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Muriel Lester
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Muriel Lester
Muriel Lester (9 December 1883 – 11 February 1968) was a British social reformer, international pacifist campaigner, writer and religious nonconformist. She was a founding member and secretary of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) and a member of the International Council of War Resisters' International (WRI).
Lester was born at Gainsborough Lodge in Leytonstone on 9 December 1883. Her father was Henry Edward Lester, a prominent Baptist businessman, president of the Essex Baptist Union and chairman of West Ham school board. Her mother was Rachel Mary Lester (née Godwin). Lester was their third daughter and enjoyed a relatively privileged upbringing. She was baptised into the Fillebrook Baptist Church in 1898, when she was 15.
In Loughton, Lester lived with her parents at The Grange. She was educated at the progressive day school Wanstead College, then attended St Leonard's School in St Andrews, Scotland.
Lester had the ability to study at University and contemplated studying at Cambridge University, but instead chose to live in voluntary poverty and focus on social reform and philanthropy work. Lester visited a factory girls’ club in Bow, a poor district of the East End of London, with her father in 1902 and felt that she needed to help the poor. She became a social worker in the area, moved to live in the community and also lectured widely on poverty. She taught Sunday School at the local Baptist Church.
Along with her sister Verona Doris Lester, Lester established Kingsley Hall on Botolph Road in Bow, in 1915. Kingsley Hall was named after her brother who died had young in 1914, leaving the sisters an inheritance which they used to set up the organisation.[citation needed] It was housed in a building that had formerly been known as Zion Hall and had been used by a "Strict and Particular Baptist congregation."
The Lester sisters ran a nursery for local children from the building, converting it into London's first purpose-built children's nursery. Kingsley Hall expanded to also become a "People's House" where local residents could study, worship and enjoy social events. A second Kingsley Hall was opened in Dagenham in 1930.
Lester later acquired a wooden house, Rose Cottage, which she renamed Rachel Cottage, and used as a holiday home for East End children. There is a blue plaque to the Lester sisters on the cottage, 49 Baldwins Hill, Loughton, which they acquired after The Grange and Rachel Cottage were sold for flats.[citation needed]
Lester also campaigned for basic provisions to be provided such as milk for children under five.[citation needed]
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Muriel Lester
Muriel Lester (9 December 1883 – 11 February 1968) was a British social reformer, international pacifist campaigner, writer and religious nonconformist. She was a founding member and secretary of the International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) and a member of the International Council of War Resisters' International (WRI).
Lester was born at Gainsborough Lodge in Leytonstone on 9 December 1883. Her father was Henry Edward Lester, a prominent Baptist businessman, president of the Essex Baptist Union and chairman of West Ham school board. Her mother was Rachel Mary Lester (née Godwin). Lester was their third daughter and enjoyed a relatively privileged upbringing. She was baptised into the Fillebrook Baptist Church in 1898, when she was 15.
In Loughton, Lester lived with her parents at The Grange. She was educated at the progressive day school Wanstead College, then attended St Leonard's School in St Andrews, Scotland.
Lester had the ability to study at University and contemplated studying at Cambridge University, but instead chose to live in voluntary poverty and focus on social reform and philanthropy work. Lester visited a factory girls’ club in Bow, a poor district of the East End of London, with her father in 1902 and felt that she needed to help the poor. She became a social worker in the area, moved to live in the community and also lectured widely on poverty. She taught Sunday School at the local Baptist Church.
Along with her sister Verona Doris Lester, Lester established Kingsley Hall on Botolph Road in Bow, in 1915. Kingsley Hall was named after her brother who died had young in 1914, leaving the sisters an inheritance which they used to set up the organisation.[citation needed] It was housed in a building that had formerly been known as Zion Hall and had been used by a "Strict and Particular Baptist congregation."
The Lester sisters ran a nursery for local children from the building, converting it into London's first purpose-built children's nursery. Kingsley Hall expanded to also become a "People's House" where local residents could study, worship and enjoy social events. A second Kingsley Hall was opened in Dagenham in 1930.
Lester later acquired a wooden house, Rose Cottage, which she renamed Rachel Cottage, and used as a holiday home for East End children. There is a blue plaque to the Lester sisters on the cottage, 49 Baldwins Hill, Loughton, which they acquired after The Grange and Rachel Cottage were sold for flats.[citation needed]
Lester also campaigned for basic provisions to be provided such as milk for children under five.[citation needed]
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