Kingsley Hall

Kingsley Hall
Kingsley Hall (front view) inBromley-by-Bow,also home of theGandhi Foundation
Location	Powis Road,Bromley-by-Bow,London,England
Area	London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Built	1928
Architect	Charles Cowles-Voysey
Architectural style(s)	Neo-Georgian style
Governing body	Charitable Trust
Listed Building– Grade II
Designated	September 1973
Reference no.	1357884

Kingsley Hallis a community centre, in Powis Road,Bromley-by-Bowin theLondon Borough of Tower Hamlets.It dates back to the work ofDorisandMuriel Lester,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 with a stone-laying ceremony taking place on 14 July 1927.

A second community centre, also known asKingsley Hallwith a church (KHCCC -Kingsley Hall Church and Community Centre),was later built by the sisters in the neighbouringLondon Borough of Barking and Dagenhamon Parsloes Avenue inDagenham.KHCCC underwent redevelopment in 2018.

During theGeneral Strikeof 1926, Kingsley Hall in Bow became a shelter and soup kitchen for workers.Mohandas Gandhistayed in Kingsley Hall in 1931 and the building now houses theGandhi Foundation.The room where he stayed has been preserved. In 1935, hunger marchers on theJarrow Marchstayed at the Hall.

In 1965R. D. Laingand his associates asked the Lesters for permission to use the Hall as analternative community,influenced by theWorld War IINorthfield experiments,for treating people affected by mental health crisis. Kingsley Hall became home to one of the most radical experiments in psychology of the time. The aim of the experiment by thePhiladelphia Associationwas to create a model for non-restraining, non-drug therapies for those people seriously affected byschizophrenia. The idea of starting this type of community was an initiative suggested byMary Barnesan artist and former nurse and, first resident as patient.

The hall was designated aGrade II listed buildingin September 1973.

Origins

Doris,Murieland Kingsley Lester grew up in wealth and comfort, though there was a family connection to the poor East End districts. Their grandfather Henry Lester grew up in poverty, starting work as a bricklayer's labourer at the age of eight. Their father, also called Henry Lester started work at theThames IronworksatBlackwallandCanning Townat the age of ten.He latterly owned a ship repair yard in Blackwall and would help finance some of his children's early social work. Both father and grandfather were devoutBaptists.

Henry Lester bought a cottage inLoughton,(then a countryside district ofEssex), to be used as a holiday place by families from Bow. Named after his deceased wife,Rachel Cottagealso served to provide holidays for nursery children.

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 oneshilling(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 andMuriel Lesterbought 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.

The aims of the centre were expressed on the membership cards as "a place of fellowship in which people can meet for social, educational and recreational intercourse without barriers of class, colour or creed."

DuringWorld War I,in the face of criticism, Doris and Muriel remained pacifists. Kingsley Hall ran a soup kitchen and stayed open at night forAir Raid Wardens.At the end of the war, Doris and Muriel joined a march to theHouse of Commonsdemanding that milk be sent toGermany,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 theSuffragettesin east London. Activists campaigned for votes for women in the face of threats. Muriel Lester spoke on street corners and on Sunday mornings inVictoria Park.After her talks, local people contributed towards maintaining services at Kingsley Hall. Muriel became anAldermanon theMetropolitan Borough of Poplarand fought for basic provisions such as milk for children under five.

Enough money was saved to build the Children's House on Bruce Road which was opened byH. G. Wellsin 1923. The foundation stones represent: Vision, Nature, Rhythm and Music; Beauty, Health, Education, Motherhood, Internationalism and Fellowship. TheChildren's Housecontinues to be run as a Nursery School.

Powis Road site

During the1926 General Strike,the hall became a shelter and soup kitchen for workers. Larger accommodation was 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 wasCharles Cowles-Voysey.

A stone-laying ceremony took place on 14 July 1927. The following people laid stones representing different aspects.

