Vol14; No 21 Lady Baden-Powell

[Les1949]

HAMPTON, AROUND AND ABOUT

Things you may not know, or didn’t know you knew!

No 21 LADY BADEN-POWELL

Lady Baden-Powell (born Olave Soames) 1889-1977, became world famous when she married Robert Baden-Powell, Chief Scout of the World, in 1912. Baden-Powell became famous due to his exploits in the Boer Wars and then founding the Boy Scouts Organisation in 1908. In 1912 Olave married Baden-Powell – which caused a stir, as he was 55 and she was 23. They met on the Liner, Arcadia, on a voyage to New York. They remained married until Baden-Powell’s death in 1941. Olave helped to found the Girl Guide movement in 1916. During the 1920s the couple built up the Scout and Guide Organisation and in 1930 was elected Chief Guide.

Following Baden-Powell’s death, Lady Baden-Powell was offered an apartment in Hampton Court Palace, as her own home, Pax Hill, near Bentley, Hampshire had been taken over by the Canadian Military. During 1944 a V2 rocket came down in the vicinity of the palace, there was a lot of broken glass and the ceiling fell in! The apartment was vast, consisting of eight rooms and 12 beds and was referred to as ‘Hampers Hotel’.

There were always plenty of visitors as Lady Baden-Powell was running the Guide movement from her rooms. On one occasion during 1953 there were 120 visitors (at the same time), mainly due to overseas Guides visiting for Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation.
In the apartment were displayed various items of Lord Baden-Powell’s souvenirs including ceremonial swords and a life-sized bust.
After 1970 Lady Baden-Powell had to give up her travelling, for health reasons, but still managed to keep up her ‘entertaining’ with ‘finger lunches’ for as many as 40 people at a time.
When Lady Baden Powell died, her ashes were flown to Kenya where they were buried in her husband’s grave.


Trivia 1; Lady Baden-Powell was known as the world’s most travelled woman; between 1930 and 1970, she flew 487,777 miles.
Trivia 2; Visitors to her apartment often said that they felt the presence of..…..Queen Anne Boleyn.

The Old Historian