Kingsley Hall
Encyclopedia
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
. It dates back to the work of Doris Lester and Muriel Lester
Muriel Lester
Muriel Lester was born in Leytonstone in east London and grew up at Loughton, where she was a member of the Union Church. She was a social reformer, pacifist and nonconformist. As a Baptist, she was baptized in 1898, at 15...
, who had a nursery school in nearby Bruce Road. Their brother, Kingsley Lester, died aged 26 in 1914, leaving money for work in the local area for "educational, social and recreational" purposes, with which the Lesters bought and converted a disused chapel. The current Hall was built on Powis Road, with a stone-laying ceremony taking place on July 14, 1927.
During the General Strike
General strike
A general strike is a strike action by a critical mass of the labour force in a city, region, or country. While a general strike can be for political goals, economic goals, or both, it tends to gain its momentum from the ideological or class sympathies of the participants...
of 1926, Kingsley Hall became a shelter and soup kitchen for workers. Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
stayed in Kingsley Hall in 1931 and the building now houses the Gandhi Foundation
Gandhi Foundation
The Gandhi Foundation is a United Kingdom-based voluntary organisation which seeks to further the work of Mahatma Gandhi through a variety of educational events and activities.- History :...
. The room where he stayed has been preserved. In 1935, hunger marchers on the Jarrow March
Jarrow March
The Jarrow March , was an October 1936 protest march against unemployment and extreme poverty suffered in North East England. The 207 marchers travelled from the town of Jarrow to the Palace of Westminster in London, a distance of almost , to lobby Parliament...
stayed at the Hall.
In 1965 R. D. Laing and his associates asked the Lesters for permission to use the Hall as a community for themselves. Kingsley Hall became home to one of the most radical experiments in psychology of the time. The aim of the experiment by the Philadelphia Association
Philadelphia Association
The Philadelphia Association is a UK "charity concerned with the understanding and relief of mental suffering." It was founded in 1965 by the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst R. D...
was to create a model for non-restraining, non-drug therapies for those people seriously affected by schizophrenia
Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by a disintegration of thought processes and of emotional responsiveness. It most commonly manifests itself as auditory hallucinations, paranoid or bizarre delusions, or disorganized speech and thinking, and it is accompanied by significant social...
.
The hall was designated a Grade II listed building in September 1973.
Origins
In 1912, Doris and Muriel Lester started a Nursery School at numbers 58 and 60 Bruce Road. Children were fed, clothed and cared for at a charge of one shillingShilling
The shilling is a unit of currency used in some current and former British Commonwealth countries. The word shilling comes from scilling, an accounting term that dates back to Anglo-Saxon times where it was deemed to be the value of a cow in Kent or a sheep elsewhere. The word is thought to derive...
(five pence a day]. When mothers could not afford fees, children were sponsored by a network of wealthier supporters. The service was soon expanded to include activities for older groups with the aim to provide for the development of the whole person - the mind, body and spirit - in an environment which brought people together regardless of class, race and religion.
Kingsley Lester died in 1914, leaving what money he had for work in Bow towards "educational, social and recreational" purposes. Doris and Muriel Lester
Muriel Lester
Muriel Lester was born in Leytonstone in east London and grew up at Loughton, where she was a member of the Union Church. She was a social reformer, pacifist and nonconformist. As a Baptist, she was baptized in 1898, at 15...
bought an old chapel on the corner of Eagling Road in 1915, which was then re-decorated and fitted out by local volunteers. It was a "people's house", where friends and neighbours, workmen, factory girls and children of Bow came together for "worship, study, fun and friendship". The premises became known as Kingsley Hall, and operated a Nursery, as well as social events, concerts and adult school. Football, Sunday services and summer holiday schemes were also begun.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Doris and Muriel remained pacifists, and in the face of criticism. Kingsley Hall ran a soup kitchen and stayed open at night for Air Raid Wardens. At the end of the war, Doris and Muriel joined a march to the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
demanding that milk be sent to Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, where people were starving. A German child was adopted by the members of Kingsley Hall who paid for her to stay with a local family for two years.
After the War, Kingsley Hall maintained strong links with the Sufragettes in east London. Activists campaigned for votes for women in the face of threats. Muriel Lester spoke on street corners, and on Sunday mornings in Victoria Park
Victoria Park, East London
Victoria Park is 86.18 hectares of open space that stretches out across part of the East End of London, England bordering parts of Bethnal Green, Hackney, and Bow, such as along Old Ford Road, London E3 and Victoria Park Road E9. The park is entirely within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets...