• SirWalford Davieslaid the brick ofMUSIC
• Mr J.A.R. Cairns laid the brick ofCITIZENSHIP
• MissSybil Thorndikelaid the brick ofDRAMA
• Miss De Natorp laid the brick ofEDUCATION
• MrsD.S. Waterlowlaid the brick ofOPEN AIR and COUNTRY
• Mr C. Cowles-Voyseylaid the brick ofARCHITECTURE
• Mr P.R. LeMare laid the brick ofCOMMERCE
• DrMaxwell Garnettlaid the brick ofWORLD BROTHERHOOD
• Miss Mary Arden Shakespeare laid the brick ofFRIENDSHIP
• MrJohn Galsworthylaid the brick ofLITERATURE
• Mrs J. Douglas Watson laid the brick of theKINGDOM OF HEAVEN
• Margaret Martin laid the brick ofKINGSLEY HALL CLUB
• George Lansburylaid the brick ofSUNDAY EVENING SERVICE
• Mrs Harvey laid the brick of theWOMEN'S CLUB
• Tom McCarthy laid the brick of theWAYFARERS
• Mayor T.J.Goodway laid the brick of theBOROUGH
• LadyClare Annesleylaid the brick ofSERVICE
• George M. Ll. DaviesMP laid the brick ofPOLITICS
• Gilbert Bayeslaid the brick ofART

Kingsley Hall (on Powis Road) was opened on 15 September 1928. The building included residential units or cells, and also had a clubroom and dining room, kitchen, office and a space for worship.

Gandhi

The new building would receive its most famous visitor just a few years after it opened. In 1931Mahatma Gandhiaccepted an invitation to stay there while he took part intalkson the future ofIndia.He stayed in a small cell-bedroom on the roof, sleeping on the roof itself when the weather was suitable.

Gandhi planting a tree outside Kingsley Hall on 3 December 1931. The tree was destroyed in World War II by a flash and was replanted by Lady Attenborough in 1984.

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.

His daily walk would start before dawn and typically take about an hour at a brisk pace, taking in much of the local area, especially along theLeaand the local canal network. Routes varied, but he particularly enjoyed the walk along theSewerbank (now known as the Greenway)throughStratfordtoPlaistow,because of the elevated views it gave.On these walks he would be joined by crowds of well-wishers eager to speak to him on a very wide range subjects, and this included many children. On occasion he would visit the homes of local people. He found it easy to relate to the local people, with Muriel Lester observing

He always enjoyed the swift repartee ofCockneywit. He was never at a loss for a reply in the same vein.

Gandhi lived at Kingsley Hall for 12 weeks, and also visited Kingsley Hall's Dagenham site in that time.Stories that he was accompanied by a goat were pure press invention. Among Gandhi's visitors wereCharlie Chaplin,George Bernard Shaw,thePearly King and Queenof east London, many politicians includingDavid Lloyd Georgeand theArchbishop of CanterburyCosmo Gordon Lang.

Gandhi's welcome to Canning Town.

Gandhi loved East Londonand the East Enders reciprocated.On leaving Kingsley Hall, he wrote in its visitor book:Love surrounded me here

Muriel Lester later accompanied Mahatma Gandhi on his tour of earthquake-shaken regions inBiharon his anti-untouchability tour during 1934.

\in 1954English Heritageerected aBlue plaqueon the façade of the building in honour of Gandhi.

Jarrow March

In 1935Ellen Wilkinsonled theJarrow Marchto London, 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 Lester 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 aFreeman of the Borough of Poplaron her eightieth birthday. Muriel Lester died in 1967.

R.D.Laing in 1983

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 1965R. D. Laingand 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 thePhiladelphia Associationand 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 wasMary Barnes.Along with resident psychiatristJoseph Berke,Mary later went on to writeTwo 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 the playMary BarnesbyDavid Edgar.Another notable resident was the renowned Norwegian authorAxel Jensen.

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 harassment. After five years (from 1965 to 1970) the project was wound up and Kingsley Hall was boarded up. During the seventies the building was severely damaged.

Recent history

Kingsley Hall

In the 1980s Kingsley Hall was one of the sets used in the filmGandhi.During the filmingRichard Attenboroughunited 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 theGandhi 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 interpreted its remit as serving the local community and the cause of international peace and to do so in innovatory ways.

The Hall is run by a trust and is aregistered charity no. 263813.Its premises are normally available for use by community and other social groups. In 2009, Kingsley Hall launched its website

TheBishopsgate Institutein London houses the Muriel Lester Archive

External links

• http://kingsleyhallbow.blogspot.co.uk/
• laingsociety.org/colloquia/thercommuns/barnesjtm.html Mary Barnes: Two Accounts of a Journey Through Madness – Epilogue]
• www.culture24.org.uk/history-and-heritage/historic-buildings/art48016Gandhi in the East End (2007)
• www.muriellester.org
• khccc.com