A prominent member of community life in Kingston for more than half a century has died after a short illness, just shy of her 90th birthday.

Miriam Harrison had lived in the same house in Upper Park Road since moving there with husband Edwin in October 1958.

Born in Belfast, four months before the 1926 General Strike, Miriam did a degree at Trinity College, Dublin, before training as an almoner and becoming a published author when her research project into homeless elderly men was printed in book form by the Nuffield Trust – with a reference work still available online today.

Once her three children were at school she worked as the medical social worker at Barnes Hospital, supporting elderly patients and their families for 25 years.

She was one of the leaders of the Evergreens, the senior citizens’ club at St Paul’s Church, Kingston Hill, where she was a loyal parishioner.

She was a steward at Ham House, an expert embroiderer, an active member of the Kingston Society and a prolific speaker on a range of topics from Florence Nightingale to the history of Irish linen.

She never lost her distinctive Northern Irish accent. She and Edwin, who died in 2001, established the Ulster Society of Kingston in 1962 – an active social group in the town.