WHITECHAPEL METHODIST MISSION

Records of the Whitechapel Methodist Mission, 1876-1978, comprising records of the Whitechapel Station (Circuit), 1897-1975, including quarterly meetings and accounts (Section A); records of the central administration of the social work of the Mission, 1893-1978, including records of the Trustees, Executive Committee, financial records and staff records (Section B); records of the Working Lad's Institute, 1897-1975, including records from before its take over by the Reverend Jackson in 1897, and of its later developments, Whitechapel House Tulse Hill and Whitechapel House Maple Place, including photographs and plans (Section C); records of Brunswick Hall and the Night Shelter, 1900-1970, including some accounts of life as a homeless person in 1926 (Section D); records of the holiday homes, Southend, 1901-1954 (Section E); records of Windyridge Hostel, 1925-1977 (Section F) and records of other stations brought by Revd Jackson to Whitechapel, 1876-1974 (Section G).

In sections A - G.

A file on the Whitechapel Mission by the Research Department of the Family Welfare Association (reference: A/FWA/C/D161/1) is held by London Metropolitan Archives.

These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 2018

The Whitechapel Methodist Mission was a Primitive Methodist foundation, arising from the home mission activities of one of the Methodists' greatest ministers, the Reverend Thomas Jackson, who worked in the East End of London for 56 years. His work at Whitechapel built on his earlier work in Bethnal Green, Walthamstow and Clapton.

The Whitechapel Mission combined social work with evangelical work. The station began in 1897 when Thomas Jackson bought the Working Lads' Institute which was due to close owing to a shortage of funds. He used this as the basis for his work in Whitechapel. In 1901 the Mission acquired a property on Marine Parade, Southend, to continue the provision of holidays and convalescent stays for the poor from the area. In 1906 Brunswick Hall was purchased, and this enabled a physical separation of the social and evangelical work. The Mission's many activities included free breakfasts and penny dinners for local children, a Medical Mission, free legal advice service, night shelter for homeless men, distribution of food, coal and grocery tickets to the poor and prison gate rescue work (especially amongst young men), which developed into full probation work with the opening of Windyridge Hostel.