Hampstead Meeting House Explained

The Hampstead Meeting House is a Friends meeting house (a Quaker place of worship) at 120 Heath Street in Hampstead, London N3.^[1] It was designed by Fred Rowntree in the Arts and Crafts style. The friends had previously met in Willoughby Road from 1903.^[2] The Hungarian emigrant sculptor Peter Laszlo Peri was an elder of the Hampstead meeting; having joined in 1945.^[3]

Mahatma Gandhi spoke at the meeting house in 1909.^[4] The prominent Australian Quaker David Hodgkin married Bridget Kelsey in the meeting house in 1940.^[5] The noted boat designer Iain Oughcubson became a member of the meeting in the late 1960s.^[6] The New Zealand social worker and poet Ursula Bethell called the building a "beautiful little bare meeting house" in a 1937 letter to Rodney Kennedy.^[7] The peace activist Stephen Hobhouse attended the Hampstead meeting after graduation in the 1900s.^[8] The Chinese feminist and author Zeng Baosun attended the meeting during the 1910s.^[9] The Orthodox priest and writer Lev Gillet also attended in the 1940s despite his Orthodox faith.^[10]

A Quaker funeral at the Hampstead Meeting House is depicted in Zoe Heller's 2001 novel Everything You Know.^[11]

The meeting house is listed Grade II on the National Heritage List for England.

The meeting for worship is held on Sundays at 11 am; with an additional meeting on the first Sunday of every month at 9:30 am.^[12]

Notes and References

1. Book: Christopher Hibbert. Ben Weinreb. John Keay . Julia Keay . Avant Dilbert . The London Encyclopaedia. 9 September 2011. Pan Macmillan. 978-0-230-73878-2. 291. 3rd .
2. British History Online: Hampstead: Protestant nonconformity | British History Online, accessdate: June 20, 2017
3. Book: Gary Sandman. Quaker Artists. 24 July 2015. Lulu.com. 978-1-329-30716-2. 111.
4. Book: T. K. Mahadevan. Ideas and Variations: Essays, Satire, Criticism, 1973-76. 1988. Mittal Publications. 978-81-7099-064-2. 118.
5. Book: Margery Post Abbott. Historical Dictionary of the Friends (Quakers). 2011. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-6857-1. 169.
6. Book: Nic Compton. Iain Oughtred: A Life in Wooden Boats. 27 May 2009. A&C Black. 978-1-4081-0515-3. 31–.
7. Book: Ursula Bethell. Vibrant with Words: The Letters of Ursula Bethell. 2005. Victoria University Press. 978-0-86473-504-1. 146.
8. Book: Hope Hay Hewison. Hedge of Wild Almonds: South Africa, the Pro-Boers & the Quaker Conscience, 1890-1910. 1989. James Currey Publishers. 978-0-85255-031-1.
9. Book: Baosun Zeng. Confucian Feminist: Memoirs of Zeng Baosun (1893-1978). 2002. American Philosophical Society. 978-0-87169-921-3. 61.
10. Book: William McLoughlin. Jill Pinnock. Mary for Time and Eternity. 2007. Gracewing Publishing. 978-0-85244-651-5. 138.
11. Book: Zoe Heller. Everything You Know. 30 January 2001. Simon and Schuster. 978-0-7434-1195-0. 129.
12. Web site: North West London Quakers. North West London Quakers. 20 June 2017.