‘Speakers’ Corner’: meanings and origin

[A humble request: If you can, please donate to help me carry on tracing word histories. Thank you.]

 

The expression Speakers’ Corner (also Speaker’s Corner, Speakers Corner, and with lower-case initials) designates the north-east corner of Hyde Park, London, near Marble Arch, where public speaking and debate are traditionally permitted with minimal restriction.

In extended use, this expression also designates any location where public speaking and debate are permitted or encouraged.

These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences of the expression Speakers’ Corner that I have found:

1-: From an account of the wedding of Princess Maud (1893-1945), a granddaughter of Edward VII, to Charles Carnegie (1893-1992), which took place in London on Monday 12th November 1923—account published in The Daily Mirror (London, England) of Tuesday 13th November 1923 [page 23, column 3]—the expression Speakers’ Corner was already well established, since it did not need explaining:

Bride and bridegroom were loudly cheered by a great crowd of women shoppers when they passed through the Marble Arch on their return to Portman-square.
Those doing their shopping in motor-cars parked them inside the railings and used them as grandstands, so that the large open space near the “Speaker’s Corner” was soon like one of the car enclosures at the Derby.

2-: From The Evening News and Southern Daily Mail (Portsmouth, Hampshire, England) of Friday 31st July 1925 [page 9, column 4]—reprinted from the Daily Sketch:

Public alarm is growing at the extent of the feud between London members of the Fascisti and the Communists, and we understand that some action will be taken by the authorities in the matter.
Again last night there were small disturbances in the Marble Arch area.
Early in the evening there was an attempt to break up a Fascisti meeting at “Speakers’ Corner,” and two men had to be medically treated.
At 11 o’clock, following a mass meeting of Reds, 500 men charged down Edgware Road towards the headquarters of the National Fascisti in Chapel Street.
Reaching the premises they made a charge for the doors, behind which were over 20 men armed with swords and automatic pistols.

3-: From Notes and News, in The Woman’s Leader and the Common Cause (London, England) of Friday 11th November 1927 [page 1, column 1]:

The League of Nations Union has its great meeting on Armistice night at the Central Hall, Westminster, to be addressed by Miss Royden and others, the Bishop of London being in the chair. From 10 to 2 also on Armistice Day, speeches for peace are to be made in the speakers’ corner at Hyde Park with many distinguished speakers.

4-: From the Evening Standard (London, England) of Wednesday 5th September 1928 [page 3, column 2]:

HYDE PARK BAN.
Youth Not Allowed to Enter It for a Year.

William Penfold, cinema operator, of Aldridge-road Villas, Westbourne Park, is barred from entering Hyde Park for 12 months by an order of Mr. Hay Halkett, the Marylebone magistrate.
Penfold was accused to-day of having in his possession a Webley-Scott revolver that, it was suspected, had been stolen or unlawfully obtained, and of carrying the weapon without a certificate.
Detectives Dixon and Leach, it was stated, kept Penfold under observation and arrested him while he was loitering with other men near Hyde Park-mansions, Marylebone-road. He had the revolver wrapped in brown paper and pleaded that it had been left with him by a man named “Paddy” in Hyde Park, near the Speakers’ Corner.

The first two extended uses of the expression Speakers’ Corner that I have found are as follows, in chronological order:

1-: From an announcement made by the Rover Scouts of St. Marylebone, published in The Marylebone Mercury and West London Gazette (London, England) of Saturday 14th May 1938 [page 2, column 6]:

We are grateful to St. [sic] Jeremiah Colman, Bart., D.L., on whose land at Reigate at least 5,000 will be camping, at this, the largest Rover Moot that has ever been held in England. […]
[…]
[…] On Sunday afternoon we are to have our own edition of “Hyde Park,” or the Speakers’ Corner, with twelve stands, from which addresses on Rover subjects will be given.

2-: From The East End News and London Shipping Chronicle (London, England) of Friday 29th July 1938 [page 4, column 1]:

This Freedom

STREET meetings in the East End have been held as long as most people can remember and from such gatherings many movements have sprung, some of national benefit, some of local benefit.
It was the way of the missioner and the politician to go out into the streets to the people. And the people heard. Just as Hyde Park is the safety valve that lets a lot of hot air and nonsense escape so the street corners of the East End are the meeting places where complaints were made and reforms advocated. […]
[…]
[…] No one would like to see this privilege taken away, but with the angry scenes which are becoming common and the cordons of police which are surrounding some of these gatherings it is very evident that the spirit of fair play is too frequently absent.
[…]
No one would wish to drive movements underground. They are better where they can be seen, heard and controlled. But when things go too far some measure of restriction is called for. If there must be open-air meetings in the East End a good place for them would be in a Speakers’ Corner in the parks.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.