Quakers’ history told in exhibition

7:07pm Wednesday 30th May 2007

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An exhibition revealing the history behind one of Croydon's best-used community centres will mark its 50th anniversary this weekend.

According to Phillip Barron, many community groups in Croydon use the Quaker Meeting House but few who enter know of the site's interesting history and predecessors.

The earliest reference to Quakers meeting in Croydon dates back 350 years to 1657, but the first proper meeting house was not established until 1721 on almost the same spot where the present one stands in Park Lane, then Back Lane.

A new house was built in 1816, which remained until it was destroyed during World War Two.

The meeting house has links with the south London Victorian tea merchant - and Quaker - John Horniman, who paid for improvements to the building during the 1880s.

Mr Horniman was reputed to have been one of the last men to ride to work on a black horse in full Quaker costume, which would have been in the early days of the reign of Queen Victoria.

His son Frederick worked for his successful Horniman's tea empire - which became a household name - and also went on to become a renowned philanthropist and MP.

Frederick founded the Horniman Museum in Forest Hill in 1888, exhibiting a vast collection of specimens and artefacts amassed since the 1860s on his world travels.

Croydon's Quaker house was destroyed by a landmine in September 1940.

Mr Barron, who is a Quaker, said: "A landmine was dropped in Park Lane but failed to explode. Next day, a naval squad arrived to remove it. While being hauled on to a lorry by a long cable, the mine slipped and there was a terrible explosion. Several houses were destroyed or severely damaged, including the meeting house and St Anselm's School. Also damaged was the adult school hall which adjoins the Meeting House.

"That hall, which still stands, was built in 1908, when there were nearly 1,000 members in the local adult school movement founded by Thomas Crosfield.

"The property was a gift to the Society of Friends, as Quakers are known, and is a fine example of early 20th century brick-and-timber architecture."

In earlier times, much of the surrounding area was owned by Quakers. A Quaker school once stood on the site of Taberner House and Queens Gardens and several local streets were named after prominent Quakers, such as Barclay, Fell and Friends Roads.

In 1967 the embalmed body of a woman was found by workmen transferring remains from the burial ground of the Meeting House to the Quaker section of the Queen's Road cemetery.

The woman was Katherine Hancock and, according to Phillip, they could clearly see her facial features and the colour of her hair.

• The history of the Quaker Meeting House is revealed in an exhibition of archive material on Saturday, June 2, between 2pm and 6pm at the Meeting House in Park Lane.