Olave Baden-Powell

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Olave St Clair Baden-Powell, Lady Baden-Powell, GBE (née Soames; born in 1889) was the first Chief Guide for the United Kingdom and the widow of Robert Baden-Powell, the first Chief Guide for Britain and the mother of Scouting and Girl Guides, 2nd Baron Baden-Powell.

She outlived her husband, who was 32 years old at the time, by more than 35 years. Lady Baden-Powell became Britain's Chief Guide in 1918.

She was presented with a gold Silver Fish at the Swanwick conference for Commissioners in October, one of the few ever made.

In 1930, she was named World Chief Guide.

She traveled to 111 countries during her lifetime, attending Jamborees and national Guide and Scout organisations, as well as contributing to the introduction of the Guide / Girl Scout movement.

Princess George VI gave her the Order of the British Empire, a Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1932.

Family and early life

Olave Soames, the third child and youngest daughter of brewery owner and artist Harold Soames (13 Aug 1855-26 December 1918), of Gray Rigg, Lilliput, Dorset, descended from the landed gentry Soames family of Sheffield Park) and his mother Katherine Mary, the daughter of George Hill, was born in Chesterfield, England. She was educated by her parents and by a number of governesses at home. In the first 23 years of her life, she lived in seventeen houses. Olave began playing tennis, swimming, football, skating, and canoeing, as well as playing the violin.

Olave was the niece and aunt to his children, including Christopher Soames, a centrist and diplomat who in 1947 married Mary Churchill, Sir Winston Churchill's youngest child.

Adult life

Olave met Robert Baden-Powell, the Scout's founder, on a sea liner, heading from the Caribbean to New York in January 1912. She was 23, he was 55, and they all had the same birthday. They became engaged in September of the same year, causing a media sensation. They married in St. Peter's Church, Parkstone, her parish church, on October 30th, 1912. She was given away by her father, who was adamant. Apart from clergy, the only other people in attendance were his brother and sister, Robert Kewwich, a close friend of his, her mother and brother, her brother-in-law, and Miss Sie Bower, a close friend of hers.

Each of the Scouts and Guides of England contributed a penny to buy the Baden-Powells a wedding gift of a car (not the Rolls-Royce called "Jam-Roll" that was given to them in 1929). Olave's father aided financially with the purchase of Pax Hill near Bentley, Hampshire, as a family home where she lived with her husband from 29 January 1919 to 19 October 1938.

The Baden-Powells had three children: a son and two daughters (who received Honourable's courtesy titles of Honourable in 1929); the son's successor, Lord Baden-Powell, died in 1941).

In addition, Olave's sister, Auriol Davidson, née Soames, died in 1919, and Yvonne (19191980-1980), (1912–2000), brought her three nieces, Christian (1912–1975), Clare (1913-1980), and Yvonne (1918-1990), into her family and brought them up as her own children.

Olave was active in France between 1915 and 1916, during World War I. Robert had seen the use of the YMCA's recreational huts for the soldiers, but he persuaded the Mercers' Company (of which he had been Master in 1912) to pay for such a hut in Val-de-Lievres, Calais. Adults familiar with Scouting were supposed to be able to work it. Olave was one of the first five men and three women who staffed the hut at the start. She begged her mother to look after the children while she was away.

When Olave's second child was five months old, she left for France on October 7th, 1915. Servicing chocolate and cigarettes as a member of the Mercers' hut and chatting to others who came in. She also remembered performing her violin and performing at the Christmas Concert in her autobiography. During her stay in Val-de-Lievres, Olave has also adopted a few stray animals.

During this period, Robert had arranged for the Scouts to sponsor another recreational hut. This hut was built in Étaples by Olave and two others after Christmas 1915. Olave was forced home due to sickness at the end of January, bringing an end to her three months in France.

In April 1913, Olave and Robert moved to Ewhurst Place, just outside Robertsbridge, Sussex. The 1st Ewhurst Scout Troop was launched in June of this year. Olave, the warranted Scoutmaster of this troop, was aided by the family's housemaid and the gardener. Olave has been with Robert on several of his Scouting tours and at shows. She also wrote letters to him. The Baden-Powells bought a modest sedan in 1915, and after Robert taught her to drive, Olave took him to engagements.

Although Olave's first attempt to assist them in 1914 was turned down, as they were more closely linked with the Girl Guides. After being pressed by girls who wanted to become Scouts, the Girl Guide Movement began. Robert Baden-Powell and his sister Agnes Baden-Powell co-founded it. Olave began organising Guiding in Sussex after the Girl Guides were reorganized in 1915, this time with success. In March 1916, she became Sussex's County Commissioner. The first conference for County Commissioners was held in October 1916, and the Commissioners unanimously recommended that Olave take over as Chief Commissioner, despite the fact that she was pregnant with her third child. She had recruited a large number of people from other parts of the United Kingdom to take up Guiding roles. Olave was praised as the Chief Guide in 1918, a role she much preferred over Chief Commissioner.

In 1932, she was awarded the Dame Grand Cross of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (GBE) in recognition of her volunteer service. The Order of the Sun and the Order of the Rose of Finland were both granted to her by Finland. In 1957, she was named both the 14th Bronze Wolf, the only award of the World Scout Committee for outstanding contributions to world Scouting, and the highest honor of the Scout Association of Japan, the Golden Pheasant Award.

The UK Girl Guide's County Commissioners awarded Olave Baden-Powell with a personal profile. It was created by Mrs Zigomala. The standard was created by Miss Kay-Shuttleworth.

Olave and her companion, Jack Soames, and the notorious Happy Valley set in Nyeri, Kenya, where he died on January 8, 1941. Lord Erroll was in the funeral procession just prior to his assassination on January 24th.

Olave's husband's death received thousands of letters of condolence. Bertha Hines, the wife of David Hines, who was away fighting the Italian army that had invaded Ethiopia and Somalia, was able to assist them all. Olave would often watch Bertha's baby girl, Penny, while Bertha typed reply letters.

She survived U-boat attacks in 1942 to return to the United Kingdom, but she was given a Hampton Court Palace grace and favour apartment, in which she lived from 1943 to 1976. The Canadian military had targeted Pax Hill, a mother's home, and took over by the government. She toured the United Kingdom during World War II. In 1944, she was on a trip when a V2 missile destroyed her Hampton Court flat. She returned to France as soon as she could after D-Day, toured around Europe as the war to help restore Guiding and Scouting.

Olave has been leading the Guide Movement around the world for forty years, traveling around the globe to help develop and promote the Guide Movements in other countries and encourage the Guide Movements to grow in number and popularity, as well as increasing membership to over six and a half million worldwide. In 1962, Olave was in Washington, DC, for the 50th anniversary of the American Girl Scouts' founding.

She was finally barred from travelling by her doctor at the age of 80 in 1970, after suffering a heart attack in Australia in 1961.

The Boy Scouts of America (BSA) had given Olave a credit card in 1968 to defray her travel expenses. The BSA asked her to use the card for 'keeping in touch' when she stopped traveling. She sent over 2000 Christmas cards to those who were personally known to her, which included paying for over 2000 Christmas cards.

Olave died on June 25, 1977, Surrey, UK, after living her later years in a Hampton Court Palace grace-and-favour apartment. Her ashes were taken to Kenya to be buried in the same grave as her husband's remains. She was rescued by her two children, although her son predeceased her.

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