A Brief History of Conway Hall

Conway Hall is a landmark of London's independent intellectual, political and cultural life.

For over one hundred years the Ethical Society had its centre at South Place in the City of London, where it fostered freedom in moral and spiritual life and thought. In order to have a wider range of influence and greater scope for development the Society decided to build a new home in Red Lion Square, Bloomsbury.

According to an appeal pamphlet published in 1927, the new building would "help to enable the South Place Ethical Society to continue and increase its work and activities for a fuller and more vigorous moral, intellectual, and religious life...It is the aim of the Trustees and Committee to place at the disposal of the members and visitors from the Provinces, British Dominions, United States of America and other countries, Headquarters in the heart of London, where men and women of advanced thought could meet and enjoy the amenities of social discourse, with facilities for writing, rest and refreshment."

Plans were prepared for "a dignified and commodious building, which it is hoped may become the Headquarters of the Ethical Movement in the British Isles, and also provide an open platform for speakers from any part of the world."

The Conway Hall was opened in 1929 and built at a cost of about £45,000. The name was chosen in honour of Moncure Daniel Conway (b.1832-d.1907), anti-slavery advocate, out-spoken supporter of free thought and biographer of Thomas Paine.

Conway Hall today

Conway Hall hosts a wide variety of lectures, meetings, classes, performances and community events. Over 130,000 people pass through our doors each year! Conway Hall is home to the world's longest running continuous series of chamber music. Concerts are held most Sundays at 18.30h from October to April. Conway Hall is also well known as a centre for contemporary classical and experimental music of the highest calibre.

Conway Hall is renowned as a hub for free speech and progressive thought. In recent years we have seen on the platform speakers such as Salman Rushdie, Will Self, Tony Benn, and Mary Robinson to name but a few.

The Conway Hall Library holds the Ethical Society's collection which is largest and most comprehensive Humanist Research resource of its kind in the United Kingdom.

Looking to the Future

The history of the Ethical Society and the Conway Hall has been one of gradual but steady advance, always on the vanguard of the most progressive outlook of the day. Today, and in the future, we will continue to provide a forum for all manner of social controversies and support to those causes which advocates of "the open society" have at heart.