Lady Helena Emily Gleichen OBE DStJ (1873–1947) was a British painter of landscapes, flowers, and animals, with a particular passion for horses. 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 ...

, she served as an ambulance driver and

radiographer Radiographers, also known as radiologic technologists, diagnostic radiographers and medical radiation technologists are healthcare professionals who specialize in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and treatment of pathology. Radi ...

in France and Italy, where she was given the rank of major in the army. Her awards for her services included the Order of the British Empire.

Family and early life

Her brother,

Lord Edward Gleichen Major-General Lord Albert Edward Wilfred Gleichen (15 January 1863 – 14 December 1937) was a British courtier and soldier. Early life and family history Born as Count Albert Edward Wilfred von Gleichen, he was the only son of Prince Victo ...

(1863–1937), a professional soldier, wrote several books. Her sister,

Lady Feodora Gleichen Lady Feodora Georgina Maud Gleichen (20 December 1861 London – 22 February 1922 London) was a British sculptor of figures and portrait busts and designer of decorative objects. Background Born Countess Feodora Georgina Maud von Gleichen, ...

(1861–1922) was a sculptor. They were the children of Count Victor von Gleichen ''aka''

Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg Admiral Prince Victor Ferdinand Franz Eugen Gustaf Adolf Constantin Friedrich of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, (11 December 1833 – 31 December 1891), also known as Count von Gleichen, was an officer in the Royal Navy, and a sculptor. Biography He wa ...

, a half-nephew of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 21 ...

and himself a sculptor and naval officer, and his

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

wife Laura Williamina Seymour, a daughter of Admiral Sir George Seymour. On 15 December 1885, the

Court Circular The Court Circular (CC) is the official record that lists the engagements carried out by the monarch of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms; the Royal Family; and appointments to their staff and to the court. It is issued by St Ja ...

announced the Queen's permission for Helena's mother to share her father's

rank Rank is the relative position, value, worth, complexity, power, importance, authority, level, etc. of a person or object within a ranking, such as: Level or position in a hierarchical organization * Academic rank * Diplomatic rank * Hierarchy * H ...

at the

Court of St James's The Court of St James's is the royal court for the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. All ambassadors to the United Kingdom are formally received by the court. All ambassadors from the United Kingdom are formally accredited from the court – & ...

, and henceforth they were known as TSH Prince and Princess Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. But the Queen did not extend that privilege to their children, although she confirmed use of their German style as count and countesses. On 12 June 1913 Helena and her sisters, the Countesses Feodora and Valda Gleichen, were granted precedence before the daughters of

duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

s in the

peerage of England The Peerage of England comprises all peerages created in the Kingdom of England before the Act of Union in 1707. In that year, the Peerages of England and Scotland were replaced by one Peerage of Great Britain. There are five peerages in t ...

. Gleichen was educated privately, then studied in Rollshoven and at Frank Calderon's School of Animal Painting. She also studied under

Frank Brangwyn Sir Frank William Brangwyn (12 May 1867 – 11 June 1956) was a Welsh artist, painter, watercolourist, printmaker, illustrator, and designer. Brangwyn was an artistic jack-of-all-trades. As well as paintings and drawings, he produced des ...

and Arthur Lemon, who both greatly influenced her work. She helped with illustrations for the

Younghusband Expedition The British expedition to Tibet, also known as the Younghusband expedition, began in December 1903 and lasted until September 1904. The expedition was effectively a temporary invasion by British Indian Armed Forces under the auspices of the ...

Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...

in 1904.

World War I

When World War I began, Gleichen volunteered as an ambulance driver and translator at a British hospital in France. At the suggestion of a French surgeon, she and her girlfriend

Nina Hollings Nina may refer to: * Nina (name), a feminine given name and surname Acronyms *National Iraqi News Agency, a news service in Iraq * Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, on the campus of Norwegian University of Science and Technology *No income ...

studied radiography in Paris and London. After being rebuffed by the British and French War Offices, they went to Italy, where they were given the rank of major in the Italian army. Gleichen headed the 4th Radiographic British Red Cross Unit stationed in the Villa Zucco in

Cormons Cormons or Cormòns ( sl, Krmin, german: Kremaun) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, located about northwest of Trieste and about west of Gorizia, on the border with Slovenia. Cormons borders the f ...

, Italy. She later received the Italian

Bronze Medal of Military Valour The Bronze Medal of Military Valor ( it, Medaglia di bronzo al valor militare) is an Italian medal for gallantry. It was established by Charles Albert of Sardinia on 26 March 1833, along with the higher ranking Gold and Silver Medals for Military ...

and was invested as a Dame of Grace of the

Order of St John of Jerusalem The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

and as an officer, OBE in 1920. She was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries. In early 1918, she abandoned her German titles, accepting demotion by the King to the style and rank of a

marquess A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

's daughter.

Later life and death

Gleichen worked from her father's former studio in

St James's Palace St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, the capital of the United Kingdom. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster in London. Altho ...

opposite Friary Court. The family home was a rambling estate called

Hellens Hellens Manor, also known as Hellens House or simply Hellens and located in the village of Much Marcle in Herefordshire is one of the oldest dwellings in England, primarily composed of Tudor, Jacobean and Georgian architecture, but the foundat ...

Manor at

Much Marcle Much Marcle is a village and civil parish in Herefordshire, England, located north-east of Ross-on-Wye. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 660. The name ''Marcle'' comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for a boundary field, ''mearc-l ...

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthshire ...

, which was used during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

by the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

Gallery for the safe storage of art works. During the war, Gleichen organised her estate staff of some 80 men into a private army, whom she taught military tactics and shooting. Her memoir, ''Contacts and Contrasts'', illustrated with reproductions of her paintings, was published in 1940. She died in 1947, three days before her 74th birthday. A memorial plaque to her and her siblings is located at

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £135,987 in 2021), ...

Family and early life

World War I

Later life and death

Ancestry

References

Further reading