Rose Margaret Guthrie Kerr (''née'' Gough; 28 April 1882 – 12 December 1944) was a British pioneer of the Guiding movement. She was one of the founders of the Rangers section of Girl Guides and was involved in the formation of the

World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS ) is a global association supporting the female-oriented and female-only Guiding and Scouting organizations in 152 countries. It was established in 1928 in Parád, Hungary, and has its ...

(WAGGGS) and authored numerous publications on Guiding. She was awarded the

Silver Fish The Silver Fish Award is the highest adult award in Girlguiding. It is awarded for outstanding service to Girlguiding combined with service to world Guiding. The award has changed greatly since it first appeared in 1911, initially being awarde ...

. In 1938 she was made an O.B.E.

Personal life

She was born in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

, the daughter of Major Wilfred Arbuthnot Gough and Beatrice Guthrie, daughter of the fourth Feudal Baron of Craigie. When she was 2, her father was killed in action at the

Battle of Abu Klea The Battle of Abu Klea, or the Battle of Abu Tulayh took place between the dates of 16 and 18 January 1885, at Abu Klea, Sudan, between the British Desert Column and Mahdist forces encamped near Abu Klea. The Desert Column, a force of approxim ...

, and her mother remarried Captain Henry Denison to whom she became quite devoted. She studied music in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. In 1906, Rose Gough married Admiral Mark Kerr (8 September 1864 – 20 January 1944), grandson of

William Kerr, 6th Marquess of Lothian William Kerr, 6th Marquess of Lothian, (4 October 1763 – 27 April 1824), was a British soldier, landowner and politician. He was the son of William Kerr, 5th Marquess of Lothian. He served as a representative peer from 1817 to 1824. Life Ke ...

; they had two children: Alix Kerr Liddell (1907–1981) and Luise Rosemary Kerr (1908–1986).

Robert Baden-Powell Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, ( ; (Commonly pronounced by others as ) 22 February 1857 – 8 January 1941) was a British Army officer, writer, founder and first Chief Scout of the wor ...

proposed to Rose Gough first, but was refused in December 1905. However they remained close friends.

Guiding

Juliette Gordon Low Juliette Gordon Low (October 31, 1860 – January 17, 1927) was the American founder of Girl Scouts of the USA. Inspired by the work of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of Boy Scouts, she joined the Girl Guide movement in England, forming her own g ...

persuaded Kerr to lead a Guide company in 1912. According to the story, Juliette Low using her deafness failed to hear Rose Kerr's excuses that she didn't have time and didn't live in London. She gave up this company on going abroad in 1913 to Greece and later Italy. While staying at the Baden-Powell's home, Ewhurst Place, in 1916,

Olave Baden-Powell Olave St Clair Baden-Powell, Baroness Baden-Powell (''née'' Soames; 22 February 1889 – 25 June 1977) was the first Chief Guide for Britain and the wife of Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting and co-founder o ...

insisted that Kerr become a County Commissioner for The Girl Guide Association. She started as Chief Commissioner for the County of London but later turned her attention to international Guiding also. She continued to lead her own Ranger company from that time on.

World War II

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 opposing ...

, a message was smuggled to Kerr from Anni Collan, the Chief Guide of

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Collan wrote "It is a pity that our two countries are at war with one another - but that does not make any difference to us!" Rose Kerr's daughter, Louise Rosemary "Rosie" Kerr, was a close friend of the pilot,

Richard Hillary Flight Lieutenant Richard Hope Hillary (20 April 1919 – 8 January 1943) was an Anglo-Australian Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the Second World War. He wrote the book '' The Last Enemy'' about his experiences during the Battle of Brit ...

, and was reportedly engaged to the Squadron Leader, Jacques-Henri Schloesing until he was killed in action in 1944. Schloesing had been a Scout leader before the war, and the street where

Passy Cemetery Passy Cemetery (french: Cimetière de Passy) is a small cemetery in Passy, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, France. History The current cemetery replaced the old cemetery (''l'ancien cimetière communal de Passy'', located on Rue Lekain), ...

stands in Paris is named for him.

Appointments

The Girl Guide Association

*Guider *County Commissioner *Member of the Executive Committee *Head of Rangers *Deputy Chief Commissioner, London and the Home Counties *Vice-Chairman, International Council *Commissioner for Publications *(first) International Commissioner *Chairman of subcommittee appointed by Robert Baden-Powell to consider the formation of a World Association

WAGGGS

*Chairman of First World Committee *(first) Commissioner for Tenderfoot Countries *Head of Publications *Editor of ''The Council Fire''

Works

*1929: ''The Commissioner's Book'' *1932: ''The Story of the Girl Guides'' *1934: ''The Cruise of the Calgaric'' *1935: ''The Cruise of the Adriatic'' *1938: ''The Cruise of the Orduna'' *1939: ''The Story Of A Million Girls - Guiding and Girl Scouting Round The World'' (Compiler) *1954: ''The Story of the Girl Guides: 1908- 1938'' (Revised by Alix Liddell)

References

External links

*
BBC-Girlguiding in the UK
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Rose Chairs of the World Board (World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts) 1882 births 1944 deaths Officers of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Silver Fish Award People from South Dublin (county) Girlguiding officials