Donald O Soper, Baron Soper of Kingsway, 1903-1998, was the first Methodist Minister to be made a member of the House of Lords in the British Parliament. Having taken his first degree at St. Catharine’s College, Cambridge, he prepared for the ministry at Wesley House from 1924 to 1926. His entire ministry was spent in mission work in London, for forty-two years as superintendent of the West London Mission. He directed his efforts to reaching those outside the Church and for over fifty years spoke weekly in the open air at Tower Hill and Hyde Park in London. He enjoyed controversy and was a master at dealing with hecklers. He also excelled on radio and television and was often in demand. To encourage others to take up a similar ministry he helped to form the Order of Christian Witness in 1942. An active supporter of the Labour Party and a committed pacifist, he was President of the Methodist Peace Fellowship and of the Fellowship of Reconciliation. He received the World Methodist Council’s Peace Award in 1981. Invariably in public in a cassock, he stressed the importance of sacramental worship and was President of the Methodist Sacramental Fellowship. He was elected President of the Methodist Conference in 1953.