The plaque commemorating Sam Peel's life. Photo: Chris Kirby.
Quaker activist remembered
Sam Peel's life has been commemorated at Wells-next-the-Sea Meeting
A plaque commemorating the life and work of campaigning Friend Sam Peel has been unveiled at Wells-next-the-Sea Meeting House in Norfolk.
The words on the plaque, handmade by a local pottery, read: ‘A man of faith whose campaigns for social justice transformed the lives of many.’
A one-time warden of the Meeting house, Sam Peel and his wife Annie arrived in Wells in 1909 to find slum housing, bad education, excessive drinking, and a host of other social problems. Sam, supported by Annie, set out to tackle these. His legacy included new schools, housing, a library and telephone and electricity services.
More than sixty people – including four generations of Sam Peel’s family – gathered at the Meeting house to honour his legacy. Many of them then followed the new Sam Peel walking trail around the town.
