3-070-735 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Reopening of Exeter Hall by the Young Men's Christian Association, 1881. 'The jubilee, or celebration of fifty years' existence, with the renewed dedication of this well-known building [in London], henceforth to be occupied by the [YMCA], was held...last week. It was attended by above three thousand persons, the Large Hall being densely crowded...Addresses were delivered...by Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Cairns, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Lord Mayor; and appropriate resolutions were passed by the meeting. We give an Illustration, showing the appearance of the Lower Hall, from four to five o'clock, when Mr. George Williams presided over the prayer meeting...A small volume, entitled "Exeter Hall and its Associations," by F. Morell Holmes...narrates the founding, building, and opening, on March 29, 1831, of this important place of meeting for religious and philanthropic societies...Mr. F. M. Holmes's little book relates also the most interesting courses of public meetings held in Exeter Hall to promote special undertakings in the past fifty years, such as those of the Anti-Slavery movement, the Temperance Reform, the Ragged School Union, the Bible Society, Foreign Missions, and, lastly, the Young Men's Christian Association'. From "Illustrated London News", 1881.