. Local people contributed after her talks towards maintaining services at Kingsley Hall. Muriel became an Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
on the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar
Metropolitan Borough of Poplar
Poplar was a local government district in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was formed as a district of the Metropolis in 1855 and became a metropolitan borough in the County of London in 1900. It comprised the civil parishes of Bow, Bromley and Poplar until 1907, when it also became a...
and fought for basic provisions such as milk for children under five.
The Lester's father, Henry Lester, was a shipbuilder. He bought a cottage in Loughton
Loughton
Loughton is a town and civil parish in the Epping Forest district of Essex. It is located between 11 and 13 miles north east of Charing Cross in London, south of the M25 and west of the M11 motorway and has boundaries with Chingford, Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell and Buckhurst Hill...
, (then a countryside district of Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
), to be used as a holiday place by families from Bow. Named after his deceased wife, Rachel Cottage also served to provide holidays for nursery children.
Enough money was saved to build the Children's House on Bruce Road which was opened by H.G. Wells in 1923. The foundation stones represent: Vision, Nature, Rhythm and Music; Beauty, Health, Education, Motherhood, Internationalism and Fellowship.
The Children's House continues to be run as a Nursery School.
During the 1926 General Strike
UK General Strike of 1926
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 May 1926 to 13 May 1926. It was called by the general council of the Trades Union Congress in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British government to act to prevent wage reduction and worsening...
, the hall became a shelter and soup kitchen for workers. Larger accommodations were needed as the popularity of Kingsley Hall grew, and a new Kingsley Hall was built on Powis Road, with funds from people in the neighbourhood and donations from wealthy patrons. The architect was Charles Cowles Voysey.
A Stone-laying ceremony took place on July 14, 1927. The following people laid stones representing different aspects.
- Sir Walford Davies laid the brick of MUSIC
- Mr J.A.R. Cairns laid the brick of CITIZENSHIP
- Miss Sybil ThorndikeSybil ThorndikeDame Agnes Sybil Thorndike CH DBE was a British actress.-Early life:She was born in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire to Arthur Thorndike and Agnes Macdonald. Her father was a Canon of Rochester Cathedral...
laid the brick of DRAMA - Miss De Natorp laid the brick of EDUCATION
- Mrs D.S. Waterlow laid the brick of OPEN AIR and COUNTRY
- Mr C. Cowles VoyseyCharles Cowles-VoyseyCharles Cowles-Voysey was born in London, UK on 24 June 1889 and died there on 10 April 1981. He was the son of Charles Voysey and was responsible for the design of Kingsley Hall which included a main hall also used for worship, and five rooftop cells for community volunteers.John Brandon-Jones...
laid the brick of ARCHITECTURE - Mr P.R. LeMare laid the brick of COMMERCE
- Dr Maxwell Garnett laid the brick of WORLD BROTHERHOOD
- Miss Mary Arden Shakespeare laid the brick of FRIENDSHIP
- Mr John GalsworthyJohn GalsworthyJohn Galsworthy OM was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include The Forsyte Saga and its sequels, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter...
laid the brick of LITERATURE - Mrs J. Douglas Watson laid the brick of the KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
- Margaret Martin laid the brick of KINGSLEY HALL CLUB
- George LansburyGeorge LansburyGeorge Lansbury was a British politician, socialist, Christian pacifist and newspaper editor. He was a Member of Parliament from 1910 to 1912 and from 1922 to 1940, and leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935....
laid the brick of SUNDAY EVENING SERVICE - Mrs Harvey laid the brick of the WOMEN'S CLUB
- Tom McCarthy laid the brick of the WAYFARERS
- Mayor T.J.Goodway laid the brick of the BOROUGH
- Lady Clare Annesley laid the brick of SERVICE
- George L.M. Davies laid the brick of POLITICS
- Gilbert BayesGilbert BayesGilbert William Bayes RA was a British sculptor and medalist.-Career:Born in London into a family of artists, Bayes' lengthy and illustrious career began as a student under Sir George Frampton and Harry Bates, and so became associated with the British New Sculpture movement and its focus on...
laid the brick of ART
Powis Road
Kingsley Hall, Powis Road was opened on September 15, 1928. The building included residential units or cells, including the one used later by Mahatma GandhiMahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
. The building also has a clubroom and dining room, kitchen, office and a space of worship.
In 1931, Lylie Valentine was a participant in activities at the hall before she became a worker at the nursery. In her pamphlet: Two Sisters and the Cockney Kids, she recounts the excitement surrounding Gandhi’s stay in the East End:
The same year (1931), Muriel told us that Mahatma Gandhi (at whose ashram she had stayed in India) was coming over for the Round Table Conference. He had refused to stay at a hotel, but would come if he could live with the working class, so he was to stay at Kingsley Hall....when he arrived, I think all the people in East London waited outside to see him.
