Harry Chester

He published one book, The Lay of the Lady Ellen, a tale of 1834, and is best remembered as the founder of the Highgate Literary and Scientific Institution.

[2] On 16 January 1839, Chester called a meeting at the Gate House Tavern, Highgate, "for the purpose of forming an institution designed to excite and cultivate an intelligent interest in the objects of Literature and Science".

[1] An obituary in The Gentleman's Magazine noted that in his official role he had been in contact with many of the clergy and landed gentry, "with whom his courtesy made him generally popular".

[7] Chester died at 63, Rutland Gate, Westminster, on 5 October 1868, aged sixty-two and was buried on the western side of Highgate Cemetery.

[13] A long narrative poem, the work was reviewed by The New Monthly Magazine, which described it as “a tragedy founded on Anglo-Saxon history, and of a well-sustained interest, although the metre proves the writer to have been too careless of the rhythm of his lines”.