Catalogue description HOMES OF REST, SOUTHEND

Records of the Whitechapel Methodist Mission Home of Rest, Southend-on-Sea, 1901-1954, comprising advertisement and prospectus for the Home, 1901; correspondence concerning purchase of Pleasant Road Chapel and property in Southend, and sale of the first Home of Rest, 1935-1939; deed for the second Home, 1939; Treasurer's book, 1919-1920; registers of guests at the second Home, 1920-1954; photographs and postcards of the Homes, with exterior and interior views, 20th cent; photographs of groups at the Holiday Homes, and on day trips to Southend, undated.

Records of Sion Chapel and Brunswick Hall Congregational Chapel, 1883-1900 (reference: N/C/24/1-2) are held by London Metropolitan Archives.

Whitechapel Methodist Mission

The Whitechapel Methodist Mission Home of Rest began while Reverend Thomas Jackson was still at the Clapton Circuit. Initially, he rented a large house to enable local people to spend convalescent holidays there, and to give local people a free holiday. However, when the lease expired he decide to build a proper holiday home in Marine Parade, Southend-on-Sea. This was finished in 1901. It continued to give free holidays to those who couldn't afford to pay anything at all, but also offered cheap holidays. Originally intended for Primitive Methodists, it also took members of other churches. In addition, the Holiday Home was used for giving the women of Whitechapel a day out, and for taking the children on a trip to the seaside. A second home was opened just behind the first. However, increasing financial difficulties, a dispute with the Southend Circuit and the increasingly unsuitable position of the Homes forced them to closed.