About St George’s Bloomsbury
- A short history
- A tour of St George’s Bloomsbury
- Restoration
- Family history research

St George’s Bloomsbury is one of the twelve new churches
designed and paid for under the 1711 Act of Parliament for
building Fifty New Churches, and the sixth and final London
church designed by the leading architect of the English
Baroque, Nicholas Hawksmoor. Hawksmoor’s final designs
for St George’s were only commissioned and later adopted
after earlier designs by James Gibbs and Sir John Vanburgh
(who proposed building a church with the altar in the north)
were rejected by the Commissioners of the 1711 Act.

Despite the grandeur of Hawksmoor’s design, the parish
Vestrymen felt that his completed church did not provide
sufficient accommodation for the parish and, as a result, the
church was re-orientated along a north-south axis in 1781.
During the 19th century, St George’s was particularly active in
the Church of England’s ‘civilizing mission’, providing practical
help such as schools, a library and a soup kitchen for the
local community. The early 20th century saw St George’s play
an active role in both spiritual and secular affairs. In 1913, St
George’s the church was the setting for the memorial service
for Emily Davison, the suffragette who threw herself under the
King’s horse in the Derby. In 1937, St George’s held a special
service of remembrance for those killed during the Abyssinian
War which was attended by Haile Selassie.

From 1956 – 1968, St George’s Bloomsbury served as the
University of London’s church, with the Rector as Senior
Chaplain. After this association with the University of London
had ended, the church struggled to establish a clear role for
itself within the local community and fell into disrepair.
Attempts during the 1990s to restore the building attracted
the attention of the World Monuments Fund, whose
subsequent adoption of the restoration of St George’s as a
major project was the crucial first step towards the
successfully-restored church we see today.