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59-723: Monmouth House was a 17th-century mansion in Soho Square (then called King’s Square) built for the Duke of Monmouth , the oldest illegitimate son of King Charles II . After the Duke's execution for attempting to lead a rebellion against the unpopular Catholic successor to Charles, James II , the house was owned by the Bateman family and loaned to various important people including the French ambassador before being demolished in 1773. In 1681,

118-524: A de facto public park let by the Soho Square Garden Committee to Westminster City Council . It was originally called King Square after Charles II , and a much weathered statue of the monarch has stood in the square, with an extended interruption, since 1661, one year after the restoration of the monarchy . Of the square's 30 buildings (including mergers), 16 are listed (have statutory recognition and protection). During

177-565: A bench that commemorates the singer Kirsty MacColl , who wrote the song "Soho Square" for her album Titanic Days . After her death in 2000, fans bought a memorial bench in her honour, inscribing the lyrics: "One day I'll be waiting there / No empty bench in Soho Square". Fans of Kirsty gather at the bench each year on the Sunday closest to her birthday (10 October) to mark her life, music and legacy. The Lindisfarne album Elvis Lives on

236-494: A contemporary electricity substation ; small, octagonal, with Tudorbethan timber framing . During the king's statue's absence through intercession of resident business Crosse & Blackwell it was a private garden feature at Grim's Dyke , a country house where it was kept by painter Frederick Goodall then by dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame. Initial residents were relatively significant landowners and merchants. Some of

295-586: A national scandal, and several bills were introduced to parliament in the 1690s, but none became acts. There was continual agitation for reform, and in 1698 to keep the debate alive the House of Lords insisted that a bill to reform the select vestries, the Select Vestries Bill , would always be the first item of business of the Lords in a new parliament until a reform bill was passed. The First Reading of

354-423: A parish system developed to attend to social and economic needs. These changes transformed participation in the township or parish meeting, which dealt with civil and ecclesiastical demands, needs and projects. This new meeting was supervised by the parish priest (vicar/rector/curate), probably the best educated of the inhabitants, and became known as the vestry meeting. As the complexity of rural society increased,

413-400: A parochial basis. This was their principal, statutory power for many centuries. With the gradual formalisation of civil responsibilities, the ecclesiastical parishes acquired a dual nature and could be classified as civil and ecclesiastical parishes. In England, until the 19th century , the parish vestry was in effect what would today usually be called a parochial church council . Still, it

472-441: A property qualification and who were recruited largely by co-option . This took responsibility from the community at large and improved efficiency, but over time tended to lead to governance by a self-perpetuating elite. This committee was also known as the close vestry , whilst the term open vestry was used for the meeting of all ratepayers. By the late 17th century, a number of autocratic and corrupt select vestries had become

531-409: Is a black-and-white, half-timbered, rustic gardener's hut with a steep hipped roof , a squat upper storey which overhangs ( jettying ), supported by timber columns. Its details use "Tudorbethan" style, built to appear as an octagonal market cross building. It was built in 1926, incorporating 17th- or 18th-century beams to hide the above-ground features of a contemporary electricity substation. In

590-506: Is an alley running through the site connecting Soho Square to Bateman Street, called Bateman's Buildings after Viscount Bateman , who owned Monmouth House in the mid-18th Century before it was demolished. The house was redesigned by architect Thomas Archer for Lord Bateman's father, Sir James Bateman, Lord Mayor of London. Archer also used the architectural design of a broken pediment on the façade in Chettle House , Dorset, whose roof

649-660: Is in Town he lives in Soho-Square ." In the song "Why Can't The English?" from the musical My Fair Lady , Professor Henry Higgins laments, "Hear them down in Soho Square/Dropping H's everywhere." In the novel Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke , the eponymous Jonathan Strange and his wife Arabella maintain a home in Soho Square as their residence in London. The Soho Square garden contains

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708-593: The British Board of Film Classification , 20th Century Studios UK , Dolby Europe Ltd , Tiger Aspect Productions , Saint Patrick's Catholic Church which provides many social outreach projects to local homeless and addicts, the French Protestant Church of London (by architect Aston Webb ) and the House of St Barnabas , a members' club since 2013, which fundraises and hosts events and exhibitions for homelessness-linked good causes. Built in

