Dame Ethel Locke King, DBE (1864–1956; née Gore-Browne, sometimes incorrectly written as Locke-King Dictionary of National Biography, King, Hugh Fortescue Locke (1848–1926), landowner and promoter of motor-racing by J. S. L. Pulford
oxforddnb.com; accessed 23 March 2015.) was a British motor-racing promoter and hospital patron. Her wealthy husband, Hugh Fortescue Locke King, created and solely financed

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

House,

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, the first permanent race-track in the world. She took over the supervisory role of the tracks development after the stress of building it made her husband too ill to continue in the role. On 17 June 1907, she led the inaugural procession of cars on to the track in her open

Itala Itala was a car manufacturer based in Turin, Italy, from 1904 to 1934, started by Matteo Ceirano and five partners in 1903. Ceirano family background The Ceirano brothers, Giovanni Battista, Giovanni, Ernesto and Matteo, were influential in the ...

minutes after the track had been opened by her husband.

Early life

Locke King was born at Government House in Tasmania, her father Sir

Thomas Gore Browne Colonel Sir Thomas Robert Gore Browne, (3 July 1807 – 17 April 1887) was a British colonial administrator, who was Governor of St Helena, Governor of New Zealand, Governor of Tasmania and Governor of Bermuda. Early life Browne was born on ...

was Governor of Tasmania at the time. In 1884 aged 20 she married

Hugh F. Locke King Hugh Fortescue Locke King (7 October 1848 – 28 January 1926) (sometimes incorrectly written as Locke-King), was a British entrepreneur who founded and financed the creation of the Brooklands motor racing circuit.J.S.L. Pulford, The Locke Kings ...

, and they settled at Weybridge, Surrey. At first they farmed the estate, but, with her husband's interest in motor racing, they built the

race-track.

First World War

Ethel Locke King ran a Red Cross hospital at her estate, Brooklands House, during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

from 1915 until 1919 and organised the

Voluntary Aid Detachment The Voluntary Aid Detachment (VAD) was a voluntary unit of civilians providing nursing care for military personnel in the United Kingdom and various other countries in the British Empire. The most important periods of operation for these units we ...

in Surrey in 12 hospitals, mainly in houses belonging to her husband. For her work during the war she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1918.

Later life

Following the death of her husband in 1926 Locke King continued to farm the estate and having success with Guernsey cattle. She died at Brooklands on 5 August 1956, aged 92."Dame Ethel Locke King." Times ondon, England6 Aug. 1956: 11. The Times Digital Archive, 5 April 2014.

Mena House

Mena House The Marriott Mena House Hotel is a hotel located just outside Cairo, Egypt, owned by the Egyptian General Company For Tourism & Hotels (EGOTH). It was built on the site of an 1869 hunting lodge, and in 1890 opened Egypt's first swimming pool. Hi ...

in Egypt was purchased by Hugh and Ethel Locke King; once they had settled into the former Khedivial Hunting Lodge, she decided to turn it into a luxurious hotel. "It was to be an hotel to end all hotels", wrote Nina Nelson "... With plenty of money at their disposal, it was enlarged yet again and the Locke Kings set about turning it into the quintessence of comfort ncluding fire-places to warm up the cold winter nights but with fittings, architecture and decoration remaining oriental in design". A friend of the Locke Kings, Alice Gress, visited the hotel shortly after its opening; Alice thought the area to the south would be a wonderful addition to the grounds as a golf course and sketched a rough course plan on a napkin. Hugh Locke King developed the area, building a sporting club and lounge at the base of the pyramids to serve the nine-fairway, 18-green course with interlocking canals and palm trees lining the fairways.Golf in Africa, PhD Thesis, John Korbel, University of Denver, 1975 Ethel Locke King was a paternal aunt of Lieutenant-Colonel Sir

Stewart Gore-Browne Lieutenant Colonel Sir Stewart Gore-Browne (3 May 1883 – 4 August 1967), called Chipembele by Zambians, was a soldier, pioneer white settler, builder, politician and supporter of independence in Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). Early life ...

References

External links

Profile
elmbridgemuseum.org.uk

claytor.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Locke King, Ethel 1864 births 1956 deaths British businesspeople British philanthropists Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Weybridge