Born in CANTERBURY -the same year as WILL. SHAK.- his life was short but intensive. Son of a violent  father, he was himself a violent man, a rake, a brawler, a duellist. His life ended violently.

Mysterious and charismatic, his life was wrapped in rumours of “diabolical atheism”, or at least of unconventional religious belief. An heretic and magician.

Was he a member of the SCHOOL OF NIGHT, called as well the SHOOL OF ATHEISM? (in fact, did that group really existed?). Mystery.

Was he a supposed RC, thing which for some equalled to atheism?. Mystery.

Was all this a sham to further his possible (and royally sanctioned) spy work?. Mystery

If his politics, religion and lifestyle were awkward for the times,  his  dramatic creativity runs in parallel: a blasphemous FAUSTUS, an homosexual KING EDWARD,  Barabas, the MACHIAVELLI in the JEW OF MALTA.

At 14 he enrolled at the KING’S SCHOOL. He was at CORPUS CHRISTI, CAMBRIDGE,at 16. A very able scholar “who could make a verse”. In 1585, he was recruited to work as a government agent, for SIR FRANCIS WALSINGHAM’s intelligence network.

His uni college was ordered by the PRIVY COUNCIL to award CM his MA degree, in the midst of rumours, those years, that he intended to attend the ENGLISH CATHOLIC COLLEGE in RHEIMS.

In fact, he has lengthy absences from uni (violating attendance regulations), which were justified for being engaged in unspecified “affairs” “on matters touching the benefit of the country”  (NATIONAL ARCHIVES, 1587).  
And his purchases for personal provisions show a lavish lifestyle, spending much more that he could have afforded on his known SCHOLARSHIP income (surviving uni BUTTERY accounts -that is, the students food and drink was stored, beside the communal kitchen and the dining rooms)

Meanwhile his theatrical career had taken off:  TUMBURLAINE, THE JEW OF MALTA, THE MASSACRE OF PARIS, EDWARD II (hero, leader with homoerotic tendencies), DOCTOR .FAUSTUS.

He was living in the area. His lodgings, in the precincts of ST.MARY’S SPITAL,  were raided after his TAMBURLAINE was accused of ANTI-IMMIGRANT libel. THOMAS KYDD, his roommate, accused him of blasphemy, when he was arrested  (and tortured).

A arrest warrant for CM was issued, and documents about his 19 dangerous belief were published: something along the lines “Christ is a bastard and his mother dishonest”, “those who do not  love tobacco and boys are fools”….

For sure, he must have been a tobacco user, a commodity borough by (his friend?) WALTER RALEIGH. Had he same sex interests?. Mystery. +wiki

In THE MASSACRE OF PARIS CM reflects on the  1572 ST.BARTHOLOMEW’S DAY MASSACRE of HUGHENOTS. CHARLES IX was the Protestant King of NAVARRE…

The theme was sized by agitators in London to advocate the murder of refugees from the LOW COUNTRIES (SPANISH NETHERLANDS). The play was deemed dangerous. In it appears an “English Agent”, CM himself?. Mystery.

Here, in HOG LANE, in 1589, Cambridge friend and nearby resident THOMAS WATSON and CM were accosted by WILLIAM BRADLEY, claiming an unpaid debt. WATSON came out in defence of MARLOWE, and the episode ended with BRADLEY’s death and the jailing of the two friends,  by the CONSTABLE, spending sometime in NEWGATE, but being discharged with the excuse of self-defence.

That same year a warrant issued for his arrest confirms that he resided in NORTON FOLGATE.

But around that time, while on bail for the killing, was MARLOWE the “MORLEY” who tutored ARABELLA STUART, the niece of MARY WUEEN OF SCOTS, and cousin of future king JAMES I (VI of SCOTLAND). Was he acting as a spy?. Mystery.

In 1592 CM was summoned to appear at the MIDDLESEX SESSIONS for assaulting 2 con stables in HOLLYWELL LANE.

1592. While in the English garrison town of FLUSHING -VLISSINGEN- in the NETHERLANDS, an informer for the PRIVY COUNCIL, anti-Catholic RICHARD BAINES, accusing him of counterfeiting money an activity common among seditious Catholics.

Scorning the Bible, Christ and Mary and accusing St.John the Evangelist of sodomy were some of the items attributed to CM by BAINES. And he even implied that he was a RC, and/or even believing in hobgoblins and bugbears). 

