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.
12 Errol Street London EC1
Photo taken on 12/5/23
Since 2014 the building is now home to The Royal Statistical Society.
All four foundation stones were laid as seen on October 29th 1889. The Errol street building opened the following year on 23rd April 1890.
Photos taken on 12/5/23
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 Leysian Mission City Road EC1 taken from The Building News 1901
The Leysian Mission, plans of the building
The Building News, 1901
Photo of plasterers with their work before it was installed in the mission building around 1902
Newspaper Clipping
14th July 1904 from the Ripon Observer
Newspaper clipping
11th July 1904 from The Daily Mirror note the roof has an open air garden
The Leysian Mission Building also known as the Imperial Hall was Grade II listed in 1987.
The building bears two dates 1903 for the date when the building was completed and 1955 for the date in which it was restored after WW2 bombing.
1955
1903
Photo of the damaged north wing of the Leysian Mission after a bomb raid in 1941. The difference in the building works between the re-built section and the original can still be seen in the exterior of the building today known as the Imperial Hall.
Leysian Mission
Photo 2014
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 is an annual Cricket Match, regular visits (in both directions) and special events.
