A History of St James's Park through Trees, Talk by Greg Packman - October 2020
"HENRY VIII - AN UNLIKELY PIONEER OF REWILDING! "
To watch, click image below:
A History of St James's Park through Trees - Talk by Greg Packman
Consultation Begins - Southside, Victoria Street

Consultation Begins - Southside, Victoria Street
10 Greycoat Place - Developer's Consultation
There is a new public consultation on 10 Greycoat Place, opposite the Grey Coat Hospital (School) and as an exhibition cannot be held, it is available online at https://10greycoatconsult.
Our comment can be viewed on the Planning page via tab above.
Westminster Coroner's Court
Please see our response on our Planning page via the tab above.
St. James's and The Green Park Update and Movement Strategy - 10th July 2020
Read here the latest on loos, kiosks, road closures and more ! CLICK HERE
Stephen Myers

Collecting fine bookbindings Zoom Talk - June 2020
Our first Zoom event was hosted by member, Anthony Davis who gave us an excellent talk on collecting fine books and bindings. He shared some of his most treasured books, including his first purchase as a schoolboy, a Prayer Book, printed in 1630. Amongst his other gems, what is believed to be King Charles II's own copy of the story of his royal escape from the parliamentary army and Elizabeth Cromwell's book of the life of Archbishop Usher, likely to have belonged to her husband Oliver Cromwell, judging by its modest binding.
Other books included the Chapel Royal's very large hand written musical manuscript of anthems (1685) likely to have been handled by John Blow and Henry Purcell whilst they worked at the Chapel Royal. Its poor condition being an indication of its hard working past. Anthony led us through the London streets of 1667 to Pall Mall where William Nott's bookshop was world renowned for its fine bindings. He described the craft of hand bookbinding and the tools still used today, heated for embossing gold leaf and sometimes silver onto the finest goatskin.
Anthony is a retired lawyer. He is a Council member of the Bibliographical Society and writes and talks about fine bindings and book collecting. He has served as a trustee of the Society of Antiquaries and he is also a qualified tour guide specialising in book related walks in central London and led a walk for our Society last year. His talk in conjunction with our visit to Shepherds Bindery in Rochester Row has been rescheduled for 15th June 2021. Many thanks to Anthony for this special talk and tour.
Collecting fine bookbindings Talk - June 2020
Bearskins, Bayonets and Bravery - New Guards Museum podcast

Two Africans with strong links to Thorney Island escaped slavery to become role models in London over 250 years ago
At a time when Black Lives Matter is sweeping the world, it is instructive to look back over 250 years at two black men who really mattered in a way that is so relevant today. Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) and Olaudah Equiano (1745-1797) - both sometime parishioners of St Margaret’s Church next to Westminster Abbey on Thorney Island, emerged from a background of slavery to achieve big literary success while also being active in the anti-slavery movement, though Sancho's involvement was quieter than Equiano's. At a time of widespread illiteracy in England, they educated themselves to produce beautifully written best selling books which were subscribed to by a roll-call of the aristocracy, including the Royal family and in Sancho’s case the Prime Minister (Lord North) too. For working class white people to have achieved such success would have been remarkable at the time. For it to happen to two men who had emerged from slavery is astonishing. At the time they were hailed as examples of what black people could do if given the chance - A lesson that still hasn’t been learned today.
Sancho had a wide range of influential friends including Charles Fox the radical Whig MP, David Garrick the celebrated actor and Laurence Sterne, author of one of the most influential novels of the time and Tristram Shandy whom he urged to join the battle against slavery. They, and many others, came to visit Sancho at his grocery shop in King Charles Street off Whitehall which he had purchased with the help of the enlightened Duke of Montagu’s family. He thus fulfilled the property qualification necessary for voting and became the first black person in England to vote. He also had his portrait painted by Gainsborough, wrote music (which can be savoured on YouTube), poetry and plays. Sancho was married at St Margaret’s where his children were baptised.
Paterson Joseph whose distinguished career includes roles from the National Theatre to the recent hit Noughts & Crosses, not to mention Scrooge in the Old Vic’s A Christmas Carol last year, also performs in a play he has written about the life of Sancho which was rapturously received at the Wilton Music Hall in 2018.
Equiano’s story “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano”, is a riveting account of being kidnapped with his sister from his own home by African traders (in today’s Ghana) and sold to numerous white owners of slave ships, which he was forced to work on, including a voyage in search of the Northwest Passage. He finally purchased his freedom and settled in London to become a leading advocate of the anti-slavery movement. One of his biggest surprises on coming to London was to find this country didn’t trade in people (internally, that is), a practice he was so used to in Africa. He became a devout Christian and was baptised in St Margaret’s Church and later attended the Westminster Chapel (presumably Christchurch Chapel, an outpost of St Margaret’s off Victoria Street where Sancho is buried with his wife Ann, whose business acumen helped with the posthumous publication of his letters).
Equiano has a plaque on the wall inside St Margaret’s and a brief history of Sancho will be on the information boards when Westminster Council has finished the current redevelopment of Christchurch Gardens. However, efforts to persuade the Council to name the new short street (going through the massive complex of 20-storey residential and office blocks opposite Christchurch Gardens) Ignatius Sancho Place or just Sancho Place has so far proved fruitless. It is to be called Orchard Place which is bizarre as there is already an Abbey Orchard Street - a more relevant reference to the original monks’ orchard which was situated there - on the other side of Victoria Street. Sancho and Equiano would not have been surprised.
The Society held a talk on Ignatius Sancho in February in our Archives CLICK HERE to read further.
Two Africans who escaped slave backgrounds to become role models in England over 250 years ago