Group    From 1886  To 1989

Leysian Mission

Categories: Religion, Social Welfare

From Wesley's Chapel and from Kay:

The Leys School was opened in Cambridge in 1875; just two years after non-Anglicans were admitted to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. It was intended to be "the Methodist Eton". The Leysian Mission was founded by the Old Boys of The Leys School at a General Meeting in the Mission House, Bishopsgate Street, on October 7th 1885. They were concerned about the social and housing conditions in the East End of London.

The Wesleyan London Mission gave them premises at 199 Whitecross Street, rent free, which were used from April 1886, for a Sunday School, a Boys' Brigade, a Girls' Parlour, etc. New, larger, premises were built in Errol Street and opened on Sunday 23 April 1890 with 200 Sunday School children in the Hall. Here the same activities continued and were expanded with a brass band.

By 1902 the Sunday School had nearly 700 children registered, with an average attendance of 480. Again larger premises were required and the Mission moved into grand purpose-built premises in Old Street. Here was a large hall seating 2,000, a small hall, club rooms for men and women, boys and girls, a gymnasium, classrooms and vestries with natural light and ventilation. The Queen Victoria Hall was opened by the, soon to be, King George V and Queen Mary on July 11th 1904.

The post-WW2 Welfare State changed the Mission's purpose so the buildings were sold and it merged with Wesley's Chapel in 1989. Throughout links with the Leys School have been maintained. A Wesley scholarship offers a number of children from the city the opportunity to attend as boarders at the Leys School in Cambridge. There are an annual Cricket Match, regular visits (in both directions) and special events.

"Leys" comes from the name of the Cambridge estate in Trumpington Road bought by Robert Sayle (department store creator and philanthropist) in 1865 to build the school.

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:
Leysian Mission

Commemorated ati

Leysian - 1

This stone was laid by Rev. W. F. Moulton DD, October 29th 1889. W. H. Boney ...

Read More

Leysian - 2

This stone was laid by Mrs E. S. Whelpton, October 29th 1889.

Read More

Leysian - 3

The stone is somewhat damaged which means the G of Holman's name is uncertain.

Read More

Leysian - 4

This stone was laid by Thomas Walker Esq. JP, October 29th 1889.

Read More

Leysian Mission - Marshall

Mission founded 1887 Buildings erected 1903 This column was fixed by Sir Hor...

Read More

Show all 8

Other Subjects

Reverend William Fiddian Moulton

Reverend William Fiddian Moulton

Biblical scholar and headmaster. Born Staffordshire, his father a Wesleyan minister. Became a Wesleyan minister and then the first headmaster of the Leys School, Cambridge in 1875 and remained ther...

Person, Religion

1 memorial
Stamford Street Unitarian Chapel

Stamford Street Unitarian Chapel

Built to house two congregations which had united following the loss of their chapels: Princes Street, Westminster and St. Thomas's Street, Southwark. In 1897 the congregation of the Blackfriars Mi...

Building, Property, Religion

1 memorial
Edward Burrough

Edward Burrough

Quaker activist and writer. Born near Kendal. Died, unmarried, in Newgate prison and was buried at Bunhill Fields Burial Ground.

Person, Religion

1 memorial
Bishop Edmund Bonner

Bishop Edmund Bonner

Bishop of London 1539-49 and 1553-59. This was a period when a job in the church was a fraught occupation. Bonner fared better under Catholic monarchs, but not much. As chaplain to Cardinal Wolsey...

Person, Religion

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Khalil Gibran

Khalil Gibran

Lebanese American artist, poet, and writer. Born in what is now Lebanon, emigrated as a young man with his family to US. Best known for The Prophet, 1923, popular in the 60s.

Person, Art, Literature, Poetry, Lebanon, USA

1 memorial
Simon Bolivar

Simon Bolivar

"El libertador". Born Caracas. Latin American statesman and patriot who worked to liberated Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru & Venezuela from Spanish rule. In London briefly in 1810. Di...

Person, Nationalism, Politics & Administration, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, Venezuela

5 memorials
Leighton Fund

Leighton Fund

Originated as the bequest left by Lord Leighton in 1896. Bob Speel provides some useful information about what the fund has bought. The newspaper article quoted at Sloane Square fountain contains:...

Group, Art, Benefactor

3 memorials
World War 1

World War 1

We'd always assumed that this war was known as the Great War until WW2 came along at which point it was renamed as World War One or the First World War. But the term was first used in print in 1920...

Event, Armed Forces, Tragedy

402 memorials
Barnabas Steel

Barnabas Steel

Possible original owner of what was to become Palingswick House.

Person, Property

1 memorial