A Blue Plaque for Jean Blathwayt
A familiar face
This photo on a Facebook page attracted 3k views in one day. It shows Jean Blathwayt being presented with
a quilt on her retirement in 1983 from the Budleigh Salterton Brownie Pack.
And a famous family
Blathwayts had been associated since the 17th century with Dyrham Park, near
Bath. Jean’s great-uncle, Colonel Linley Wynter Blathwayt, was a noted
supporter of suffragettes.
Her father, the Revd Francis Linley Blathwayt, was a parson-naturalist, Rector of Melbury Osmund in Dorset from 1916 to1929,
and it was there that Jean and her elder sister Barbara were born.
An inspiration
An unpublished manuscript written by Jean
Blathwayt in the 1940s records the influence of Lady Lilian Digby, above, a neighbour living close to Melbury Osmund. Awarded MBE in 1918 for her VAD
work during WW1, Lady Lilian, of nearby Lewcombe Manor, was a keen Girl
Guide and District Commissioner
of the area. ‘The Brownies would trail across the fields to her lovely home to
be tested for various badges,’ recalled Jean. ‘Brownie Revels were held in this
good lady’s garden.’
Budleigh
connections
Jean was a boarder at Copplestone House School on Bedlands Lane,
Budleigh. Her aunt, the artist, writer and GP’s wife Joyce Dennys, was living
in the town at that time.
St Peter’s Church, Dyrham and Hinton
In 1929 the Revd Blathwayt moved with his wife Marjorie
and their children to take up the living at Dyrham Rectory. Jean became a
boarder at St Mary’s School, Calne, in Wiltshire, before going on to Wellgarth Nursery Training College in
London. The School’s magazine reported that during the Munich Crisis of
September 1938, when it was feared that
war was imminent, her parents housed three of the staff, twelve children and
thirteen students at Dyrham Rectory.
Budleigh
In 1953, on the death of her father, Jean settled at
‘Sunbank’ on East Terrace
in Budleigh. During WW2 she had worked as a nursery teacher and Red Cross
nurse, having started a Nursery Home for
young children at
the Rectory with her sister Barbara.
From about 1956 Jean pursued a career as a children's story writer.
From about 1956 Jean pursued a career as a children's story writer.
Jean Blathwayt with a young friend
Some of her books
Although she never married it was her experience of working with young people and her help with local Girl Guides which inspired her to become an author of children’s books.
Although she never married it was her experience of working with young people and her help with local Girl Guides which inspired her to become an author of children’s books.
A total of 15 were published
between 1957 and 1977. Some use a Budleigh setting.
Budleigh’s ‘Brown Owl’
In the early 1960s she was involved with the Parish
Council and a Music and Movement group and by 1967 was Division Commissioner
for the Girl Guides in the Exmouth area. Generations
of young people remember Jean Blathwayt’s support and
friendship. ‘I have
amazing memories of her’, recalls one former Budleigh Guide Leader. ‘She was incredibly
tuned in to children of all ages.’
'A great lady, no children, but wanted and
encouraged the best out of every one!' was how another youth leader, Graham Bastone, remembered her.
'She was
instrumental in the creation of the original St. Peter's Church Youth Group, attending as the responsible adult and supporting a number of us
in many ways,' recalled Julie Cotton.
'I spent a lot of time with her and her sister and they both
played a large part in my early years. I'm sure I still have photos of her
green mini clubman - double back doors and wooden finish - which she drove me in
on my first camp ever!
'It
was also Jean who inspired me to work on my Queen's Guide Award, testing me on
one of my badges, and subsequently encouraging me to take up the leadership of
the Budleigh Salterton Guide Unit later on.'
Brownie
Leader and children's author Jean Blathwayt is still remembered by people who
feel indebted to her. I believed that her achievements deserved recognition with
a blue plaque at her former home in Budleigh, especially in her centenary year.
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