767-583: The Conservative Party led by Lord Salisbury and several high church Liberal politicians from 1895 to 1900. The only aspect of the original vestry remaining in current use is the annual meeting of parishioners , which may be attended by anyone on the local civil register of electors and which has the power to appoint churchwardens . A right to tax by a PCC for church chancel repairs remains as to liable (apportioned) residents and businesses across an apportioned area of many church parishes, in

826-580: The Gothic novel Vathek , may have been born there. In the 1770s, the naturalist Joseph Banks who had circumnavigated the globe with James Cook , moved into No. 32 in the south-west corner of the square. In 1778, Banks was elected president of the Royal Society and his home became a kind of scientific salon hosting scientists visiting from around the world. His library and herbarium containing many plants gathered during his travels were open to

885-634: The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 this duty was transferred to elected boards of guardians for single parishes or to poor law unions for larger areas. These new bodies now received the poor law levy and administered the system. This legislation removed a large portion of the income of the vestry and a significant part of its duties. The vestries escaped the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 , which brought more democratic and open processes to municipal bodies. Still, there

944-524: The care of the poor , the maintenance of roads, minor law enforcement, civil registration , and maintenance of the church building, etc. However, more serious punitive matters were dealt with by the manorial court and hundred court , or the Justices of the Peace . The functions could vary from parish to parish depending on accepted custom and necessity and the willingness of the community to fund them. This

1003-552: The poor law . The original unit of settlement among the Anglo-Saxons in England was the tun or town. The inhabitants met to conduct business in the town moot or meeting, at which they would assign tasks, and the common law would be promulgated. Later with the rise of the shire , the township would send its reeve and four best men to represent it in the courts of the hundred and shire. However, township independence in

1062-578: The 1894 Act.... 62 counties, 302 Municipal Boroughs, 31 Improvement Act Districts, 688 Local Government Districts, 574 Rural Sanitary Districts, 58 Port Sanitary Districts, 2,302 School Board Districts ... 1,052 Burial Board Districts, 648 Poor Law Unions, 13,775 Ecclesiastical Parishes, and nearly 15,000 Civil Parishes. The total number of Authorities which tax the English ratepayers is between 28,000 and 29,000. Not only are we exposed to this multiplicity of authority and this confusion of rating power, but

1121-475: The 38 old houses in the square were rebuilt or considerably altered. The majority of the new buildings provided office accommodation only and the residential, mercantile and manufacturing elements in the square declined. However, three of the eleven houses were demolished to make way for church buildings. Two of the original houses, No.s 10 and 15, still stand. At No.s  8 and 9 is the French Protestant Church of London , built in 1891–93. Fauconberg House

1180-526: The Duke of Monmouth leased a large site on the South side of the square from Richard Frith and his partner Cadogan Thomas of Lambeth (a timber merchant), in association with Benjamin Hinton (citizen and goldsmith), and William Nutt of London (a merchant). Monmouth House occupied the south side of what was then called King’s Square. It was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and built in 1677 by a Mr Ford. Today, there

1239-522: The Moon also includes a song named "Soho Square". 51°30′55″N 0°7′56″W  /  51.51528°N 0.13222°W  / 51.51528; -0.13222 Vestry The term vestry remains in use outside of England and Wales to refer to the elected governing body and legal representative of a parish church, for example in the American and Scottish Episcopal Churches . For many centuries, in

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1298-477: The Saxon system was lost to the feudal manorial court leet , which replaced the town meeting. Assembly of parishes rested on land ownership, so increasingly the manorial system , with parishes assembled by lords of the manor in concert with local clergy and religious institutions. Initially, the manor was the principal unit of local administration, common customs and justice in the rural economy, but over time

1357-454: The absence of an incorporated city or town council, the vestries were the sole de facto local government and presided over communal fundraising and expenditure until the mid or late 19th century under local established Church chairmanship. They were concerned with the spiritual and physical welfare of parishioners and their parish amenities, both secular and religious, by collecting local taxes and taking responsibility for functions such as

1416-590: The bill was made annually, but it never got any further every year. This continues to this day as an archaic custom in the Lords to assert the independence from the Crown, even though the select vestries have long been abolished. A major responsibility of the vestry had been the administration of the Poor Law. Still, the widespread unemployment following the Napoleonic Wars overwhelmed the vestries, and under

