the society should be called the Railway Benevolent Institution. George Glyn, 1st Baron Wolverton, was the first President of this institution.[15]
• 1859 – The British acclimatisation society was founded following a meeting held on 21 January at the London Tavern attended by Richard Owen and others.
• 1863 – A 15 December meeting at the London Tavern agreed the formation of Middlesex County Cricket Club.
• 1865 – The London Tavern is depicted in a painting An Infant Orphan Election at the London Tavern, "Polling" by George Elgar Hicks.[3]

Fictional meetings

• In Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby, the London Tavern is the location for the public meeting held "to take into consideration the propriety of petitioning Parliament in favour of the United Metropolitan Improved Hot Muffin and Crumpet Baking and Punctual Delivery Company."

References

1. "Licensed Victuallers". Bell's Life in London and Sporting Chronicle. 11 May 1828. p. 2 – via British Newspaper Archive.
2. "The London Tavern". The Worshipful Company of Bowyers. Worshipful Company of Bowyers. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
3. "An Infant Orphan Election at the London Tavern, 'Polling' by George Elgar Hicks". Artfund. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
4. Callow, Edward (1899). Old London Taverns. London: Downey and Co. pp. 77–81.
5. Cash, Arthur H. (2006) John Wilkes. The Scandalous Father of Civil Liberty (New Haven: Yale University Press), p. 249.
6. An abstract of the history and proceedings of the Revolution Society London, England 1789 "At a Meeting of the Committee of the Revolution Society, Friday 19th Dec 1788, at the London Tavern. ... who shall be desirous of being admitted a Member of this Society, shall be sent to the Secretary, signed by two Members."
7. "George Hibbert (1757–1837)". George Hibbert.com. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
8. Stephen Gill; Stephen Charles Gill (12 June 2003). The Cambridge Companion to Wordsworth. Cambridge University Press. p. 204. ISBN 978-0-521-64681-9.
9. Walker, Alexander (1822). "Chapter III, Section: Public Dinner to Don F A Zea". Colombia. London: Baldwin, Cradock, & Joy. pp. 728–747. OCLC 3042177. Retrieved 6 June 2009.
10. Clements, Paul. Marc Isambard Brunel. p. 98. ISBN 1860774008.
11. "1824: Our foundation". RNLI. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
12. Vaughan, Adrian. "Isambard Kingdom Brunel: Engineering Knight-Errant. London: John Murray, 1991, p117
13. Cited by Hannah Rose Murray in www.frederickdouglassinbritian.com and "Frederick Douglass, Profit of Freedom" by David W. Blight 2018 (chapter 10).
14. "The adulteration of coffee", The Times, Tuesday, 11 March 1851
15. "THE RAILWAY BENEVOLENT SOCIETY."The Westmorland Gazette And Kendal Advertiser, Saturday 15 May 1858, p.6. The British Newspaper Archive; © 2019 Findmypast Newspaper Archive Limited - Proudly presented by Findmypast in partnership with the British Library. Retrieved 30 May 2019.