The Lady Adrian | |
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| Born | Hester Agnes Pinsent (1899-09-16)16 September 1899 Harborne,Staffordshire, England |
| Died | 20 May 1966(1966-05-20) (aged 66) Cambridge, England |
| Citizenship | United Kingdom |
| Alma mater | Somerville College, Oxford |
| Occupation | Mental health worker |
| Spouse | |
| Children |
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| Parents |
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Dame Hester Agnes Adrian, Baroness Adrian,DBE BEM (néePinsent; 16 September 1899 – 20 May 1966) was a British mental health worker.
Hester Agnes Pinsent was born in 1899, inHarborne, Birmingham, Staffordshire, the only daughter of Hume Chancellor Pinsent (a relative of the philosopherDavid Hume)[1] and his wife DameEllen Pinsent (née Parker). Her mother was a social reformer and novelist. When Hester Pinsent was a teenager, both of her brothers,David and Richard, died inWorld War I.[2]
Pinsent attendedSomerville College, Oxford, from 1919 to 1922, graduating with second-class honours in modern history.[2]
Hester Adrian lived inCambridge as the wife of a professor (who was also Master of Trinity College from 1951–1965), and a social hostess of the university, welcoming distinguished guests toTrinity College with her husband.[3] She was also active as a volunteer in the Cambridge community. In 1936, she became ajustice of the peace in Cambridge. During World War II, she worked for theWomen's Voluntary Service in Cambridge, as a billeting officer. She took particular interest in the lives of children in crisis, and after the war she chaired the juvenile panel of the Cambridge magistrates' courts from 1949 to 1958. She joined the management committee of theCambridge Institute of Criminology, and in 1959 became president of theHoward League for Penal Reform.[2]
Adrian was also active in mental health andspecial education organizations.[4] She was honorary secretary of the Cambridgeshire Mental Welfare Association from 1924 to 1934.[2] She was vice-chair of theNational Association of Mental Health (now known as MIND). The Hester Adrian Research Centre at theUniversity of Manchester was established in 1968, to "conduct research into psychological and educational factors that affect the development of mentally handicapped children and adults".[5][6][7]
Hester Pinsent marriedEdgar Douglas Adrian on 14 June 1923. He won theNobel Prize in Physiology in 1932, and he wasPresident of the Royal Society from 1950 to 1955.[8] They had three children:
In 1942, she injured her leg badly, and it was amputated above the knee. The incident occurred in theLake District when 'a large rock, about 5 ft. high, suddenly broke away' when her husband took hold of it. The rock 'crushed her leg both above and below the knee'.[10] She used a prosthetic leg thereafter. In 1965, she was created a Dame Commander of theOrder of the British Empire (DBE) for her contributions.[11] Hester Adrian died at her Cambridge home in 1966, aged 66 years.[2]