History of Bradlaugh Hall - Brief Narrative of Revolution

 Ruins of a revolution: the sad collapse of Bradlaugh Hall

The famous Lahore building from the 19th century, where Bhagat Singh once studied, is currently in terrible condition.

The Bradlaugh Hall, which was constructed on Rattigan Road in Lahore in the late 19th century, served as a gathering place for nearly all of India's noteworthy leadership, notably for Punjabi political figures.

The hall was a well-known gathering place for Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs of various clans, creeds, and political views; they would organise political sessions, host receptions for visiting leaders, and hold literary sittings or mushairas (poetry reciting).

Behind the Lahore district courts, the Bradlaugh Hall, a symbol of the subcontinent's anti-colonial liberation fight, is in disrepair. The renowned hall has hosted important political gatherings in Lahore exclusively for nearly fifty years, but the ancient structure itself has been left to fight for itself against both natural and man-made perils.

Among the liberation fighters who frequently came and spoke at the Bradlaugh Hall are Allama Muhammad Iqbal, Maulana Zafar Ali Khan, Dr. Muhammad Ashraf, Mian Ifthikhar uddin, and Malik Barkat Ali.

At least one speech by Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah was also given here, on May 24, 1924, during a meeting of the Khilafat Movement.

The Bradlaugh Hall was built with money raised from the Indian National Congress' annual meeting in Lahore in 1893. It was named after Mr. Charles Bradlaugh, a British MP who was highly regarded in Indian circles for his unwavering support of Indian self-rule.

In reality, Sardar Dyal Singh was the one who realised Lahore needed an appropriate public space to host political activities. There were just two halls in Lahore at the time: Montgomery Hall in Lawrence Garden and the Town Hall of the municipal office (Jinnah Garden). Both belonged to the government and were off limits to political gatherings.

Because of this, The Tribune, a weekly newspaper published by Sardar Dyal Singh, where The Indian Association, the first political organisation in Lahore, used to congregate, had a courtyard where meetings were held. He supported and was a member of the Indian association. It makes sense why he felt the need for a site specifically for political goals.

Singh was also very eager for the Indian National Congress to hold a meeting in Lahore. Punjab's request was approved in 1888 at the Allahabad session, and Congress decided to convene in Lahore in December 1893.

The session's welcoming committee, which was chaired by Dyal Singh, was a resounding success. All of the tickets were sold out, and after covering all costs, the Congress was able to save Rs 10,000, which served as the foundational funding for the construction of Lahore's Bradlaugh Hall.

Known as the "Member for India," Charles Bradlaugh

One of the prominent liberals and freethinkers of Victorian England, Charles Bradlaugh was a proponent of birth control, republicanism, social reform, trade unionism, and the right of women to vote—at the time, a "radical" idea. Mr. Bradlaugh was invited to the 5th annual session of the Congress, held in Bombay in December 1889, because of his intense interest in the Indian liberation movement.

Charles Bradlaugh: A Record of His Life and Work was written by Bradlaugh's daughter Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner.

Nothing could be more prudent and constrained, according to Bradlaugh's biographer, than his modest presentation to the Congress on his brief journey to India following his severe sickness in 1889.

Bradlaugh said the following as his closing statement:

If I do it well, you will be forgiving in your judgement, and even if I don't always ask for help in a voice that sounds like yours, you will still think I've done my best. And I truly believed that my top priorities should be ensuring better comfort for all of Britain's subjects, greater happiness for the people of India, and greater peace under British rule.

As a result, since its opening, the Bradlaugh Hall, established by Congress, had grown into the centre of political events in Lahore. Early on, it supported the labour and peasant movements, particularly the significant "Pagri Sambhal Jatta" movement of the peasants in Lyallpur (Faisalabad) in 1905.

At National College, Bhagat Singh began his revolutionary career.

The "Ghadar Party" afterwards established a base in Bradlaugh Hall in Lahore in 1915. By the 1920s, it had become well-known across India as a prominent political hub.

That was the time when Lala Lajpat Rai founded the National College here. After the non-cooperation call of Mr Gandhi, the students of Lahore collected funds for setting up this college.

According to his biography, Mr. Bradlaugh only made a brief trip to India in December 1889. He left Bombay at the end of January 1890 mostly because of health problems. Mr. Bradlaugh had a genuine desire to travel to India, which was in part why he enlisted in the East India Company's service in 1851. He was stationed in Dublin, Ireland, and was meant to serve his country.

In addition, Bradlaugh had never worked as a railway contractor. After three years of military service, he spent practically his whole life studying, giving lectures, and engaging in political conflict. He certainly led a hard life, and he passed away broke and in debt.

Finding a reliable source that covers Bradlaugh Hall's specifics, particularly those related to the planning and execution of this magnificent piece of architecture, was impossible. The building is undoubtedly an architectural fantasy, and whomever created it was undoubtedly a professional architect who was impressed by British architecture while also having a good understanding of the needs and environment of the region.

The structure has the appearance of Leicester Secular Hall, an English structure constructed in 1881 by the Leicester Secular Society, both in terms of architecture and ideology. It would be important to note that Leicester Hall was conceived in 1872 when Bradlaugh's mentor and secularist George Jacob Holyoake was denied permission to hold lectures in the public building.