CM was arrested and countered those accusations with the same ones against BAINES, according to the Governor of the  Garrison. Were they infiltrating the group of RECUSANT WILLIAM STANLEY?. Mystery.
However, LOTD BURGHLEY dealt with the affair: no charge nor imprisonment was made.

THOMAS KYDD and RICHARD BAINES were connected to THOMAS HARRIOT and WALTER RALEIGH circle. 

In those final years of his short life CM had a few more violent encounters with the law, until his life ended after being s tabled in DEPTFORD, in puzzling circumstances, apparently in an argument.

Atheism in the the 16th c. equated to treason, and to anarchy and to something troublesome.

The EARL OF NORTHUMBERLAND, HENRY PERCY, spent some time in the TOWER suspicious of having plotted  against the regime (the GUNPOWDER PLOT. He had the MARTIN TOWER redecorated though!.
But he was called, as well, THE WIZZARD EARL, forming a group of “3 MAGI”, with WALTER WARNER  and ROBERT HUES. This spiritism was seen with suspicion.

A different “research group” was formed, sponsored by PERCY, and, in this case, WALTER RALEIGH, a courtesan and a seaman, and adventurer. They were dedicated to the study of religion and CM, GEORGE CHAPMAN, MATTHEW ROYDON, THOMAS HARRIOT… were participants.

They were referred , in 1592,as THE SCHOOL OF ATHEISM, but modern academics call it THE SCHOOL OF NIGHT.

Historically, England was living a transitional period: from paying attention to alchemy and MAGICAL theories towards practicing real SCIENCE.

A Jesuit priest, ROBERT PERSONS, mentioned the SA (1592} and saw WR at its centre. Definitely, an intellectual coterie. And clandestine.

And ROBERT BAINES, in an unsworn deposition stated that he had heard from another person, that CM read atheist lectures to WR and others.

SHK’s LOVE’S LABOUR LOST: “Black is the badge of Hell, The hue of dungeons and the School of Night”. It is accepted than instead of school the word might be suit or scowl, as the context of these lines, the reference has to do rather with a dark haired lady, nothing to do with cabals.

They discovered here some stone floors and walls of up to 1’5 m. of height, of a  rectangular, purpose built theatre.
Fragment of the STAGE and the courtyard were identified.
The second was the PIT, where cheap theatregoers -PENNY STINKARDS- stood. The wealthy watched from timber galleries, where more comfortable seating  and cushions were provided (for 3 PENCE). For  2 PENCE those from the middling  classes would obtain a not so comfortable standing space in the galleries.
The super wealthy would have payed 6d, to have an exclusive box.
Fragments of CERAMIC BOXES were, as well, found. They served to collect those entry fees and were kept in the BOX OFFICE, where money was counted. All this we know thanks to a SWISS TRAVELLER.

A ceramic BIRD WHISTLE was found. It must have been used as a PROP, to create sound effects. Drinking vessels and clay pipes,  a small STATUE OF BACCHUS,  beads (maybe for decorating stage costumes). Part of the drainage system, a fire place, a tunnel that the actors would have used a accessed by doors either side of the stage… have been unearthed and, now , they are part of the exhibition. 

THE CURTAIN dates from 1577, when it became un one of the first permanent playhouses, or theatres as they were called. A man called HENRY LANMAN built it, and at one stage it was purchased by JAMES BURBAGE, who headed the players’ troupe that one day (maybe 10 years later)  WS would join, as an actor, and even later on, as a playwright , would acquire shares of. 

It seems that WS started his career in the Parish of HACKNEY. And you can say that you are where MODERN THEATRE began.

The first mention, 1584, is in a petition from the City to the parish authorities to shut down the playhouses. City authorities considered those places tumultuous and undesirable.

It was in 1594 when the LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MEN (BURBAGE and co.) acquired it as supplementary house to their main space: “THE THEATRE”. In 1596 it became their premier venue, when they had to abandon the THEATRE, because the lease had expired.

HV, R&J… were performed here, as well ass CM’s and TH.KYDD’s plays. In 1598, SHK performed here in BJONSON’s EVERYMAN IN HIS HUMOUR.

In 1598 JOHN STOW mentions it in his SURVEY.

In 1603 the QUEEN ANNE’S MEN (former WORCESTER’S MEN) performed here.

A share owned by THOMAS POPE, member of the troupe, was left to his heirs, according to his last will and testament (1603). The same did   JOHN UNDERWOOD, member of the, by now, the KING’S MEN

In 1599, a “new” BURBAGE playhouse was ready to open in BANKSIDE: the GLOBE. Both playhouses at full steam, from then.

