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 An inspiration An unpublished manuscript written by Jean Blathwayt in the 1940s records the influence of Lady Lilian Digby, above , a neighbour living close to Melbury Osmund.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