“To me personally he was the warmest of friends, a trusted counsellor, an indefatigable collaborator” " His tenacity of faith, his high integrity, his effacement, his industry and pains- taking labours were traits of a character the noble qualities of which will live and live forever after him.” Shoghi Effendi

Local Bahá’í history

A notable early Bahá’í

Dr John Ebenezer Esslemont, born in Aberdeen, was an accomplished medical doctor and linguist. Whilst working as the medical superintendent at a tuberculosis clinic in Bournemouth, Dr Esslemont took an active interest in proposals for a national health service and was one of the founders of the State Medical Service Association that was to become influential in determining government policy in this area. It was in connection with his work on the executive committee of the State Medical Service Association that Dr Esslemont first heard about the Bahá'í Faith in 1914. The wife of his colleague on the executive committee had met `Abdu'l-Bahá when He had visited London, and she talked to Dr Esslemont about the new religion. He immediately took up the Bahá'í teachings with enthusiasm. Dr Esslemont was a keen linguist; in addition to English, he knew French, German, and Spanish, and was a keen Esperantist. After he became a Bahá'í, he also began to learn Persian and Arabic. Through his friends in the Esperanto, Theosophical, and spiritualist circles, he was soon able to help create a Bahá'í group in Bournemouth Shortly after becoming a Bahá'í, Dr Esslemont began to write an introductory book about the Bahá'í Faith, entitled “Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era”. This book was published in 1923 and has since been translated into over 60 languages. In June 1924, Shoghi Effendi (the eldest grandson of Abdu’l Baha who ran the affairs of the Faith between 1921 till his passing in 1957) invited Dr Esslemont to make Haifa his home and to assist with the Bahá'í work there. Dr Esslemont immediately agreed and set about improving his Persian so as to help Shoghi Effendi with the translation of the Hidden Words and the Tablet of Ahmad. By February 1925, Dr Esslemont was acting as Shoghi Effendi's English-language secretary. Sadly, ever since medical school when Dr Esslemont had contracted tuberculosis, he suffered from ill health. On 21 November 1925, after having just recovered from a further bout of tuberculosis, Dr Esslemont suffered a stroke and passed away. Shoghi Effendi stayed by Dr Esslemont’s side during this last night, and felt his loss acutely. He had been a close friend as well as an invaluable colleague: “To me personally he was the warmest of friends, a trusted counsellor, an indefatigable collaborator”. In a moving letter written on 30 November, Shoghi Effendi paid tribute to Dr Esslemont: " His tenacity of faith, his high integrity, his effacement, his industry and pains-taking labours were traits of a character the noble qualities of which will live and live forever after him.” text source www.bahai.org.uk

Some photographs from the time of Dr Esslemont including some of the tuberculosis clinic, the patients and possibly staff photo as well. We do not know the names of most of these friends and colleagues unfortunately but they represent the earliest records we currently have of the early years of the Baha’i faith in Bournemouth.

An account of the activities of the

Bournemouth Bahai community in the 1950’s

“Stuart Sweet lived with his family at Sea View Court Hotel, Boscombe Spa Road, Boscombe. His parents had met Aileen Beale just after they moved to Bournemouth in 1939 and joined ' The Oxford Group .' Aileen Beale must have become a Baha'i in about 1952 or 1953. The first thing she did was to invite all the people that she knew from the Oxford Group to a Baha'i meeting. Stuart had returned from National Service in Libya, in March 1952. When Stuart's mother received her invitation she asked Stuart if he would accompany her to the meeting. They both went. Aileen Beale took them under her wing. Stuart was learning to drive at the time and she let him use her car and gave him lessons. In the meantime Stuart had met the other Baha'i s and attended Firesides. One of the Kouchekzadeh boys taught him and inspired him. Aileen let Stuart drive her all the way to National Convention in Manchester. Stuart declared while at Convention. When Aileen Beale became a Baha'i she was rejected by her family, the owners of the Department Stores, Beales of Bournemouth and Bealesons. Shoghi Effendi wrote to her and asked her to support the teaching work in certain key areas. When Margaret Higdon (later Margaret Sweet) met the Baha'is in Bournemouth in 1956 she met Elsie Cranmer and Maudie Flowers at one of their Firesides. Two lovely ladies who made everyone feel so welcome and were loving teachers of the Faith. They shared an upstairs apartment In a house where Florence Pinchon an elderly lady had another room. Living in Bournemouth at that time was the Kouchekzadeh family mother, father and two boys Kianoush and Shidan . Ida their daughter was studying in London. In Bournemouth there was also Gloria Momen and her two very young boys. I think Aileen Beale was away on a teaching trip. There was Stuart Sweet, his mother Susan Sweet and sister Christine , who was only 15years old at the time and had recently declared. On the May bank holiday in 1956 the Baha'i youth in London arranged with the Baha'i youth in Bournemouth to meet at Brokenhurst in the New Forest for a picnic together. The London youth travelled by train and the Bournemouth youth by car. It was a beautiful day. ( see photo.) Stuart Sweet worked for the Meteorological Office and was posted to Tripoli in Libya in February 1957. That Easter the youth groups organised a Youth Spring School at Susan Sweet’s Hotel, Sea View Court Hotel. Christine Sweet made a lot of the arrangements at the hotel. She was only 16 years old. It was a successful School which was attended by Betty Reed and other guest speakers” text from Peter Sweet