The Eton Manor Boys’ Club Hackney Wick
The Eton Manor Boys’ Club was an organisation for boys aged 14 to 18 based in Hackney Wick. The club emphasised the importance of physical and mental development through sports and other activities. When boys reached 18 they became eligible to join the Eton Manor Old Boys.The club was founded in 1909 by a group of old Etonians: Gerald Wellesley Arthur Villiers Sir Edward Cadogan and Alfred Wagg and grew out of a mission church supported by Eton College which had been operating in the area since 1880.The club itself consisted of a clubhouse on the site of a derelict dairy (opened in 1913) and the 30-acre site ‘The Wilderness’ in Leyton which was devoted to a variety of sports and was added in 1923. Run and financed by its founding members until its closure in 1967 the club offered various activities including sports debating public speaking and music. The Club also held regular summer camps at Cuckoo Weir at Eton College and later at the Isle of Thorns in Sussex. Membership of the club gave a number of advantages not least of which were introductions to various important people known to the club’s founders including military leaders statesmen city bankers and aristocrats. Financial assistance was also given to many old boys and staff.c1950
via 20th Century London“
traxcitement
The clubhouse was located near Riseholme Gate where the A102M crosses. I met a couple of the old members recently they had some great stories about the EMBC and felt privilleged to have had such a facility.