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Explore Your Archive 2024: Disco

Posted Wednesday 27th November
Museum of the Order of St John Sophie Denman(Archivist)

Today is the seventh day of Explore Your Archive, a of celebration of archives of all kinds across the nation, organised by the Archives & Records Association for UK & Ireland, and today’s theme is ‘Disco’.

In the Victorian period (1837-1901), smoking concerts were popular forms of entertainment, and whilst they are definitely not discos, there were tunes. Smoking concerts were live events for men, usually hosted at hotels to smoke and discuss the latest politics, all the while with musical entertainment going on in the background. Smoking concerts were often held in the early years of the St John Ambulance Brigade for its male members, and we have a programme for one such occasion in the St John Archive.

The cover of a booklet accompanying a Smoking Concert. The cover is busy with text and illustrations. In the centre of the page is the Smoking Concert location information, flanked on the left by an illustration of a first aid hut and on the right by a wheeled ambulance litter and an accompanying man. Below, across the length of the bottom of the page, is an illustration of a St John Ambulance Brigade member in 1890, and a member of the Knights Hospitaller in 1090, both surrounded by a motif of leaves. At the top of the page are the words ‘Pro Utilitate Hominum’, and below that, in a row, are three illustrations: on the left is an illustration of St John’s Gate, on the right is an illustration of an early horse-driven ambulance, and in between is the logo of the St John Ambulance Association. Below that are the words ‘St John Ambulance Brigade’.
The cover of the Smoking Concert programme, 1890.

Held for the St John’s Gate Ambulance Division of the Brigade, this Smoking Concert in 1890 was held at The Champion Hotel on Aldersgate Street in London (now demolished). The concert was hosted by Sir Edmund Lechmere, Chairman of the Order of St John’s Ambulance Department Central Committee, and of the St John Ambulance Association, and it featured piano solos, songs, and recitations.

The pages list the programme for the Smoking Concert. Each act or entertainment is listed down the page.
The inside pages of the Smoking Concert programme, 1890.

Today, the 2007 smoking ban has taken the smoke from our discos, but we still have lights, music, and you can occasionally find a smoke machine to bring some added atmosphere.

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