Henry Croswell et al. in St Matthew's Church, Oakley Square, King's Cross, London - 1 May, 1881, 07:00 PM

from Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell, page 253:

O[rgan]. – Ordinary, in the West Gallery.

H[ymns]. – S.P.C.K., a Low Church selection.

C[hoir]. – A few squalling females in the West gallery.  The choir stalls were all unoccupied.

[The congregation numbered] 500 – an ordinary congregation; […] There seems to be no response whatever. 

S[ermon]. – By the Curate but we didn't stop.

[…]

M[iscellaneous]. – Everything was dull and heavy.

cite as

Henry Croswell, Transcript of the diaries of Henry Croswell. In British Library, number 000826807, C.194.c.113 , p. 253. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1551286505976 accessed: 11 October, 2024 (By permission of the British Library.)

location of experience: St Matthew's Church, Oakley Square, King's Cross, London

Listeners

Henry Croswell
assurance clerk, Sunday School teacher
1840-1893

Listening to

hide composers
Anglican church music performed by the choir and organist of St Matthew's Church Oakley Square
Low Church hymns selected from 'Church Hymns' performed by the choir and organist of St Matthew's Church Oakley Square

Experience Information

Date/Time 1 May, 1881, 07:00 PM
Duration 45 minutes
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, indoors, in public

Notes

Henry Croswell (1840–93) kept a record of his visits to churches in London over a period of more than twelve years (1872–85). He made methodical notes about the number of clergy, the churchmanship, the congregation, the sermon and the church architecture, as well as commenting on the music that he heard (the organ, the hymns and the choir). The above listening experience has been extracted from one of these records. The S.P.C.K. (Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge) published ‘Church Hymns’ (1871) and ‘Church Hymns with Tunes (1874, under the musical editorship of Arthur Sullivan). This collection was the most successful of the competitors to ‘Hymns Ancient and Modern’ in the late nineteenth century, containing a larger number of hymns overall, and more hymns specifically intended for children and young people.


Originally submitted by lcc5 on Wed, 27 Feb 2019 16:55:06 +0000
Approved on Mon, 13 Jul 2020 13:25:44 +0100