Muriel and Doris Lester &
The Heritage of the Kingsley Hall Community Centres

   The website of the Kingsley Hall Community Centres Heritage Committee (KHCCHC)

   Email : info@muriellester.org     Copyright  LAPOLLO Systems on behalf of KHCCHC

   Every attempt has been made to ensure no materials are used without permission of copyright

   owners. If you believe we have breached this please contact us to agree appropriate actions.

Welcome to Muriel Lester.Org Muriel & Doris Lester Doris Lester Lester Family The Origins of the Kingsley Halls KH Bow KH Dagenham Childrens House Childrens House Dagenham Gandhi KH Bow People KH Dagenham People Past Events Locations Heritage Project The Muriel Lester Archive Oral Histories Blue Plaques Heritage Committee Contact Us Data Protection

Blue Plaques

On 14 December 2018 Londoners urged to nominate “100 Blue Plaque women”

That date was the 100th anniversary of the 1918 General Election, when women first voted. To mark the importance of that event, the London Assembly launched a campaign to redress the gender balance of London’s Blue Plaques.

Assembly Members urged Londoners to suggest 100 names of women who deserve the recognition of a Blue Plaque.

The Kingsley Hall Community Centres Heritage Committee considered that Muriel & Doris Lester deserved such recognition and a nomination was submitted in the name of both sisters for their founding and work  at both Kingsley Hall Bow and Dagenham.

Below are the documents – the submission and an appendix will illustrations of their work.

Update August 10, 2017:We have been informed by English Heritage that our submission for Muriel & Doris to become part of the  “100 Blue Plaque women” at both Kingsley Halls, Bow & Dagenham has been unsuccessful as a proposal was made (and declined) in 2017. Please contact us if you know anything about the 2017 proposal.

Therefore we considered commissioning the manufacture of private plaques to be placed on both buildings.  English Heritage gave us details of companies to do such work.


There is a blue plaque at Kingsley Hall in Bow but it records the time Gandhi stayed there

There is a “local” plaque on the home in Loughton, Essex where the Lester Sisters lived.

The plaques have been manufactured and delivered to the Kingsley Halls Heritage Committee

They have been passed to the Kingsley Halls at Dagenham and Bow.



The position is shown below in the context of the existing buildings taken from the top of the “Live Well” building opening in 2022

The Dagenham plaque was installed in March 2022

Pictured are: