Pierre de Coubertin, founding member of the modern Olympic Games

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Pierre de Coubertin, founding member of the modern Olympic Games organizing committee, visited Toynbee Hall in his study of English educational institutions, finding the mixture of people working together an inspiration.


1887
"Pierre de Coubertin visited London, he stayed at the University Mission, Toynbee Hall.
It was here that Charles Ashbee maintained his Arts Workshop which advocated links between sport and art."


In 1875, Oxford University historian Arnold Toynbee paid the first of what would be many visits to the Barnett’s Whitechapel parish. A British economist socially committed to improving the conditions for England’s working class population, Toynbee was influential in the establishment of several public libraries throughout London’s East Side. Toynbee also maintained a prominence in England’s labor union movement, helping to organize industrial trade unions and cooperatives.

In 1883, Toynbee succumbed to a sudden death at the age of thirty. One year after his death, the Barnetts would name London’s first settlement house Toynbee Hall in honor of their friend and colleague.