Concept   

Act of Parliament - 1751-2 - licensing

"Licensed pursuant to Act of Parliament of the Twenty fifth of King George the Second."

This is a form of words that we have found at three 19th century places of entertainment, two physically and one online (at the 1816 English Opera House).  We've made some assumptions: that the Act permits licensed premises to sell liquor and/or provide entertainment to the public; that the Act stipulated that this form of wording had to be displayed at the premises so licensed; that "Twenty fifth of King George" means "Twenty fifth year of King George" which would mean 1752-3.

Both of the inscriptions that we have seen ourselves show a ghost inscription below that looks like it had (almost) the same wording. Perhaps the law changed and the mandatory inscription was changed slightly so they all had to get the sign-writers back up their ladders.

Wikipedia's page 25 Geo.II lists Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain, 1750–1759 and has over 60 classified as "25 Geo. 2". There it's explained that the "25" refers to the year of the reign during which the relevant parliamentary session was held.  We have not searched the 60 trying to identify the particular Act but if you'd like to do that and send us your findings....

This image shows the paperwork for an Act from approximately the same period.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Act of Parliament - 1751-2 - licensing

Commemorated ati

Battersea Town Hall - Grand Hall entrance

Intriguingly, the panels are 'palimpsests' or overwritten texts. We can make ...

Read More

Lopping Hall - licensed

Initially we thought this inscription referred to the 1878 Epping Forest Act ...

Read More

Other Subjects

Campaign for Real Ale

Campaign for Real Ale

An independent consumer organisation based in St Albans, and known as CAMRA. Founded in Kruger's bar in Dunquin, Kerry, Ireland, by a group who were opposed to the growing mass production of beer a...

Group, Food & Drink, Ireland

2 memorials
T Walton (London) Ltd

T Walton (London) Ltd

Founded by T. Walton. See his page for more details about the shops. Our picture was generously offered to us by Monika Roleff who tells us: "This paper bag is part of the collection of ephemera o...

Group, Commerce, Food & Drink

1 memorial
West Middlesex Water Company

West Middlesex Water Company

A utility company which supplied water to parts of West London. It was established in premises on the banks of the River Thames at Hammersmith, the central part of which was designed by William Tie...

Group, Engineering, Food & Drink

2 memorials
Gatti family

Gatti family

Swiss-Italian family.  Restaurateurs, music hall, theatre and electricity supply entrepreneurs. Four generations of note, all born in Dongio, Val di Blenio, Ticino, Switzerland: Carlo; Agostino (18...

Group, Commerce, Food & Drink, Theatre, Switzerland

1 memorial
Althorp Lodge

Althorp Lodge

In this building Robert Sadler opened a pub and leisure gardens. In 1853, using the land behind the pub, he opened the Copenhagen Running Grounds. "The ground eventually closed in 1864 following c...

Building, Commerce, Community / Clubs, Food & Drink, Property

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Fredk. Candler

Fredk. Candler

Resident of the West Ward, Hendon who served and died in WW1.

Person, Armed Forces

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
Tabard Inn

Tabard Inn

Set up by an abbot from Winchester to give his brethren somewhere to stay in London and to provide accomodation to pilgrims on their way to Canterbury, in particular Chaucer's pilgrims, who set off...

Building, Community / Clubs, Food & Drink, Literature

1 memorial
Kreshnik Xhiku

Kreshnik Xhiku

Sculptor. Born in Albania and now resident in the USA. His works include memorials to the Albanian hero George Skanderbeg in London, Macedonia and Michigan, and a monument to Mother Teresa of Calcu...

Person, Sculpture

1 memorial
Judy Wiseman

Judy Wiseman

Sculptor, of Nether Street, Finchley.

Person, Sculpture

1 memorial