edwYn burnaby: BORN 1795
Developer of the Olympia exhibition centre, west London.
Edwyn Sherard Burnaby (1830-1883) was Major-General in the British Army, Member of Parliament for Leicestershire North and Honorary Colonel of the 1st Leicestershire Rifle Volunteer Corps. He was son and heir of Edwyn and Anne Burnaby of Baggrave Hall, at Hungarton. Edwyn's sister Louisa later became great grandmother to Queen Elizabeth II.
Burnaby entered the Grenadier Guards in 1848 and fought against the Russians at the Battle of Inkerman and the Siege of Sebastopol during the Crimean War (1853-56). From 1855 to 1857 he served as Brigadier-General of the British Italian Legion. In 1864 Edwyn married Louisa Dixie and they had two children, Algernon and Hilda. Algernon Burnaby won the Midnight Steeplechase in 1890.
Burnaby’s key contribution to London is the Olympia exhibition hall in Hammersmith. The project of building a National Agricultural Hall was conceived by Burnaby, who primarily wanted to see shows such as the military Royal Tournament, held at the Royal Agricultural Hall in Islington since 1880, staged on a much larger scale and made more easily accessible by railway from across London and the rest of the country.
The site chosen was a former market garden in West Kensington, immediately adjacent to Addison Road station, already a major passenger station on the West London Railway, which became an important method of transport for visitors to Olympia. It quickly evolved beyond the staging of agricultural or military shows into an diverse exploitation of what was the largest such venue in England at the time. It was used for large exhibitions, tournaments, sporting competitions and entertainments.
In May 2021, demolition started on the non-listed parts of Olympia Events as part of a comprehensive mix-used redevelopment of the complex by its owners, while still retaining significant exhibition space. In May 2021, the Olympia Theatre was announced with 1,575 seats, making it the largest new theatre in London since the completion of the National Theatre in 1976. This is in addition to previously announced and consented hotels, rehearsal spaces, cinemas, 4,000 seat music venue, retail, dining and public spaces. In October 2025, The Shubert Organization and Trafalgar Entertainment announced that they would operate the Olympia Theatre.
The redevelopment, with the site remaining open, converted Olympia from a single huge exhibition venue to include a smaller 3,800-capacity music and events venue, half a million square feet of office space, 30 restaurants and bars, two hotels, a conference centre, gym, and a large purpose-built theatre. A new secondary school, Wetherby Pembridge, is in the shell of a former multi-storey car park. The redevelopment cost about £1.3 billion. Access to the old exhibition venue required a ticket; there is now public access to all the amenities via Emberton Walk, a route that goes through the site.
In 1854 Burnaby fought during the Crimean War at the Battle of Inkerman.
Olympia in the early days.
Showman Imre Kiralfy brings Venice to London in 1891. Water everywhere.
Olympia Motor Show in the 1930s.
Olympia in 2026, after its £1.3 billion redevelopment.
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