Family and personal life
Born Marguerite Julia Caroline de Beaumont-Klein, she was the middle child of mother Kathleen Mary O’Hagan and father Louis Charles Leopold Martial de Beaumont-Klein. She was baptised in 1905 at St George's, Bloomsbury. She spent her childhood in Norfolk, moving to Cambridge, where her father was a lecturer at theGirl Guides
1909 Crystal Palace Scout Rally and the founding of Girl Guides
In 1908 Baden-Powell’s Scouting for Boys was published, inspiring groups of boys to organise themselves in Boy Scout patrols, which evolved into Boy Scout troops, consisting of several patrols. In the same year de Beaumont created the Wolves Patrol, comprising a small group of girls and boys, with herself as patrol leader. They registered as a Scout troop using their initials rather than their clearly gendered forenames. In a recording made in 1978, de Beaumont said: “We simply dressed ourselves, turned our stockings down on our knees, collected all the broomsticks we could find in the broom cupboard and went to Scout HQ and bought scout hats, which in those days you could do. They didn't ask us who we were, or anything about it. It was a mixed patrol, we had two little boys, I think four little girls… and we used to do Scouting.” de Beaumont was one of approximately one thousand girls amongst 11,000 boys who showed up at theGuiding in Cambridgeshire
For de Beaumont, Guiding was a family affair. Her mother, the Hon. Mrs de Beaumont, was County Commissioner for Cambridgeshire Girl Guides from 1916-1945, her sister Elizabeth was the county’s first Secretary and Camp Advisor and her brother Charles was a member of the Scouts. In 1919 de Beaumont was involved in a concert given by Cambridge and County School Girl Guides. Between 1924 and 1927 she was Cambridge District Captain and Captain of 5th Cambridge Company. In 1927 she took over her sister’s role training Guides in Cambridgeshire. In 1928 and 1929 she conducted a Guide choir as part of a pageant depicting the history of Girl Guides. In 1930 she travelled to Switzerland to train British and Swiss Girl Guides. To celebrate the Guide movement’s “Coming Of Age” (21 years) in 1932, she organised the largest camp in Cambridgeshire’s history, with 600 Guides at Chippenham Park. In the same year she was awarded a red cord distinction diploma. Two years later she received the Silver Fish Award, Girl Guiding’s highest adult honour. After leaving Cambridge to move to Shabourne Manor in 1934, she remained involved in the county’s Guiding, as leader of the Cambridge Sea Ranger Crew. When the Jarman Centre – Cambridgeshire East’s residential Girlguiding centre – opened in Newmarket in 1988, rooms were named in honour of de Beaumont, her sister and her mother in recognition of their early roles in local Guiding.Guiding in Wiltshire
After moving to Marlborough in 1934 de Beaumont became involved with Guiding there. Her partner, Mason, was also a Guider and Scout volunteer. Between 1936 and 1938 de Beaumont was Division Commissioner for North Wiltshire Division Girl Guides. In 1956 she was made Auxiliary Advisor to the Guide Commonwealth HQ.Scouting
In the early 1930s de Beaumont was Akela of 61st Cambridge Great Shelford Pack. In 1932, together with her mother, she was involved in the United Council of Christian Witness for Cambridge’s ‘Week of Youth’, with Guide and Scout leaders heavily involved. In 1936 she organized an Ely Rally for the Scouts. In Wiltshire, she ran the Shalbourne Scout Troop from her loft over the garage of Shalbourne Manor.Horse breeder
de Beaumont has been called “the far-famed owner of the Shalbourne Stud” and “the doyenne of horse breeders”. She owned champion hacks Honeysuckle and Junifer, Arab stallion Shagya Basa, and Champion Highland pony mare Kirsty of Coignafearn. In 1948 she acquired the entire Wentworth stud of Welsh mountain ponies, including “the legendary” Coed Coch Glyndwr, together with many famous mares. She was “perhaps the most successful of modern breeders” of polo ponies, establishing a “dynasty” with the hack champion June XI.Publications
* 1934 – ''Adventuring and Other Poems'' (a collection of 60 poems with a foreword written by Lord Baden-Powell, pub. Heath Cranton Ltd.) * 1935 – ''Road Across The Downs'', pub. Heath Cranton Ltd. * 1944 - ''The Wolf That Never Sleeps: A Story of Baden-Powell'', pub. Girl Guides Association * 1950 – ''World Adventure: A Story of the Chief Guide'', pub. Girl Guide Association * 1951 – ''Yarns on the Tenderfoot'', pub. Girl Guides Association * 1953 – ''The Way of a Horse'', illustrated by Beatrice White, pub. Hurst and Blackett. * 1963 – ''Help yourself to Stalking and Tracking'', pub. Girl Guides Association * 1976 – ''Horses and Ponies: Their Breeding, Feeding and Management'', pub. J.A. Allen. * 1976 – ''Photographic Guide to Tail Plaiting'', pub. Riding School and Stable Management Ltd. She also contributed articles to Horse and Pony magazine and Riding magazine.References
{{Reflist 1899 births 1989 deaths Recipients of the Silver Fish Award Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting Girlguiding Scouting and Guiding in the United Kingdom Girlguiding officials Scouting and Guiding in Australia Scouting pioneers People from Shalbourne Biographers 20th-century British biographers 20th-century English biographers British women biographers Horse breeders Arabian breeders and trainers