Old Slaughters Coffee House - Cranbourn Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.694 W 000° 07.654
30U E 699314 N 5710627
This green plaque, placed by the City of Westminster, is attached to a building on the south east side of Cranbourn Street close to one of the entrances to the Leicester Square tube station.
Waymark Code: WMKZ1M
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 06/18/2014
Views: 2
The plaque, that is in good condition, tells us:
City of Westminster
Site of
Old Slaughters
Coffee House
where on
16th June 1824
was formed the society
now known as
RSPCA
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
The RSPCA website tells us:
We were founded in a London coffee shop in 1824. The men present knew they were creating the world’s first animal welfare charity, but they couldn’t have imagined the size and shape that the charity would become today.
Back then we were the SPCA - Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Royal patronage followed in 1837 and Queen Victoria gave permission to add the royal R in 1840, making us the RSPCA as we’re known worldwide today.
The City of Westminster website tells us:
The current building is on the site of the ‘Old Slaughter’s Coffee House’, established by Thomas Slaughter in 1692. It was a famous meeting place for artists, sculptors and scholars, including Hogarth and Gainsborough. The original building was demolished around 1843 when Cranbourn Street was built. On 16 June 1824 four men gathered in a room in the coffee house and formed a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals. These men were The Reverend Arthur Broome, Riuchard martin MP, William Wilberforce MP and T F Buxton MP. The Society was given its royal title by Queen Victoria in 1840. Today every 20 seconds someone telephones the RSPCA about an animal issue. There are 320 field inspectors who carry out thousands of animal rescues and pursue reports of animal abuse. The Society also cares for sick and injured animals, wild as well as domestic. The RSPCA is lobbying for a national dog identification scheme, banning high seas drift nets and controlling commercial whaling. It is also campaigning for improvements to zoo legislation, to ban hunting with dogs and ensure high welfare standards for circus animals.