Kathleen Burke Peabody McLean Hale CBE (24 October 1887 – 26 November 1958) was a British-American philanthropist and war worker, decorated by seven European nations for her volunteer work during World War I and World War II.
Kathleen Burke Hale | |
|---|---|
 Kathleen Burke, from her 1916 book The White Road to Verdun | |
| Born | Kathleen Burke 24 October 1887 London |
| Died | 26 November 1958 New York |
| Other names | Kathleen Burke Peabody |
| Occupation | Philanthropist |
| Spouse(s) | Frederick Forrest Peabody John Reginald McLean Girard Van Barkaloo Hale |
Early life
editKathleen Burke was born in London, the daughter of Thomas Francis Burke and Georgina Connolly Burke. Her father was a railway executive.[1] She qualified to study at Oxford, and also studied at the Sorbonne as a young woman.[2]
Career
editWorld War I
editBurke was honorary secretary of the London Office of the Scottish Women's Hospitals during World War I. She raised funds and visited hospital units;[3] she was the first woman to enter Verdun.[4] She was decorated by seven European nations for her volunteer activities, including a British Victory Medal and CBE (1918), membership in the French Légion d'honneur, a Serbian Knighthood of Saint Sava, and a Russian Cross of St. George. She was also made an honorary colonel in the United States Army.[5] She met all three of her future husbands during this period.[6][7]
Burke wrote about her war experiences in The White Road to Verdun,[6][8] and gave talks about her war experiences for community groups.[9][10]
Between the wars
editWith her first husband Burke worked to rebuild Santa Barbara after its devastating 1925 earthquake; a high school stadium was named in recognition of their work.[6] She was made an honorary member of the local metal workers' union in gratitude for her efforts.[11] She was active in supporting many civic organizations in Santa Barbara, including the hospital, the public library, the Lobero Theatre, the Humane Society,[12] the Junior League and scouting organizations.[13]
World War II and after
editHale and her third husband worked on refugee resettlement in France until the Nazi occupation; then they focused on British war relief efforts.[14] "This is a different kind of war," she told The New York Times in 1940, "but the human needs are the same."[15] After the war, they funded the rebuilding of a French village, Maillé.[16][17][18] Eleanor Roosevelt mentioned their project in her newspaper column, "My Day."[19]
Personal life and legacy
edit
Kathleen Burke married three times. Her first husband was manufacturer Frederick Forrest Peabody; they married in 1920[20] and he died in 1927.[6] She was only briefly married to her second husband, John Reginald McLean, in 1929;[21] he died in a car accident nine days after their wedding.[22][23] In 1930 she married her third husband, diplomat Girard Van Barkaloo Hale.[24][25] They lived in Montecito. She died in 1958, a month after her third husband,[26] in New York. There is a large collection of her papers in the Santa Barbara Historical Museum's Gledhill Library.[27]
Her home in Montecito, Villa Solana, became the headquarters of the Fund for the Republic,[28] and its successor, the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions.[6] Her property Eagle Ranch near Atascadero remains a wildlife preserve, administered by the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County.[29] In 2017, "De Santa Barbara à Maillé… les Hale, 1886-1958" was an exhibit about Hale and her third husband, at the historical museum in Maillé.[30]
References
edit- ^ "Mrs. Thomas Burke Dies at Peabody Home". Morning Press. 12 July 1921. p. 2. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ Leneman, Leah (2004). "Hale [née Burke; other married names Peabody, McLean], Kathleen (1887–1958), fund-raiser". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/63748. Retrieved 21 April 2021. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ^ "Women Brave Guns to Nurse Wounded". The New York Times. 2 April 1916. p. 5 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "Gen. DuBois Her Host in Verdun Tunnels". The New York Times. 8 September 1916. p. 11 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "Kathleen Burke's Betrothal Stirs Peninsula Society". San Francisco Call. 31 March 1920. p. 13. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ a b c d e Beresford, Hattie. "Moguls and Mansions" Montecito Journal Magazine (Winter Spring 2008): 40-51.
- ^ "Kathleen Burke McLean and Girard Van B. Hale Met at Soissons in 1918". The New York Times. 11 December 1930. p. 4 – via ProQuest.
- ^ Burke, Kathleen (1 March 2004). The White Road to Verdun.
- ^ "Miss Kathleen Burke Will Talk of Big War". San Francisco Call. 13 April 1917. p. 8. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Red Cross War Labor to be Told at Rally". San Francisco Call. 1 May 1917. p. 8. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "Kathleen Burke Peabody Made Honorary Member of Local Union No. 364, Santa Barbara, Calif". Sheet Metal Workers Journal. 31: 8. January 1926.
- ^ "History & Mission". Santa Barbara Humane. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ Curletti, Rosario (11 April 1957). "Junior League of Santa Barbara Notes Year of Achievement in Annual Report". The Los Angeles Times. p. 35. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Girard Hales Leave for War Work in East". The San Francisco Examiner. 24 December 1940. p. 17. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Five Women Sail to Assist Allies". The New York Times. 3 March 1940. p. 3 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "Maille Gets American Help". The Akron Beacon Journal. 16 November 1947. p. 89. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Robb, Inez (8 March 1951). "Assignment: America". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. p. 30. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Robb, Inez (7 September 1949). "Maille Never Realized Life was Tres Bien". Lansing State Journal. p. 10. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "My Day by Eleanor Roosevelt, July 12, 1946". The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Digital Edition. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ "F. F. Peabody to Marry Miss Kathleen Burke". San Luis Obispo Tribune. 2 April 1920. p. 3. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
- ^ "MRS. F.F. PEABODY; Betrothal of Widow Who Won Many Decorations a Romance of World War". The New York Times. 25 February 1929. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ "Milestones: Mar. 25, 1929". Time. 25 March 1929. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ "McLean Hurt in Crash at Santa Barbara". The New York Times. 11 March 1929. p. 3 – via ProQuest.
- ^ "'Angel of France' is Wed to Famous American Painter". The Missoulian. 17 December 1930. p. 1. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Artist and Widow in Quiet Wedding". Daily News. 17 December 1930. p. 3. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Obituary for Girard Barkaloo Van Hale (Aged 72)". Chicago Tribune. 31 October 1958. p. 31. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Hale (Kathleen Burke) Papers". Online Archive of California. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ "Skipping Around". The Des Moines Register. 5 June 1959. p. 2. Retrieved 21 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Sneed, David (24 March 2016). "Eagle Ranch near Atascadero to preserve 3,255 acres of open space". The Tribune News. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
- ^ "" From Santa Barbara to Maillé… the Hale, 1886-1958 "". Maison du Souvenir (in French). 12 February 2017. Retrieved 21 April 2021.
External links
edit- Kathleen Burke, photograph in the Bain News Service Collection, Library of Congress
