ABSTRACT
John Henry Whitley, Speaker of the House of Commons, described St Stephen's Hall in the New Palace of Westminster as 'one of the most famous shrines of British history'. In avoiding a formal committee, Whitley deprived historians of the benefit of a formal and accessible written record of the project, so instead the story of the decoration of St Stephen's Hall has to be reconstructed through private letters and through the debates and Question and Answer sessions in the Commons. Whitley's contribution to the decoration of the New Palace of Westminster followed a long line of abortive and partially fulfilled schemes. The suggestion for how to fill the panels in St Stephen's Hall was made by Charles Barry in 1843, who proposed the theme of 'Great Domestic Events in British History'. Whitley's extraordinary ability to raise private funds vindicated his decision to dispense with a formal committee and expedited progress.