But, after 1627, there is no record of the CURTAIN. A few years afterwards had become tenements.

Or the PRIORY OF ST.JOHN THE BAPTIST, or HALIWELL…

Historians are not sure abou its establishment by the BISHOP OF LONDON, and about its  appartenance to the BENEDICTINE ORDER. An AGUSTINIAN community of nuns was established by ROBERT FITZGENERAN (or GELRAN), in the 12th c. He was the holder of the PREBEND OF HOLYWELL.

in 1239 An 1244 it received 2 gifts from King HENRY III: 300, in the first, 12 MARKS in the second to rebuild the mill, burnt down due to carelessness on the part of the king’s baker. In 1318 EDWARD II granted 6 oaks from EPPING FOREST (visit the place, by the way!).

The convent was refunded by the great benefactor SIR THOMAS LOWELL, CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER, who was buried in the new chapel built thanks to his generous. 
It was a  small monastic establishment,  counting with in between 7 and 13 nuns, and 4 and 11 novices. Lay employees and lay brothers lived here as well.

PRIORESSES like  MONTAGUE, PRUDDLE, NEWDIGATE… came from very wealthy or aristocratic families. With the 1539, the last prioress, SYBIL NEWDIGATE, received a generous pension, not so much the rest of the community.  By the way, her bother, a monk in CHARTERHOUSE, was executed in TYBURN, for not accepting HENRY VIII’s supremacy.

THOMAS CROMWELL was in charge of disposing of the old buildings. THOMAS POINTZ applied for the purchase,   It nothing happened until 1544 when HARRY WEBB, GENTLEMAN USHER TO QUEEN CATHERINE PARR, bought the building complex: orchard, gardens, stores, barn, cattle pen, slaughter house, horse pond, THE well, church, cloister, refectory, dormitory, prioress lodgings… see the map.

After WEBB, GEORGE PECKHAM and CHRISTIAN BLUMSTED became owners in  succession. The last one mortgaged the property to CHRISTIAN ALLEN and son GILES. GILES sold out parts of it.

At one stage the remains of the priory were called KING’S JOHN PALACE.

All along, the chapel was demolished. Other buildings converted. Open spaces built over.

it was here that ACTOR-MANAGER JAMES BURBAGE and partner brother in law JOHN BRAYNE (owner of the RED LION INN cum PLAYHOUSE, in WHITECHAPEL) took a lease on a plot.  BRAYNE advanced some money. There was no written contract. From the start,  problems and quarrels arose.

Finally the first purpose built PLAYHOUSE in ELIZABETHAN ENGLAND was built, opening in 1576. Plays were put on while still dig built, in order to finance its construction. Creditor JOHN HIND arranged troupes to perform.

A polygonal structure, inspired or adapted from INN YARDS. 3 galleries. An open yard, and an open stage thrust on it. Timber, sand, lime, lead, iron, brick, tile were used .

And it was called, in evocation of the THATRUM and AMPHITHEATRE of  ROMAN times,  THE THEATRE

It became wildly popular with theatregoers, and became the principal drama stage in the London area. The SHK’s plays known to us were premiered here. KYDD and MARLOWE had plays staged here, as well. Above all, this was the famous home of the LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MEN

FRANCES YATES, came up, in 1969, with the following theory:

How come a working class bloke, like JAMES BURBAGE, came to know how to built a “theatre” following ancient Roman (1st c.) designs, when the translations VETRUVIUS (DE ARCHITECTURA) into English was not available until the 18th c.?. For sure he did not know Classic Latin!. STREET was a rogue carpenter, BURBAGE a rough and ready actor-entrepreneur, with a gangsterial behaviour…

Of course, up to here everybody was convinced that THE THEATRE was developed from English temporary, seasonal forms of stage, or from courtyard playhouse inns. instead YATES pointed out that the “round” shape design conforms closely to the principles of Roman Vitruvius.

Circular inside, but 6-8 sides seen from the exterior, made the acoustic ideal, a word spoken, or a music played, from the stage could reach every seat, as all seats were equidistant from stage. The wood vibrates and resonates, rising and expanding the sound waves produced by voices.

And THE GLOBE in BANKSIDE had a round interior from DR.JOHNSON, who noted a comment from Mrs. THRALE, as her husband bought the land on which THE GLOBE stood to build his brewery.

Those ROMAN and ELIZABETHAN stages had a minimum of furniture and props. Voice and language conjured a scene.

