Rowland Estall (1906-1993) - one of the founders of the first Bahá’í youth group in Canada; first resident Baháí of Winnipeg, Manitoba; helped establish the first Canadian Bahá’í summer schools; published the first Canadian Bahá’í News bulletin; Canada’s first home-front pioneers (with his wife); member of first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; one of the first Auxiliary Board members appointed for Canada; Counsellor for Central America

The first time Rowland Estall heard the words of Bahá’u’lláh, he recognized their authority. That was in 1926 during a meeting of the Canadian Fellowship of Youth for Peace, when an attractive sixteen-year-old girl named Mary Maxwell encouraged the group to consider the aims of "a Persian philosopher of our times," who, as recorded by Professor E. G. Browne, had said, "We desire but the good of the world and happiness of the nations." Rowland studied the Faith during the months that followed and became a Bahá’í in 1927. He served the Faith for the next sixty-six years, with the adjective "first" frequently associated with his name.

Rowland was one of the founders of the first Bahá’í youth group in Canada; he served on the country’s first Local Spiritual Assembly;[1] he and his wife were Canada’s first home-front pioneers; he was deeply involved in the first Bahá’í radio broadcasts in Canada; he was the first resident Baháí of Winnipeg, Manitoba; he helped establish the first Canadian Bahá’í summer schools; he was on the first National Teaching Committee; he and two others published the first Canadian Bahá’í News bulletin; he was elected to the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Canada; he was one of the first Auxiliary Board members appointed for Canada;[2] and he participated in the first election of the Universal House of Justice and attended the first Bahá’í World Congress.

Born in London, England, on April 27, 1906, of English and Huguenot ancestors, Rowland was the middle of five children. The Estalls were a religious family; his father was a lay reader in the Church of England. They lived in very modest circumstances, and in 1920 the family migrated to Canada, settling in Montreal.

When Rowland was eighteen years old, he got a job as a wireless operator in the merchant marine, and for the next two years he traveled up and down the coasts of the Americas. It was an important period of his life he later explained. He studied comparative religion, learned to meditate, and became a "true seeker." "I used to climb up on the lifeboat covers at nighttime under the Caribbean stars and pray silently to whatever was out there to reveal something of the mystery of life, which I felt was available to me if I could find it."

Mary Maxwell, Rowland, and Emeric Sala (who entered the Faith shortly after Rowland) formed the original Montreal youth group. It wrote to Shoghi Effendi and was advised by him to study the Writings and not to rely unduly on the interpretations and representations of the older believers. They were greatly encouraged by Elizabeth Greenleaf, whom Shoghi Effendi had asked to go there to help with the teaching work. Rowland came to consider Elizabeth as his "spiritual mother." Mary Maxwell had introduced him to the Faith, and her mother. May, had been his teacher, but it was Elizabeth who spent hour after hour teaching him to turn to the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh when he had questions.