1475-593: The book A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens , Soho Square is where Lucie and her father, Doctor Manette, reside. It is believed that their house is modelled on the House of St Barnabas, which Dickens used to visit, and it is for this reason that the street running behind the House from Greek Street is called Manette Street (it was formerly Rose Street). Joseph Addison and Richard Steele wrote of their character Sir Roger de Coverley in The Spectator , "When he

1534-408: The church and its services, the keeping of the peace, the repression of vagrancy, the relief of destitution, the mending of roads, the suppression of nuisances, the destruction of vermin, the furnishing of soldiers and sailors, and the enforcement of religious and moral discipline. These were among the many duties imposed on the parish and its officers, that is to say, the vestry and its organisation, by

1593-489: The church replaced the manorial court in key elements of rural life and improvement—it levied its local tax on produce, tithes . By the early Tudor period the division of manors and the new mercantile middle class had eroded the old feudal model, These changes accelerated with the Reformation in the 1530s, with the sequestration of religious houses and the greatest estates of the church, and under Mary I and others,

1652-694: The ecclesiastical parish. This is sometimes referred to as the "annual vestry meeting". Parochial church councils now undertake all other roles of the vestry meetings. The term vestry continues to be used in some other denominations , denoting a body of lay members elected by the congregation to run the business of a church parish. This is the case in the Scottish , and the American Episcopal Churches, and in Anglican ecclesiastical provinces such as Australia, Canada and New Zealand. In

1711-470: The form of chancel repair liability however, in some areas no such further taxation replaced tithes. The vestry was a meeting of the parish ratepayers chaired by the incumbent of the parish, originally held in the parish church or its vestry, from which it got its name. The vestry committees were not rooted in any specific statute, but they evolved independently in each parish according to local needs from their roots in medieval parochial governance. By

1770-770: The general public. Between 1778 and 1836 the square was home to the infamous White House brothel at the Manor House, 21 Soho Square . In 1852, the Hospital for Women (begun nine years earlier at Red Lion Square ) moved to No. 30 to accommodate 20 more beds. Twelve years later it bought 2 Frith Street ; the old site was remodelled in 1908. It moved and merged in 1989 into the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson and Obstetric Hospital , Euston Road. Eleven artists whose addresses are given as being in Soho Square in exhibition catalogues, whose names do not appear in

1829-481: The immediately surrounding fields, for 53 + 1 ⁄ 4 years, was granted in 1677 to Richard Frith, citizen (elector of the Corporation of London) and bricklayer. Ratebooks (of the vestry ) continued to call the square King Square until the first decade of the 19th century; however, John Rocque's Map of London, 1746 and Richard Horwood 's in 1792–99 mark it as Soho Square . By the early 19th century,

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1888-612: The increasing number of local boards which came into being and operated across greater areas than single parishes for a specific purpose. These were able to levy their rate. Among these were the local boards of health created under the Public Health Act 1848 ( 11 & 12 Vict. c. 63), the burial boards, which took over responsibility for secular burials in 1853, and the Sanitary districts , which were established in 1875. The church rate ceased to be levied in many parishes and

1947-468: The intention that it might be restored. Goodall placed the statue on an island in his lake at Grim's Dyke , where it remained when dramatist W. S. Gilbert purchased the property in 1890, and there it stayed after Gilbert's death in 1911. In her will, Lady Gilbert directed that the statue be returned, and it was restored to Soho Square in 1938. The politician William Beckford lived at No. 22 from 1751, and his son William Thomas Beckford , author of

2006-457: The late 1670s, Soho Square was in its early years one of the most fashionable places to live in London. It was originally called King's Square, for King Charles II . The statue of Charles II was carved by Danish sculptor Caius Gabriel Cibber during the King's reign in 1681 and made the centrepiece of the square; since it has returned it has not been in the centre. The development lease to convert

2065-441: The late 17th century they had become, along with the county magistrates, the rulers of rural England. In England, until the 19th century , the parish vestry committee equated to today's parochial church councils plus all local government responsible for secular local business, which is now the responsibility of a District Council as well as in some areas a Civil Parish Council , and other activities, such as administering locally