...besides doing his work with the Government, he spent a lot of time with us. He visited the Nursery School and all the children called him Uncle Gandhi. At six o'clock each morning, after his prayers, he took his walk along the canal, talking to workmen on the way.... There was something about him that always lives with the people.
Gandhi lived at Kingsley Hall for 12 weeks. Stories that he was accompanied by a goat however, were pure press invention. Among Gandhi's visitors were Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
, the Pearly King and Queen of east London, and many politicians. Muriel later accompanied Mahatma Gandhi on his tour of earthquake-shaken regions in Bihar on his anti-untouchability tour during 1934.
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Wilkinson
Ellen Cicely Wilkinson was the Labour Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough and later for Jarrow on Tyneside. She was one of the first women in Britain to be elected as a Member of Parliament .- History :...
led the Jarrow March
Jarrow March
The Jarrow March , was an October 1936 protest march against unemployment and extreme poverty suffered in North East England. The 207 marchers travelled from the town of Jarrow to the Palace of Westminster in London, a distance of almost , to lobby Parliament...
to London in 1935, and some of the men were put up at Kingsley Hall. It was the poor helping the poor. They collected their pennies and opened the jumble store for them. Muriel visited the Far East, USA, China, Japan and India to report to the League of Nations on drug investigations in the regions. 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. Muriel Lester died in 1967.
R.D. Laing and Kingsley Hall
Following World War II, with the welfare state having undertaken much of the work advocated by the Lester sisters, Kingsley Hall continued on a quieter note as a youth hostel and community activity centre.In 1965 R. D. Laing and his colleagues asked the Lesters for use of the Hall as a community for themselves and people in a state of psychosis. As a result Kingsley Hall became home to the Philadelphia Association
Philadelphia Association
The Philadelphia Association is a UK "charity concerned with the understanding and relief of mental suffering." It was founded in 1965 by the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst R. D...
and one of the most radical experiments in psychiatry. Based on the notion that psychosis, a state of reality akin to living in a waking dream, is not an illness simply to be eliminated through the electric shocks favoured in the Western tradition of the time but, as in other cultures, a state of trance which could even be valued as mystical or Shamanistic, it sought to allow schizophrenic people the space to explore their madness and internal chaos. Residents (in the grip of psychosis) were often treated with kindness and respect with sincere efforts to alleviate their suffering.
One notable resident of this experiment was Mary Barnes
Mary Barnes
Mary Edith Barnes was an English artist and writer who suffered from schizophrenia but recovered to become a successful painter. She is particularly known for her documentation of her experience at R.D...
. Along with resident psychiatrist Joseph Berke
Joseph Berke
-Early years:He studied at Columbia College of Columbia University and graduated from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. He moved to London in 1965 where Berke worked with R. D...
, Mary later went on to write Two Accounts of a Journey Through Madness, describing her stay at Kingsley Hall and use of her mental condition as a vehicle for painting and creative expression. Her account became famous in the 1970s when it was used as the basis for a well-received theatre piece. Another notable resident was the renowned Norwegian author Axel Jensen
Axel Jensen
Axel Buchardt Jensen was a Norwegian author. From 1957 until 2002 he published both fiction and non-fiction texts which include novels, poems, essays, a biography, manuscripts for cartoons and animated films....
.
The activities of residents in the "no-holds barred" experiment made the local community largely hostile to the project, and there were regular reports of harrassment. But reports of vandalism to the building by the local populace were exaggerated. Most of the building windows that were broken were smashed by the residents from within, not by the neighbours. After five years (from 1965 to 1970) the project was wound up and Kingsley Hall was boarded up. During the seventies it was severely damaged.
The 1980s
Gandhi (film)
Gandhi is a 1982 biographical film based on the life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who led the nonviolent resistance movement against British colonial rule in India during the first half of the 20th century. The film was directed by Richard Attenborough and stars Ben Kingsley as Gandhi. They both...
. During the filming Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
united with the Kingsley Hall Action Group to raise enough funds to carry out an extensive refurbishing. Many of the local community contributed their skills and commitment to bring Kingsley Hall back into a usable community centre.
Kingsley Hall was reopened 2 March 1985 with events in the week preceding, and has since gone on to be used for activities ranging from youth groups, holiday outings or arts and photography workshops, for advice surgeries, wedding functions and educational projects. It also houses the office of the Gandhi Foundation, which pursues interests of peace internationally, in the tradition of its namesake.
In 1995, The Hall suffered two major burglaries when vandals broke in and burnt down the offices. The committed staff and volunteers were devastated by this destruction, but continued to run youth groups, advice sessions, clubs and meetings. The management interprets its remit as serving the local community and the cause of international peace and to do so in exciting and innovatory ways.