Spa Fields

Spa Fields was an Owenite community in London, which existed between 1821 and 1824. The community was established in a number of properties at Guildford Street East, Bagnigge Wells Road and Spa Fields, London.

The community was based on the cooperative ideas of Robert Owen and was the idea of George Mudie (1788-??). On 23 January 1821 a group of printers met at Mitchell's Assembly Rooms, London, to discuss Mudie's proposals for a community, and at this meeting a committee was appointed. They met at the Medallic Cabinet, 158 The Strand, to raise money. As part of the fund-raising effort, Mudie began publication of a weekly journal, the "Economist", which ran from 27 January 1821 to 9 March 1822.

The plan was soon formulated to create a 'Co-opearative and Economical Society' of 200 families. The male members had to contribute a guinea to the central fund. There would be a communal kitchen and dining hall, plus there were plans for a school as well. The committee calculated that the community would save around £8,000 per year through its own manufacture of various items that it would use. Mudie believed that the community would be able to become independent.

During this period the chairman was George Hinde and one prominent member was the printer Henry Hetherington.

By December 1821 the 'Spa Fields Congregational families' had begun to live together. The women worked from 6am to 8pm, and the children were also kept busy 'without a moment's intermission'. The community advertised various services that they would provide, such as cobbling, painting, haberdashery, etc, and they also announced that they would be opening a school run on approved Fellenbergian lines.

The community also set up a 'monitor' system whereby each monitor looked after one person and acted as his 'confessor'.

Mudie found himself working very hard to maintain the community, but this affected the quality of the "Economist". The publication ceased in March 1822 and the community continued for another two years. The reasons for its demise are not known, but Mudie immersed himself in another community, at Orbiston, run by Abram Combe, but could not agree with Combe and also left this community after a year or so.