And YATES knew something else: the  VITRUVIUS book was in the 1583 inventary of the library of JOHN DEE, a scholar-magus, in MORTLAKE.

BURBAGE and STREET must have known nothing of the mechanics of sound waves and how to contain and magnify them.

LOONEY’s book 

Here enters another figure, the 17th EATLS OF OXFORD, EDWARD DE VERE. He was recently back in London, from Italy, and  purchased a residence in HACKNEY, KING’S PLACE. And he was a patron of DEE.

Precisely during that period, the DUKE OF RUTLAND had purchased the site where THE THEATRE would be built.

DE VERE knew about theatre: he was holding a lease of CHILDREN’S PLAYHOUSE,  BLACKFRIARS.

He had been raised by SIR THOMAS SMITH, great Latin scholar, who had, in his library, Vitruvius, in other languages, and drawings about the proportions needed in a building in order to amplify the sound. He lived in HILL HALL, THEYDON MOUNT, EPPING. SMITH and DEE knew each other from Cambridge.

All was set in motion: OXFORD would have observed or heard of the temporary outdoor structures built by PALLADIO in VICENZA (he was there in 75}, forerunners of the TEATRO OLIMPICO, in 1580  the first European indoors permanent stage. In Italy, interest for theatre was at fever pitch: la COMMEDIA DELL’ARTE , street improvisation, the coteries of humanists and artists -la CAMERATA…

Later on INIGO JONES developed the PALLADIAN WINDOW, adapting it to the PROSCENIUM.

OXFORD, though, is not here to be seen. He DID NOT want to be seen!. He backed the artisans following classical models with ideas and money. Secretly.

Swiss Calvinist Reformation fostered the ide that science and art were tools of the devil. DEE’s laboratory was smashed. Thence, science and art were kept behind closing doors by an inner group of connoscenti, which explains that mystery about who were patrons.

Elizabethan Renaissance was peculiar, socially and intellectually..

Perhaps that explains CHARLES NICHOLL bluster about poets being ripe for spy work (remember MARLOWE?).

I remit to the discussion about SHK authorship as it exposed in the WIKIPEDIA article.

SHIREDITCH TOWN HALL

Again, beneath the crest, the motto: MORE LIGHT, MORE POWER. Traditionally, a progressive VESTRY, later a METROPOLITAN BOROUGH, as shown by the statue of PROGRESS.

Built in 1866, following plans of arch.CAESAR AUGUSTUS LONG (on the site of FULLER’S HOSPITAL) as a VESTRY HALL for the parish of SHOREDITCH. It became thus the centre of civic life.

In 1888 the inquest for the killing of MARY KELLY took place here.

On 1902 WILLIAM HUNT designed the expansion of the original building, for the new METROPOLITAN BOROUGH OF SHOREDITCH: ASSEMBLY HALL, offices, tower, the caretaker’s cottage. Due to the 1904 fire a new Assembly Hall was built in 07. In the 1930s performances of SHK’s plays were performed here to raise funds for housing. 
In 1938 the COMMITTEE ROOMS, red brick annexe, was built.

During WW2 help (evacuations, support, air raid warnings…) was organised here, the “base” associated with  the submarine HMS TRASHER

The silk weavers started coming, as refugees, from France, the furniture industry began to be established,  becoming the main local activity  (visit the MUSEUM OF THE HOME), many industries of all type, in Victorian times,  and with  them, deprivation and crime. Narrow streets of terraced working class housing sprang up, all the land was built over, becoming one of the most densely populated districts of what we can already call London. A slum.

Slum a railways go together. The railway companies were very insensitive when it comes to design their viaducts and bridges. The area became blighted 

This was a period, though, in which popular entertainment was not missing:  the NATIONAL STANDARD THEATRE had HENRY IRVING. It became the NEW OLIMPIA PICTUREDROME in 1926. The SHIREDITCH EMPIRE, which became the LONDON MUSIC HALL  was designed by MATCHAM, and CHAPLIN performed here. The ROYAL CAMBRIDGE MUSIC HALL, when rebuilt in 1897, had a huge stage. 

After the devastation of WW2, intensive and extensive redevelopment took place. Council estates occupied the sites of slummy terraces and some industrial plots. Grey concrete all over. Some office buildings, grey as well.

But something started to happen in the 80s: the  East End districts became popular with creative industries, professionals of that type began to consider living here, as well:  gentrification was here SHOREDITCHIFICATION, hipsterfication… Very Shoreditch!.  Simple rebuilding gave wa6 to regeneration, amn the improvement of the design of buildings, be it residential, work or leisure. Hotels make their appearance. Off go the striptease clubs. In the trendy bars.

