Page 2 - Ian Marshall - London Coffe Houses - Standing Display January 2016

LONDON COFFEE HOUSES

This display gives a small insight into the world of the London Coffee Houses about
which I knew relatively little until I alighted upon the work of Bryant Lilleywhite
who in 1963 published an extraordinary tome on the subject which must have taken
him decades of research to write. It covers over 2,000 such establishments and gives
us a wealth of information on each of them. I already had 3 covers in my collection
addressed to coffee houses and decided to build on this humble beginning and expand
my interest.
In a perfect world the goal would be to acquire not just a cover addressed to a coffee
house but also a letter written at it and then find some other material which referred
to it such as an auction or meeting being held in its premises. This of course is an
impossible goal but over the years I have found covers addressed to 69 different
coffee houses and letters written from 19 of them. I have also acquired several bits of
correspondence that relate or refer to coffee houses; one of the nicest being
correspondence relating to a wreck washed up on the Kent coast and its subsequent
auction at Lloyd's Coffee House in 1791. Contemporary prints of coffee houses and
sometimes the characters who frequented them are a further source of material.
The historical importance of the coffee house phenomenon on the development of the
City as we see it today cannot be over-emphasised. The first coffee house in London,
the Pasqua Rosee, opened in 1652 during Oliver Cromwell's rule but it was the
Restoration in 1660 which brought Charles II to the throne that brought about the
explosion in popularity to such an extent that in 1674 a Petition was published,
anonymously, entitled "The Womens Petition against COFFEE representing to
Publick Consideration the Grand Inconveniences accruing to their SEX from the
excessive Use of that Drying, Enfeebling LIQUOR." Not to be outdone, later that
year, there appeared, again anonymously, " The Mens Answer to the Womens Petition
Against COFFEE: Vindicating Their own performances, and the Vertues of their
Liquor, from the Undeserved Aspersions lately Cast upon them, in their
SCANDALOUS PAMPHLET" !
This new found freedom of expression coupled with the development of news sheets
caused the Government much concern and this culminated in 1675 an extraordinary
Proclamation by the King ordering the immediate closure of all London coffee houses
on the grounds that they were "places where the disaffected met, and spread salacious
reports". Uproar ensued and just days later a second Proclamation extended the
closure deadline which was then forgotten! That said the coffee houses had to be
careful not to provoke the authorities and several were prosecuted for making
available foreign or seditious news. Their future was however secure and their growth
and influence expanded. In 1680 Dockwra and Murray established a Penny Post and
used coffee houses as receiving houses and although this was closed down by the
Post Office it continued the practice. Another great strength of the coffee houses was
as a conduit for overseas mail and in the 18th Century they came to dominate the
collection and despatch of overseas mail via private ships despite the efforts of the
Post Office which offered a poor service in comparison. For 200 years they played a
huge role in London's development until changing tastes consigned them to history.