2124-419: The law of the land, and by local custom and practice. This level of activity resulted in an increasing sophistication of administration. The parish clerk would administer the decisions and accounts of the vestry committee, and records of parish business would be stored in a "parish chest" kept in the church and provided for security with three different locks, the individual keys to which would be held by such as

2183-464: The linked record label Sony Soho Square is renamed S2 Records. The Football Association was headquartered at No. 25 from October 2000 until 2009. On the east side the Roman Catholic parish church is partially on the site of Carlisle House with catacombs that spread deep under the square and further. Six approach ways to the square exist: From the south side: At the square's centre

2242-450: The parish priest and churchwardens . While the vestry was a general meeting of all inhabitant rate-paying householders in a parish, in the 17th century the huge growth of population in some parishes, mostly urban, made it increasingly difficult to convene and conduct meetings. Consequently, in some of these a new body, the select vestry , was created. This was an administrative committee of selected parishioners whose members generally had

2301-438: The public until April 1954. New iron railings and gates were provided in 1959 by the Soho Square Garden Committee with the assistance of Westminster City Council. Burroughes Hall was an important billiards and snooker venue in Soho Square from 1903 until it closed in 1967. The hall was in the premises of Burroughes & Watts Ltd., which had been at 19 Soho Square since 1836. During the 1970s and 1980s Number 13 Soho Square

2360-526: The qualification, tenure, and mode of election of members of these Authorities differ in different cases." Under the Act, secular and ecclesiastical duties were finally separated when a system of elected rural parish councils and urban district councils was introduced. This removed all secular matters from the parish vestries, and created parish councils or parish meetings to manage these. The parish vestries were left with only church affairs to manage. Following

2419-544: The removal of civil powers in 1894, the vestry meetings continued to administer church matters in Church of England parishes until the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1921 Act established parochial church councils as their successors. Since then, the only remnant of the vestry meeting has been the meeting of parishioners , which is convened annually solely for the election of churchwardens of

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2478-455: The secular and ecclesiastical aspects of the vestries were separated. The vestry's remaining secular duties were transferred to newly created parish councils . Their ecclesiastical duties remained with the Church of England , until they were abolished and replaced by parochial church councils (PCCs) in 1921. This secularisation of local government was unsuccessfully opposed by administrations of

2537-580: The site on building leases." The house was pulled down in 1773, which freed up space for more houses in Frith Street , which runs south out of Soho Square. See also Numbering changes in Frith Street . 51°30′53″N 0°07′54″W  /  51.5147°N 0.1318°W  / 51.5147; -0.1318 Soho Square Soho Square is a garden square in Soho , London, hosting since 1954

2596-461: The square remains residential. From the 1820s to the 1860s, at least eleven artists recently qualified for major exhibitions were resident aside from permanent residents, some of whom were more accomplished artists, as comprised in the local rate books; by the end of that century charities, music, art and other creative design businesses had taken several premises along the square. A legacy of creative design and philanthropic occupants lingers including

2655-460: The statue, fountain and attendant figures was described as "in a most wretched mutilated state; and the inscriptions on the base of the pedestal quite illegible". In 1875, it was removed during alterations in the square by Thomas Blackwell, of Crosse & Blackwell , the condiment firm (which had premises at No. 20-21 Soho Square from the late 1830s until the early 1920s), who gave it for safekeeping to his friend, artist Frederick Goodall , with

2714-533: The summer, Soho Square hosts open-air free concerts. By the time of the drawing of a keynote map of London in 1746 the newer name for the square had gained sway. The central garden and some buildings were owned by the Howard de Walden Estate , main heir to the Dukedom of Portland 's great London estates. At its centre is a listed mock "market cross" building, completed in 1926 to hide the above-ground features of

2773-623: The upkeep of roads in the parish, while the Tudor poor laws ; a series of laws introduced through the period, made vestries responsible for the care of the poor of the parish. At the high point of their powers before removal of Poor Law responsibilities in 1834, the vestries spent not far short of one-fifth of the budget of the British government. During the 19th century, their secular functions were gradually eroded, and finally in 1894 (1900 in London)

2832-414: The vestries spent not far short of one-fifth of the budget of the national government itself. More than 15,600 ecclesiastical parish vestries looked after their own: churches and burial grounds, parish cottages and workhouses, endowed charities, market crosses, pumps, pounds, whipping posts, stocks, cages, watch houses, weights and scales, clocks, and fire engines. Or to put it another way: the maintenance of

