This is an excerpt from the tour Whitehall found on www.obelisktours.co.uk
As we proceed along Whitehall Court note the 1899
lampposts decorated with a picture of St Martin giving his coat to the
poor. This is a reminder that we are in
the parish of the church of St Martin in the Fields which overlooks Trafalgar
Square.
Smaller, less conspicuous plaques can be found as
we walk around this area. They also
display St Martin on horseback with the pauper by his side and the initials of
the church are displayed as S.M.F. We
are close to the boundaries here of the next parish along which is St Margaret (‘St M W’)– the church which sits right next
to Westminster Abbey.
The building stretching along the street is the
National Liberal Club founded by William Gladstone in 1882 as a club for
Liberal Party supporters and politicians.
This massive building was geared
to support a membership of 6,000 and was a trend setter being the first
building in London to have an electric lift and the first to have electric
lighting. The interior has been used as
a backdrop for at least 23 films. This is a strictly formal dress kind of club
– no jeans and trainers here if you please.
Besides political members like David Lloyd George
and Winston Churchill it attracted a number of Liberal minded authors such as
George Bernard Shaw (Pygmalion), Jerome K. Jerome (Three Men in a Boat), Bram
Stoker (Dracula), Dylan Thomas (Under Milk Wood) and H.G. Wells (The War of the
Worlds). Those of you with young
children might appreciate that the Club’s librarian was George Awdry the
brother of Rev. Wilbert Vere Awdry (1911-1997) creator of Thomas the Tank
Engine.
The reverse side of this building looks out across
the River Thames towards the London Eye and the old County Hall which make it
attractive as hotel space. The club has shrunk to a membership of around
2,000, so many of the rooms have been taken over for hotel space by The Royal
Horseguards Hotel opened in 1971.
More details about the people, places and events associated
with these sites can be found on the tour London
- Whitehall available on www.obelisktours.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment