Julia Pleister was born in London in 1890. She appears in the Census return for 1901 as resident with an aunt (Anna Miller, of independent means) in Berkshire. Little is known generally of her life but she appears to have travelled widely. She is known to have been living in Dorset by the 1950s. She corresponded regularly at this period with her friend Josephine Coning (see NHPP 2/3/3), a former lecturer in English: the two appear to have had a mutual interest in Darlington Training College, a teacher training college. Julia Pleister also appears to have had an interest in Whitelands Training College (see Josephine's letter to Julia, 30 September 1954, in NHPP 2/3/3/2). It is also possible to trace Julia's travels and other interests during the 1950s through Josephine's letters to her. Julia Pleister later lived at Pinehurst, Grange Road, Cambridge, and took an interest in the establishment of New Hall. A friend of Sarah Newman, Librarian to New Hall, she was a benefactor to New Hall Library. She also bequeathed a number of paintings and sculptures from her collection, including works by Boudin, Epstein and Ayrton, to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge. She also made a benefaction to Newnham College. Julia Pleister died in 1982. Mary Spencer-Watson’s terracotta bust depicting Julia Pleister was donated to the New Hall Women's Art Collection in 1982 by Augusta Forsham. Little is known of Julia Pleister's life: these fragmentary notes have been put together from a variety of sources including Census returns; Josephine Coning's letters at NHPP 2/3/3; and other New Hall sources.