Muriel Lester (9 December 1883 – 11 February 1968) was born in

Leytonstone Leytonstone () is an area in east London, England, north-east of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest, a local authority district of Greater London. It adjoins Wanstead to the north-east, Forest Gate to the south-east, S ...

(now in east London, but then a prosperous

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

suburb) and grew up at

Loughton Loughton () is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. Part of the metropolitan and urban area of London, the town borders Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill, and is northeast of Chari ...

, where she was a member of the Union Church. She was a social reformer,

pacifist Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaign ...

and

nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...

Biography

Muriel Lester was a daughter of Henry Lester, a

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

businessman, president of the Essex Baptist Union and chairman of West Ham school board. She was baptized in 1898, at 15. In Loughton, she lived with her parents at The Grange, and afterwards acquired a wooden house, Rose Cottage, which she renamed Rachel Cottage, and used as a holiday home for East-end children. She was responsible, along with her sister

Doris Lester Verona Doris Lester (28 July 1886 – 14 February 1965) was born in Leytonstone, Essex, England. She was the sister of Muriel Lester. Doris Lester was responsible for founding Children's House and Kingsley Hall in Bow East London with her ...

, for

Kingsley Hall Kingsley Hall is a community centre, in Powis Road, Bromley-by-Bow in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East End of London. It dates back to the work of Doris and Muriel Lester, who had a nursery school in nearby Bruce Road. Their brother, ...

, named after her brother who died young, aged 26. In 1934 she became Ambassador-At-Large and afterwards Traveling Secretary for the

International Fellowship of Reconciliation The International Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR) is a non-governmental organization founded in 1914 in response to the horrors of war in Europe. Today IFOR counts 71 branches, groups and affiliates in 48 countries on all continents. IFOR me ...

. Lester accompanied

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

on his tour of earthquake-shaken regions in

Bihar Bihar (; ) is a state in eastern India. It is the 2nd largest state by population in 2019, 12th largest by area of , and 14th largest by GDP in 2021. Bihar borders Uttar Pradesh to its west, Nepal to the north, the northern part of West Be ...

on his anti-

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

tour during 1934. He stayed at Kingsley Hall, the Lesters' foundation at Bow. There is a

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

to the Lester sisters on the cottage, no.49 Baldwins Hill, Loughton, which they acquired after The Grange and Rachel Cottage were sold for flats. This second cottage had previously been occupied by Sir

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produc ...

. During the Spanish Civil War Muriel Lester was an active pacifist. She is pictured at a pacifist conference in 1936, standing fourth from the left of the photograph, in the Wikipedia entry for

José Brocca José Brocca (Professor José Brocca Ramón, 1891 – 1950) was a pacifist and humanitarian of the Spanish Civil War, who allied himself with the Republicans but sought nonviolent ways of resisting the Nationalist rebels. His parents were Spanis ...

. In his book ''White Corpuscles in Europe'' (1939) the American writer Allan A. Hunter viewed the close of the Spanish Civil War and the opening of World War II from across the Atlantic, and despite the desolate outlook in Europe saw some grounds for optimism in the work of humanitarians including Muriel Lester. Muriel Lester retired from full-time work in 1958 and in 1963 she became a Freeman of the Borough of Poplar on her eightieth birthday. She was recognized as one of the world's leading pacifists and The Nobel Prize organisation believes she may have been nominated for the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

at some point prior to the Second World War. (Records of nominees were not kept prior to 1939.) The since renamed Muriel Lester Cooperative House at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

was named after her.

Family

Lester is the aunt of George Hogg. They travelled together to Japan in 1937, from where Hogg continued to Shanghai and later the Chinese hinterlands; he subsequently became famous for saving 60 orphaned boys, marching them 1,100 km to safety.

References

Autobiographies

* ''It Occurred to Me'' (Autobiography), Harper Brothers, 1937 * ''It So Happened'', Harper Brothers, 1947

Notes

* ''Ambassador of Reconciliation. A Muriel Lester Reader'', edited by Richard Deats, Santa Cruz (CA), New Society Publishers, 1991. * Jill Wallis, ''Mother of World Peace. The life of Muriel Lester'', Hisarlik Press, 1993. * Allan A. Hunter, (1939) ''White Corpuscles in Europe'' (foreword by

Aldous Huxley Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems. Born into the prominent Huxley ...

), Chicago and New York, Willett, Clarke and Company, pp 49–58. * Devi Prasad, (2005) ''War is a Crime Against Humanity'' (foreword by George Willoughby), London, War Resisters' International, , pp 89,522,523. * ''The Match Girl and the Heiress'' (2014) by Seth Koven. A study of Nellie Dowell (1876-1923) and Muriel Lester.

External links

Quotes From Muriel Lester's book ''Entertaining Gandhi''

http://www.muriellester.org/

Archive
at the

Bishopsgate Institute Bishopsgate Institute is a cultural institute in the Bishopsgate Without area of the City of London, located near Liverpool Street station and Spitalfields market. The institute was established in 1895. It offers a cultural events programme, c ...

Archive
at Swarthmore College Peace Collection
BBC News Online

MURIEL LESTER, 1883-1968 Baptist Saint?
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lester, Muriel 1885 births 1968 deaths 20th-century Baptists Baptist pacifists Baptist socialists English Baptists English Christian pacifists English Christian socialists People from Leytonstone People from Loughton Female Christian socialists