Dr Una Kroll, Part 2

The second of our two programmes in which Roy Jenkins remembers the fascinating life of Una Kroll, who died last month at the age of 91. We spoke to her for All Things Considered more than a decade ago when she was living in Monmouth as a hermit committed to prayer, but she’d been a missionary nun, GP, author, parliamentary candidate, campaigner for justice, and mother of four.

After a childhood spent in poverty, Una Kroll became a doctor before entering a religious order. She was sent to Liberia where she fell in love with Leo, a monk who was head of an American religious order and 23 years older than her. They returned to Europe, married in a Paris register office, and hoped their decision to break their vows would be understood by their religious superiors. It wasn’t - they faced considerable rejection, and then came a chance to start again.