Benjamin Lancaster

Benjamin Lancaster was a 19th century businessman and philanthropist. He was born on 1 December 1801, married Rosamira Bellairs on 5 June 1851 at Bedworth, Warwickshire, and died in Bournemouth on 16 March 1887 leaving an estate valued at £137,584 4s 2d.[1]

In 1830 he jointly founded Price's Patent Candle Company Ltd, which became the world's largest manufacturer of candles.[2] In the 1850s he invested in land in Canterbury, New Zealand and gave his name to the Lancaster Park cricket ground.[3]

In 1861 Mr and Mrs Lancaster founded the Community of St Peter in Kilburn to nurse women and children and carry out mission work.[4] After St Peter's Home in Kilburn was destroyed in the Second World War the Community transferred its mother house to Woking, where it now runs a retreat house.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Parish registers and National Probate Calendar
  2. ↑ A History of Price's Candles
  3. ↑ The Origins of Lancaster Park
  4. ↑ The religious communities of the Church of England, Allan T Cameron (Faith Press, 1918)
  5. ↑ St Peter's Home And Sisterhood
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