Concept   

Act of Parliament - 1751-2 - licensing

"Licensed pursuant to Act of Parliament of the Twenty fifth of King George the Second."

This is a form of words that we have found at three 19th century places of entertainment, two physically and one online (at the 1816 English Opera House).  We've made some assumptions: that the Act permits licensed premises to sell liquor and/or provide entertainment to the public; that the Act stipulated that this form of wording had to be displayed at the premises so licensed; that "Twenty fifth of King George" means "Twenty fifth year of King George" which would mean 1752-3.

Both of the inscriptions that we have seen ourselves show a ghost inscription below that looks like it had (almost) the same wording. Perhaps the law changed and the mandatory inscription was changed slightly so they all had to get the sign-writers back up their ladders.

Wikipedia's page 25 Geo.II lists Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain, 1750–1759 and has over 60 classified as "25 Geo. 2". There it's explained that the "25" refers to the year of the reign during which the relevant parliamentary session was held.  We have not searched the 60 trying to identify the particular Act but if you'd like to do that and send us your findings....

This image shows the paperwork for an Act from approximately the same period.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Act of Parliament - 1751-2 - licensing

Commemorated ati

Lopping Hall - licensed

Initially we thought this inscription referred to the 1878 Epping Forest Act ...

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Other Subjects

Turk's Head Charity

Turk's Head Charity

From the Picture source website: "The Turk’s Head was bought from the Council and renovated by our charity in 1992. Now it provides a café and affordable workspace and the rental income pays our ch...

Group, Community / Clubs, Food & Drink

2 memorials
Lady Isabella Somerset

Lady Isabella Somerset

President of the British Women's Temperance Association , 1890 - 1903, founded of the first industrial farm for inebriate women and set up a home for training workhouse children. Born in London as...

Person, Food & Drink, Philanthropy, Social Welfare

1 memorial
First drinking fountain

First drinking fountain

The Picture Source website gives the story.

Event, Food & Drink

1 memorial
White Conduit

White Conduit

Originally part of the water supply to the Greyfriars Monastery, Newgate Street. See British History 1 and British History 2 for details. The same water was also used to supply Charterhouse from th...

Place, Food & Drink

1 memorial
Watney Combe Reid

Watney Combe Reid

In 1837 James Watney (1800 - 84) became a partner in the Stag Brewery, Pimlico and the Watney family were the main partners there for much of the 19th century. In 1889 James Watney & Co., acqui...

Group, Commerce, Food & Drink

2 memorials

Previously viewed

Australian War Memorial

Australian War Memorial

SW1, Grosvenor Place, Hyde Park Corner

Green Western Australian granite, with polished slabs forming a curved wall carved all over with the 24,000 names of the hometowns of the...

3 subjects commemorated, 6 creators
Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

Knightsbridge - 4 - Kitchener

SW1, Knightsbridge, 55 - 91

Stalin?  Can't be - for so many reasons, one being that he didn't look like this at this time; he was much younger. Lea Cornthwaite sugg...

1 subject commemorated
H. R. Brown

H. R. Brown

Name on one of the corner plaques of the East Ham WW1 memorial.

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
W. Jennings

W. Jennings

Name on one of the main panels of the East Ham WW1 memorial.

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial
E. Phillips

E. Phillips

Killed in WW1.

Person

War dead, WW1
1 memorial