QVSR - History

QVSR started life as the Seamen's Mission of the Methodist Church in 1843.

Known originally as the Wesleyan Seamen's Mission, the aim was to minister to the spiritual needs and promote the social and morale welfare of seafarers and their families in the vicinity of the Port of London.

Over time a need arose for a meeting place of some kind in the new sailor town that had sprung up at Poplar. Right opposite the ‘seamen's entrance' of the local Board of Trade Office on the East India Dock Road in Jeremiah Street stood a small public house called The Magnet. In 1887, the license of The Magnet was withdrawn, providing the Mission an opportunity to rent the public house and it was transformed into a Seamen's Rest.

The Rest consisted of a plainly furnished reading room and rest room with a third room available for daily Bible and Prayer meetings and three rooms reserved for the caretaker. An elementary nautical school ran three mornings a week and services were held on Monday and Friday evenings.

Gradually the sphere of the Mission 's operation extended from London Bridge to Tilbury and embraced the river, docks and wharfs, as well as the on-shore haunts of sailors and hospitals, so that by the end of the century it was evident that the old ‘Magnet' premises were inadequate.

The freehold of No 1 Jeremiah Street and its adjoining properties was purchased in 1899; the whole site was cleared and a new Seamen's Home and Institute built. The foundation stone was laid on the 17 th December 1901 by the Lord Mayor of London , and King Edward VII gave his royal consent for the new Seamen's Rest to bear his mother's name, “Queen Victoria ”.

Although a great deal of money had been donated or pledged to build the new Seamen's Rest, a scheme had been devised to raise further income. Rooms could, for a price, be dedicated to the memory of the donor or his nominee, and the name plates remain to this day on the bedroom doors. The large Assembly Room was sponsored by John Cory of Cardiff for £750 and became the Cory Hall.

The Queen Victoria Seaman's Rest was formally opened by HRH Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, on 13 th November 1902 , and she readily consented to become the Patron of the Mission.

The Seamen's Hospital Society ‘Dreadnought' rented a portion of the building to use as a sailor's dispensary clinic providing free medical treatment on the premises. In addition free banking was available and a lawyer held an advice surgery once a week. The Association with Seamen's Homes Beyond the Seas had been inaugurated and men from the Mission were introduced to similar institutions in foreign ports.

As the work of the mission prospered a resolution was made to extend the building by another storey to increase the number of beds from 25 to 60.

A Nelson Memorial Fund was started (the centenary of Trafalgar was approaching) and on 4 th November 1905 , HRH the Duke and Duchess of Connaught opened the Connaught Floor.

In order to function effectively, QVSR needed a separate hall for public worship and meetings. The cost of providing such a hall would have been prohibitive had it not been for the timely and generous gift from Miss E. J. Emery in memory of her father. The new hall, seating up to 400, bore her name and was built on freehold ground to the rear of QVSR in Augusta Street .

The Emery Hall was opened on December 5th 1907 by the Patron, HRH Princess Louise. In the First World War, 20,000 unarmed Merchant Seamen lost their lives and the Mission began an appeal to raise funds for a War Memorial Wing with room for another 100 beds, although it wasn't until 1931 that enough money was raised. The General Strike of 1926 and the Depression had increased the burden on the Mission 's resources as the shipping industry was particularly badly affected with one in three unemployed.

However, on 20th October 1932 , Prince George (later Duke of Kent) performed the opening ceremony. The extension comprised three stories of private cubicles, 66 in all, a lounge and the New Agar Hall. Each cubicle was plainly furnished with an iron bedstead, dressing table, wooden chair, rug and electric light.

As the Mission 's Centenary approached in 1943, priorities were naturally affected by the war, and centenary celebrations were deferred to happier times. However, the new Patron, HRH Princess Marina, the Duchess of Kent, did pay an informal visit.

1944 brought a fresh menace to the Mission . On June 21 st a V1 Flying-bomb fell in Jeremiah Street and the whole of the staff quarters were destroyed. Mercifully, there was no loss of life. Disaster struck again on August 3 rd when another bomb displaced the temporary repairs and added further damage, but restoration was done by the seamen lodgers and it was a source of pride that the Rest never closed.

With the war over, plans for the centenary extension of another 60 bedrooms and other sundry communal rooms resumed but it was not until 1950 that the Mission was able to return to the enterprise in earnest with funding coming from the Centenary Appeal, King George's Fund for Sailors, the Joseph Rank Benevolent Trust and the War Damages Commission.

The new development was in two parts, one each end of the building. The North Block included an officers' lounge and billiard room together with a chapel, library and 35 bedrooms for officers. The South Block provided not only a common room and rest rooms, two cafes and new bedrooms for ratings, but also a spacious entrance hall with an imposing entrance onto the main road.

This necessitated a change of postal address from Jeremiah Street to 121-131 East India Dock Road . At the same time the rest of the buildings were given a facelift as they were due for decoration and modernisation. HRH the Duchess of Kent paid her first official visit to re-open the extended and restored buildings on the 6 th October 1953 .

The 1960's was a time of great change; the Mission continued with a programme of modernisation and rationalisation which took several years to complete. A standard had been set back in 1901 that each room in QVSR should be more comfortable than the accommodation men were given on board ship and this were given on board ship and this was again the aim.

By the close of 1974, 183 rooms, 7 residential flats, and all the public rooms had been transformed. Over the next thirty years, the “Queen Vic” had to adjust itself in line with the re-development of the East End Dockland area and the modernisation of the shipping industry. In order to maintain financial efficiency, space was made to allow a number of retired seamen a more permanent home at QVSR whilst also providing a home for men who had nowhere else to turn.

In recent times there has been an increased use of the London River , from Barking Creek to Silvertown, which has re-kindled the need to provide a service that supports the welfare of active seafarers using the Port of London .

Today, QVSR continues to strive to fulfil the aims of the original Seamen's Mission by an ongoing programme of development and renovation to meet the needs and expectations of its service users. Recent developments have been the opening of the Burnham Activity Centre in 2005, the creation of a “quiet room” for multi faith worship and the re-decoration of the Connaught Lounge.