In 1598 it the area was called HOGSDEN FIELDS. Enough distanced from London to grant anonymity and space for duellists to exercise: playwright BEN JONSON, whose play EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOURS was performed in the CURTAIN (with SHK in it)  a few days before, came out victorious over actor GABRIEL SPENCER. The latter one had a longer sword though, and was the one who had started the controversy according to BJ’s account, related many years later.

He was subsequently arrested and sentenced for murder but, as he claimed the BENEFIT OF CLERGY, he avoided execution. He was BRANDED on his left thumb and had to forfeit all his possessions (no wonder hi fell in financially dire straits, and when he had to paid for his burial he had to do with a standing up TOMB!).

The RIGHT OF CLERGY originated in the COMPROMISE OF AVRANCHES, by which KING HENRY II reconciled the Crown with the Church, after the controversy that ended in ARCHBISHOP’S BECKET murder: secular courts, with few exceptions, like high treason, had to jurisdiction over the clergy.

Was BJ a member of the clergy?. Well, “clerginess” was a ample condition, according to the compromise: tonsured hair, or wearing an ecclesiastical dress, or being able to read from the Latin Bible, or…well, from 1351,  just been able to read.

BEN JONSON had been educated at WESTMINSTER SCHOOL (nowadays, one of the famous PUBLIC SCHOOLS of England) under distinguished antiquarian WILLIAM CAMDEN. After becoming  a bricklayer(a brief stint as he was working for his uncle, but probably you can admire his art if you visit LINCOLN’S INN, one the famous institutions -INNS OF COURT- that train and associate the BARRISTERS of England and Wales), and volunteering to combat the Spanish in FLANDERS, he became a strolling player (just as SHK did ?. Maybe).

Then, a writer.  Because his satirical play THE ISLE OF DOGS was considered seditious and slandering, he was imprisoned. All this gives you an idea of how the theatrical world was 4 centuries ago.

Anyway, he was a man living on the edge, a drunkard, who lived on bread and beans, unclean and ill-favoured . But he ended in WESTMINSTER ABBEY (paid by himself, standing burial, though)

And it seems that he had a good relationship with WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, whom he admired, had affection and night regard. It seems that all this was mutual.

When the district acquired the industrial appearance that has survived up to our days, it became densely populated. Cheap labour was close to workshops. Tailors, saddlers, iron workers, piano makers, furniture makers…. Close to the City and the West End, the fashionable markets.

By 1901, there were 5.000 cabinet, furniture and piano makers in Hackney The course, nearby, of the REGENT’S CANAL, completed at the beginning of the 19th c., facilitated the industrial transformation, as a mean of easing the transportation of heavy goods.  

The building of the railways, with their stations and goods yards nearby, accelerated the process.

MRS.MICAWBER and OLIVER TWIST knew the area…

A pop. of 34.000 in 1801 (first English CENSUS), became 68.000 in 1831, and peaked to 129.000 in 1861. In 1961 were only 40.000.

Deindustrialisation started early, which made possible that the YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS, still not famous, started to take over disused workshops and warehouses. Fashion, design, music, and other creative industries followed. Maybe with forms of cultural life which were not reputed mainstream in the 70s.

After the 1990s property crash, when property was rented semi-legally, started to spring up some comercial galleries, the first, FACTUAL NONSENSE, in 1992, in CHARLOTTE RD., by JOSHUA COMPSTON) which helped the emergence of such YOUNG BRITISH ARTISTS  as HIRST or EMIN.

In the 2000s had emerged the EAST LONDON TECH CITY that we known. Only third, after the SFR and NYK  clusters, London has become thanks to this area a large hub of technology startups. Withs its own SILICON… ROUNDABOUT. Actually, this is history. The OLD STREET ROUNDABOUT is no more, replaced by a two way system with better access for pedestrian and cyclists!. 
Now media, advertising agencies… complete the panorama. Many of them, outside the main stream. All of them trendy. Hipsters, hackers and computer geeks have replaced the artists. The YBA had to move out of the area. They año no more Young, but richer.

It stood to the S of this square. It had succeeded THE ACADEMY where SAMUEL PIKE, a SANDEMANIAN, offered theological  teachings. But the wide curriculum and the fact of allowing free enquiry was its main trait.

c.1785 SAMUEL MORTON SAVAGE f. the future HSqA. in WELLCLOSE SQUARE.
The tutor was DAVID JENNINGS. The assistant, appointed by the COWARD TRUST (who paid the lease and the salaries of tutors, a the board and lodgings of students) was ABRAHAM REES, who would become resident tutor.