2891-462: The vestry meetings acquired greater responsibilities and were given the power to grant or deny payments from parish funds. Although the vestry committees were not established by any law and had come into being in an unregulated process, it was convenient to allow them to develop. For example, they were the obvious body for administering the Edwardian and Elizabethan systems for support of the poor on

2950-445: The vestry ratebooks, are listed by the 1966 Survey of London by historian F H W Sheppard. A common for commercial/high demand areas sequence of house rebuilding and renovation, which had begun in the 1730s when many of the houses built in the 1670s and 1680s were becoming dilapidated and old-fashioned, continued for the next one-and-a-half centuries. After the 1880s the rate of change was considerably faster. Between 1880 and 1914, 11 of

3009-524: Was a gradual movement to separate the vestry's ecclesiastical and secular duties. The Vestries Act 1850 prevented the holding of meetings in churches, and in London, vestries were incorporated under the Metropolis Management Act 1855 to create properly regulated civil bodies for London parishes. Still, they did not have any ecclesiastical duties. As the 19th century progressed, the parish vestry progressively lost its secular duties to

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3068-422: Was also responsible for all the secular parish business now dealt with by civil bodies, such as parish councils. Eventually, the vestry assumed a variety of tasks. It became responsible for appointing parish officials, such as the parish clerk, overseers of the poor, sextons and scavengers, constables, and nightwatchmen. At the high point of their powers, just prior to removal of Poor Law responsibilities in 1834,

3127-472: Was because their power derived initially from custom and was only occasionally ratified by the common law or asserted in statute. However during the Tudor period (1485–1603), parish vestries were given increased statutory duties; for example, the compulsory parish register of baptisms, marriages and burials was introduced in 1538, and under the Highways Act 1555 , the vestries became responsible for

3186-468: Was demolished in 1773, and in Roehampton House , where the damaged pediment was removed after 1780. It is not entirely clear why the Bateman family decided to demolish the house, but at the end of the 18th century the area seems to have fallen out of fashion: "as the stream of fashion was setting westwards, they [the Bateman family] travelled along with it, and, pulling down the mansion, let out

3245-501: Was headquarters of VistaScreen . The composer Benjamin Frankel lived at 17 Soho Square between 1953 and 1957, where he often hosted a circle of artists including the poet Cecil Day Lewis , film director Anthony Asquith , and the writer Leonard Woolf . From 1967 to 1968, TVC Animation Studio leased floors at No. 20 for the production of The Beatles – Yellow Submarine animated feature film. From 1955 to 1993, 13 Soho Square

3304-791: Was home to Richard Williams Animation, an animation studio which produced many award-winning films, including A Christmas Carol , which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 1972. In 1862 the charity House of St Barnabas moved around the corner from Rose Street to its present base at 1 Greek Street (all other buildings fronting the square have Soho Square addresses). Wilfrid Voynich had his antiquarian bookshop at No. 1 from 1902. No. 22 became home to British Movietone and Kay (West End) Film Laboratories, having been re-built to its current form between 1913 and 1914. Publisher Rupert Hart-Davis lived at No. 36 from about 1947. From 1956 to 1961, No. 16

3363-565: Was made voluntary in 1868. However, the proliferation of these local bodies led to a confusing fragmentation of local government responsibilities, and this became a driver for large scale reform in local government, which resulted in the Local Government Act 1894 . The problem of so many local bodies was expressed by H H Fowler , President of the Local Government Board, who said in the parliamentary debate for

3422-492: Was on the north side of the square until its demolition in 1924. A 200-person air raid shelter was built under the park during the Second World War , one of dozens in central London. In 2015, Westminster City Council announced plans to put it up for sale. In April 1951, the residents' Soho Square Garden Committee leased the garden to Westminster City Council for 21 years; the garden was not restored and opened to

3481-428: Was the home and headquarters of animator Richard Williams . Soho Square is home to several media organisations, including the British Board of Film Classification , 20th Century Fox , Bare Escentuals , Deluxe Entertainment Services Group , Dolby Europe Ltd , Fin London, Paul McCartney 's MPL Communications , Tiger Aspect Productions , Wasserman Media Group and See Tickets . Past businesses include Sony Music ;

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