London

ALBERT AND VICTORIA MUSEUM

ARMY AND NAVY CLUB

The Army & Navy Club is located at 36 Pall Mall (just north of Buckingham Palace) amid many, many other gentlemen’s social clubs. Membership is of course limited to those who have served in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces. It has roughly 2400 members. Like most gentlemen’s clubs, it features a library, reading room, billiards/game room, bar, dining room, private conference rooms, and a few overnight guest rooms. 

There are also trophies, all sorts of battle memorabilia (weapons, maps, regimental flags, paintings and portraits, etc.) and countless souvenirs from foreign lands

BRITISH MUSEUM

The great national museum and library is open 10 am to 4, 5, or 6 pm, depending on the season.

Some galleries were open later on certain days, and the museum also was open Sunday afternoons. Admission was free, but catalogs of the exhibits cost up to sixpence.

Its collections were divided into eleven departments: Books and Maps; Manuscripts; Prints and Drawings; Oriental Antiquities (including Egyptian); Greek and Roman Antiquities; British and Medieval Antiquities and Ethnography; Coins and Medals; and Zoology, Geology, Mineralogy, and Botany (these last four housed at the Natural History Museum in Kensington).

The Reading Room was a large circular hall covered by a dome of glass and iron, located within the central courtyard of the museum. It was open daily from 9am to 7 or 8pm, depending on the season, and comfortably accommodated 360 patrons. Researchers requested the books they desired, and attendants brought them to their seats. Those wishing to use the reading room needed to apply in writing to the Principal Librarian, noting name, profession, and address, with a recommendation from a well-known London householder. A two-day waiting period was required between submission of the application and issuance of a non-transferable admittance ticket, good for six months. Single-day admittance was sometimes possible by applying directly to the Principal Librarian. 

A ticket to the reading room also grants use of the Newspaper Room, off the Manuscripts Saloon. 

BUCKINGHAM PALACE

The main London residence of Queen Victoria.

CUSTOMS HOUSE

Where duties were levied for the Port of London. Includes storage space for confiscated goods.

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT

Also known as the New Palace of Westminster, it contained the House of Commons, House of Lords, 
eleven quadrangles,and more than 1,100 apartments for legislators, aides, and workers.
Its three towers are, from south to north, the large Victoria Tower, Middle Tower, and Clock Tower, in which is housed  Big Ben.

LONDON LIBRARY

Located in St. James Square off Pall Mall, this was a circulating library for paying members.

Nearby were several of the London clubs.

MADAME TUSSAUD’S WAXWORK EXHIBITION

London’s most famous wax museum, Madame Tussaud’s was located on Marylebone Road just east of
Baker Street Underground Station (on the northeast comer of Baker Street).

Admission was one shilling, plus an additional sixpence to enter its famed Chamber of Horrors.

NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM

A division of the British Museum, located south of Hyde Park and Albert Hall, containing fossil relics for the still-young science of paleontology and other exhibits relating to natural history - geology, botany, zoology, etc.

NEW SCOTLAND YARD

From 1891, home of London’s Metropolitan Police Force, Criminal Investigation Division (CID), and Special Branch. Prior to this, the MPF was headquartered at Great Scotland Yard just north, next to the Admiralty. The Scotland Yard Museum of criminal relics, known popularly as the Black Museum, is located here as well. Next door is the Cannon Row police station, where suspects were actually booked and jailed, rather than the Yard itself.

PICCADILLY CIRCUS

The long street of Piccadilly leads west to Hyde Park, and includes Burlington House, home to the Royal Society, the Linnaean Society, the Chemical Society, the Royal Academy, the Geological Society, the Royal Astronomical Society and the Society of Antiquaries.

ST GILES ROOKERY

Former slums and criminal havens around Oxford Street, such as St. Giles rookery, have been demolished in recent decades, much improving the area around Haymarket

SOHO

Soho is a small lower-class area east of Charing Cross Road and south of Oxford Street, known mainly for Italian immigrants, prostitutes, music halls and cheap places to eat and drink. Many of its once grand houses are dilapidated or decaying, its squares are overgrown, and it was the centre of London’s cholera outbreak in 1854. Its shops sell mainly second-hand goods, and pawnbrokers and gin shops are much in evidence.

ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL:

The City of London’s great cathedral, often considered the most magnificent building in all of London.

TOWER BRIDGE

Completed only in 1894, it replaced a subway tunnel under the Thames at that site.

TOWER OF LONDON

Originally a medieval fortress, its central keep (called White Tower) was built by William the Conqueror. Best-known as a prison where such historic figures as Sir Walter Raleigh and Princess (later Queen) Elizabeth were confined. It was a government arsenal in the 1890s.

Its 13-acre grounds are shaped roughly like a pentagon, with the central keep surrounded by a double-walled ward strengthened with several towers, such as the Bloody Tower, the Bell Tower, Middle Tower, Byward Tower, and Record (or Wakefield) Tower. The Regalia, or Crown Jewels, of England were kept in Wakefield Tower, the inner of the central towers along the Thames, at this time. 

The Tower’s Yeomen Warders, known popularly as Beefeaters, are old soldiers of meritorious service who dress as Yeomen of the Guard of old. Admission is free from 10am to 4pm on all days but Sunday, when the Tower is closed (except by special order of the Constable of the Tower for very interested parties). Admission to the Regalia and to the Armory is six pence each at all times. The main entrance to the Tower is the Lion’s Gate at the southwest comer; there are three other entrances, including the old Traitor’s Gate, accessible from the Thames only.

TRAFALGAR SQUARE

WESTMINSTER ABBEY

London’s greatest church and burial site of English monarchs, receiving as well monuments for great English poets, statesmen, and soldiers. Here were held the coronation ceremonies for British monarchs.