The original headquarters for Mass-Observation, a pioneering social research organisation that started its work in 1937, has been commemorated with a blue plaque, English Heritage announced today (3 November). The plaque marks 6 Grotes Buildings in Blackheath, where the idea of recording the thoughts and experiences of ordinary people – as distinct from ‘public opinion’ as presented by newspapers – first emerged. In addition to being the national office for the organisation, this large detached house overlooking the heath was also the home of poet, journalist and co-founder of Mass-Observation, Charles Madge.

Madge recalled that an initial meeting took place in December 1936, the month in which Edward VIII abdicated. The issue of misconceptions surrounding public opinion was thrown into focus by the abdication and the presumptions made about the public reactions to it. It wasn’t until Madge’s letter inviting volunteers to write about everyday life appeared in the New Statesman on 30 January 1937, that the anthropologist Tom Harrisson made contact. They joined forces with the broad aim of creating a social anatomy of Britain; Harrisson, initially, was mostly based in Bolton, Lancashire.

Simon Garfield, the writer and trustee of Mass Observation, said, “I have often thought of this building as the missing link between Dickens and Indiana Jones, a vast, dark storage facility with hidden treasures and secret wisdom. It is wonderful that Charles Madge’s home still exists, and that we now have a permanent commemoration of the birthplace and engine room of such an extraordinary adventure. It is also a tribute to the thousands of contributors who shared their innermost thoughts and observations in a way that makes us forever able to understand their lives, and therefore ours, a little better.”

Senior Historian at English Heritage, Howard Spencer, said, “Mass-Observation studies ranged from an analysis of the ‘Lambeth Walk’ and the pub culture of working-class London, to a survey on the extent of anti-Semitic beliefs. It is this eclectic approach that made the project so unique and ground-breaking, and such a valuable sociological and historical resource.

“By the end of the project’s first year there were around six hundred ‘mass observers’ and it would have been in this late-18th-century house that Madge – helped by a team of volunteers – sifted through hundreds of handwritten responses, including many on the coronation of George VI. It seems very fitting to look back at that moment in history as we anticipate next year’s coronation.”

One of the key aims of Mass-Observation was to enable the writing of ‘a democratic people’s history from below’. The vast difference between perception of public opinion and actual public opinion that so concerned Madge and Harrisson is perhaps most starkly illustrated by the responses relating to the government policy of appeasing Hitler: behind the apparent near unanimity in backing Chamberlain’s efforts to avoid war in Europe, Mass Observation found privately expressed shame and disgust, along with a willingness by many to admit that they simply did not understand foreign policy.

Mass-Observation worked on behalf of the government during the Second World War, and morphed into a market research company in 1949, Mass Observation Ltd, which was run by former observers Leonard England (1901-99) and Mollie Tarrant (1911-99). It was eventually incorporated into the British Market Research Bureau (BRMB) which, among other things, complied the pop charts for many years. The Mass-Observation archives were lodged by Tom Harrisson at the University of Sussex in 1970. The project was started up again 1981 by Professor David Pocock at the university and continues to run. In 2013 the archive was transferred to The Keep, a dedicated archive facility close to the University, just outside Brighton.

The English Heritage London Blue Plaques scheme is generously supported by members of the public.