After a long time of search and making it ready, the ACADEMY moved here, former dwellings of DANIEL WILLIAMS.

Students from all over the country and belonging to different DISSIDENT traditions. From WARRINGTON, TAUNTON,EXETER, CARMARTHEN…ACADEMIES. Many, funded by the COWARD TRUST, of Congregational leanings. Many, after acquiring heterodox views , became  Unitarians.

Of courts, they would have been members of the Ch.of E..

There were, at one time 12 students. The duration of the ministerial course was of 5 years.

57 students were awarded exhibition, amongst them WILLIAM GODWIN.

Successful candidates had  to pass an examination into learning, religion and conduct,

The Trustees made monthly visits

Pneumatology, Ethics, Divinity, Mathematics, Philology, Oratory were the subjects.

Library, experimental equipment and an orrery were housed in the building, as well.

 
Now you turn your attention to the red brick building sporting a motto in Latin. Let us exercise the Latin of your school days!.

This building dates from 1897. It housed in the destructor hall, 3 engines and storage binsA 80 ft chimney stack. And, next door Library (and small. Museum), Public Baths and Washhouses. And municipal offices. 
The first UK system of  local waste and refuse disposal, used to generate power, which was later used for street lighting and for the neighbouring public buildings. An example of state  (in fact, local authority, as this was built by the SHOREDITCH VESTRY) intervention, allowed by the 1882 ELECTRICAL LIGHT ACT, which allowed to purchase private undertakings after 21 years of operation ( extended to 42 years in 1888, as the private companies were no able to recoup their investments, in only 21) to create monopolies on the public interest.

Recycling, what a (not so new) marvel!.

LIGHT AND POWER FROM DUST!. That is, electricity was recognised as the fuel of the future. And here, an interventionist administration took the matter in its own hands. Not everywhere in London was like this.

Anyway, this was one of the largest power consuming districts (factories and workshops, warehouses, 300 PHs, shops open all night…) and the, rather leftist VESTRY resented that private profit was made at the expense of local needs.

And there was and additional problem to solve: it had to deal with 20.000 tons of municipal refuse each year!. An innovative solution beckoned.  As the BOARD OF TRADE has granted to SOREDITCH the license to supply energy, the Vestry commissioned Eng. EDWARD MANVILLE to conduct a feasibility study of a combined DUST DESTRUCTOR PLUS ELECTRICITY GENERATING STATION. He concluded that the undertaking had scope for development, and the voters endorsed the proposal.

In the open ceremony, a part from municipal pride, was present the physicist LORD KELVIN, who praised the  Vestry for being technologically progressive, and Mr.STUART, LABOUR MP praised it for serving the humble population.

NILE STREET tenements were the first ro have electricity supply, in 1899. By then, who opened the new  flats was the EARL OF ROSEBERRY, Chairman of the new,y formed LCC.  The Vestry as no more but, very appropriately , the new BOROUGH, part of the new LCC, embraced it: MORE POWER, MORE LIGHT. In fact, the Borough continued to be a progressive authority, where LABOUR took hold firmly.

And demand expanded, supply expanded. A second generating station was built in WHISTON ROAD, HAGGERSTON, this one fired by coal, supplied thanks to the canal, as there was not enough rubbish to satisfy demand.

By 1924, 43 miles of the Borough were cabled, in 1926 a RENTAL WIRING SCHEME allowed households to have electricity with no upfront cost, paying 1’5 d per unit. The had installed lamps and shades, fixed by the ELECTRICAL DEPARTMENT staff, and, as well slot meters and maintenance where included.

SHOWROOMS were opened in HOXTON STREET, in the corner of OLD ST.

The NATIONAL GRID was created in 1927. We were entering the ers of large scale generation. The era was heralded by the building of BATTERSEA POWER STATION, in 1933. 
But, during WW2, small generation here provided a back up, when large stations were affected by the bombs. And  gain in 1947, due to the coal crises.

The HABERDASHERS LIVERY COMPANY was in. Barge of regulating the silk and velvet trade.

Now, thanks to a careful stewardship of corporate bequests and funds, the LC supports significant educational and charitable institutions linked with the FASHION INDUSTRY.

The HABERDASHERS BOYS SCHOOL is now in ELSTREE.