Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective
Violet Synge
English Girl Guide executive From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Remove ads
Violet Montressor Synge[a] (16 May 1896 – 13 April 1971) was an English Girl Guide executive. She held several roles within the Girlguiding movement, including chief commissioner for England and Guider-in-charge of the 1st Buckingham Palace Guide Company, which was set up in 1937 so that Princess Elizabeth could join.[2] Synge received the Silver Fish Award, the movement's highest adult honour, for services to world Guiding.[3]
.png)
Remove ads
Personal life
Summarize
Perspective
Violet Montressor Synge was born in Surrey to an English father, Captain Francis Julian Synge and an American mother, Christobel Etrenne, from Lenox, Massachusetts.[4][5] She grew up in Chelsea, London[6] and had one surviving brother.[7] During WWI, from 1914 to 1915, Synge worked in a hospital canteen, then drove ambulances until 1919.[8][9] She was presented at court in June 1920.[10]
By 1939 Synge was living in Rickmansworth and working for the British Red Cross.[11] During WWII, she was a Commandant-Major in the Mechanised Transport Corps (MTC). Early in the formation of the Girls Training Corps she was made a commandant of 1st (Chelsea) Company.[12] Established by MTC,[13] the Corps was for females aged 14 to 20 who planned to eventually join the Women's Royal Naval Service, Auxiliary Territorial Service, Women's Auxiliary Air Force, munitions work or nursing.[14][15][16]
After the war Synge lived in Chantry Cottage, Bexhill-on-Sea with fellow Guiders Agnes Maynard and Dorothy Moore[17] until 1952, when the three women moved to Eastbourne, Hampshire.[18][19] By 1957 she was living in Tilford, Surrey.[20] Synge died at Holy Cross Hospital, Haslemere. She left her body for medical research.[21]
Remove ads
Girl Guides
Summarize
Perspective
Synge joined the Girl Guide movement in the late 1920s.[22] Her Guiding qualifications included the Chief's diploma for training.[23] Because of "her record, her ideas and her initiative"[24] Synge was selected to establish the 1st Buckingham Palace Guide Company, so that Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret could experience "social contacts in a wider field."[25] Before setting up the Company she had been Guider-in-charge of a Guide company in Westminster.[26] Of the princesses, Synge said both "were keen to learn anything, and never shirked the common tasks of potato peeling."[27] She retired from the position in 1945.[28]
Between 1945 and 1950 Synge was Imperial commissioner for Guides.[29][30] From 1947 to 1952 she was division commissioner for Bexhill-on-Sea.[31][32] In July 1947 Synge led 1,850 Guides and Scouts in a march at The Mall, overseen by Princess Elizabeth in her first official duty after announcing her engagement to Philip Mountbatten.[33] That November she attended the royal couple's wedding.[34] By 1948 Synge was commissioner of Guides for the Girl Guides Association.[35] She attended the 1948 WAGGGS World Conference at Cooperstown, New York.[36] In 1950 she commanded a parade of 8,000 Rangers, inspected by Princess Margaret, at White City, London.[37]
In 1951 Synge was a member of the World Guide committee.[38] At the 1952 WAGGGS World Conference in Dombås, Norway she was appointed world advisor for Guide training.[39][40] In the same year, she received the Silver Fish Award for her services to the Girlguiding movement.[41]
The Violet Synge Memorial Fund was set up after her death, the moneys from which were used to buy equipment for Girl Guide campsite, Blackland Farm in East Grinstead.[42]
Remove ads
Publications
- Hints on Girl Guide Tests: Tenderfoot, Second Class, First Class and Able Sea Guide (1939) Pub. Brown, Son and Ferguson Ltd - contributor
- Royal Guides: A story of the 1st Buckingham Palace Company (1948) Pub. Girl Guides Association[43] - author
- Synge translated the song O Vremeli, my pretty one, as published by Janet E. Tobitt.
Notes
References
Wikiwand - on
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Remove ads