Wikipedia

Margaret Pilkington (Girl Guides)

For Margaret Pilkington, the printmaker, see Margaret Pilkington.

Margaret Pilkington MBE, JP (b. St Helens, Merseyside, 19 January 1906, d. St Helens, 15 January 1985) was a Girl Guide executive. She volunteered with the Guide International Service (GIS) in post-war Egypt and Greece. For her GIS service[2] she was awarded an MBE in 1948 and the Silver Fish Award, Girl Guiding's highest adult honour, in 1955.[3]

Margaret Pilkington
MBE
Margaret Pilkington from a 1944 newspaper
Born(1906-01-19)19 January 1906
St Helens, England
Died15 January 1985(1985-01-15) (aged 78)
St Helens, England
EducationUniversity of Cambridge[1]
OccupationGirl Guide leader
FamilyHarry Pilkington (brother)
Roger Pilkington (brother)
Herbert Cozens-Hardy, 1st Baron Cozens-Hardy (grandfather)

Family and personal life

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Margaret Hope Pilkington was the eldest daughter of Richard Austin Pilkington (1871–1951), chair of Pilkington Glass from 1921 – 1931, and Hope Cozens-Hardy (1877–1947), the daughter of Herbert Cozens-Hardy, 1st Baron Cozens-Hardy. Pilkington had four siblings, including Harry Pilkington and Roger Pilkington. Margaret Pilkington, the curator of Whitworth Art Gallery, was Pilkington's second cousin.[4] Pilkington studied at Cambridge University.[5] During World War II she volunteered on a mobile first aid post.[6]

Pilkington died suddenly in January 1985. A service of remembrance was held at Scarisbrick Guide Camp, which Pilkington had been instrumental in setting up in the 1960s.[7]

Girl Guides

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Pilkington, introduced to Guiding in the 1930s by her aunt, Christine Pilkington,[8] held several roles within St Helens and district Girl Guiding, including camp advisor,[9] assistant division commissioner, district commissioner for St Helens N.W. and captain of 1st St Helens Ranger company.[10] In 1939, she led a group of Guides on a trip to Pax Ting, the Girl Guide World Camp in Gödöllő, Hungary.[11][12] She held two Girl Guide Association (GGA) training diplomas.[13]

Guide International Service (GIS)

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In 1943 Pilkington joined the Guide International Service (GIS) and undertook 18 months of "special training, fitting [her] for difficult work in countries which have been in Nazi occupation." It included a "toughening course" which involved "sleeping in barns, existing without money or kit, [and] being sent to lonely points on the Yorkshire moors in the snow to survive on iron rations."[14]

In June 1944, she led the first GIS team of British adult Girl Guide volunteers.[15] The team included Marjorie Stopford, Alison Duke, Marjorie Jarman, Muriel Lees, Georgina Hall, Beryle Gibson, Maud Travers and Rosamund Wansburgh.[16]

Their first posting was to Egypt,[17] caring for Greek civilians in a refugee camp.[18] They then moved to Greece where they organised centres to receive and process large numbers of hostages who had recently been released by their captors, The Greek People's Liberation Army. When the team arrived in Greece in February 1945, "Greek Guides, recognising the trefoil (the international symbol of Girl Guides) greeted them enthusiastically and with great relief at their coming."[19]

In May 1945, Pilkington and her team were asked to turn a disused orphanage near Athens into a centre for displaced people. It had no water, lights, fuel, sanitation or furniture. On the same day "250 Greek soldiers, thirty-six women (six of them pregnant) and ten babies arrived" at the centre, seeking shelter, food and medical aid. The British Army had provided the centre with two days' worth of rations, and Pilkington's team had "one tin-opener, one knife and one first-aid kit" between them. By December there were 600 displaced people living at the centre. Pilkington and her team ran the centre for a year, until the following May.[20]

Pilkington was awarded an MBE in 1948, "for services in Greece under the Guide International Service".[21]

Guiding post-GIS

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Pilkington was selected to represent Great Britain at the 14th World Conference of the WAGGGS, held in Dombass, Norway in 1952,[22] and the 15th World Conference, held in Utrecht, Netherlands in 1954.[23] In 1964, upon hearing that 26 acres of land belonging to West Lancashire's Scarisbrick Hall was for sale, Pilkington "never stopped working" in her efforts to have the land bought by the Guides. £10,000 was raised and Pilkington "almost lived on site to ensure that everything went according to plan." The South West Lancashire Girl Guide County Camp Site was the result, officially opened in May 1967.[24] It remains open in 2024.[25]

Roles

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Pilkington held the following roles within GGA:

  • 1949 – assistant imperial commissioner for training
  • 1950 – imperial commissioner,[26] training Guiders "in the colonies"[27] – she travelled extensively in this role, including to West Africa[28]
  • 1953 – South West Lancashire, assistant county commissioner[29]
  • 1955 – Commonwealth headquarters, advisor for training[30]
  • 1958 – Council of the Girl Guides Association, member[31]
  • 1964 – St Helens Guides, chief commissioner[32]
  • 1967 – St Helens, county camp advisor[33][34]
  • 1974 to 1980 – Merseyside County, president[35]

Other

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Pilkington served as a magistrate in St Helens.[36] In 1970, she and Dame Ethel Wormald were the first women to serve as Deputy Lieutenants of Lancashire.[37]

She was president of her local Save the Children Fund and was "actively involved" in the Deaf Society. She was a practicing Christian and served as Deacon and Elder of her church, president of the Women's Guild and assisted in raising "substantial sums of money" for missionary work.[38] In the 1950s Pilkington worked for local girls' clubs in St Helens.[39]

See also

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  • Hampton, Janie How the Girl Guides won the War" (2011) Pub. ISIS ISBN 9780753152812

References

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  1. ^ Hampton, Janie (2011). How the Girl Guides won the war. Oxford, UK: ISIS. p. 379. ISBN 9780753152829.
  2. ^ "To be ordinary members of the Civil Division…" (PDF). London Gazette. London, UK. 1 January 1948. p. 24.
  3. ^ "Service honours Girl Guide leader". Ormskirk advertiser. Ormskirk, UK. 16 May 1985. p. 2.
  4. ^ "Miss Pilkington". Manchester Evening News. Manchester, UK. 19 June 1944. p. 8.
  5. ^ Hampton, Janie (2011). How the Girl Guides won the war. Oxford, UK: ISIS. p. 383. ISBN 9780753152829.
  6. ^ "Rotherfield Girl in Greece". Sussex Express. Sussex, UK. 8 December 1944. p. 3.
  7. ^ CW (April 1985). "Miss Margaret H Pilkington". Guider (Vol. 72 No. 4 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. p. 17.
  8. ^ CW (April 1985). "Miss Margaret H Pilkington". Guider (Vol. 72 No. 4 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. p. 17.
  9. ^ "Girl Guide activities". Liverpool Evening Express. Liverpool, UK. 11 July 1935. p. 10.
  10. ^ "For freed territory". Liverpool Echo. Liverpool, UK. 21 June 1944. p. 4.
  11. ^ "Girl Guides". Liverpool Evening Express. Liverpool, UK. 20 May 1939. p. 5.
  12. ^ "To join world camp". Liverpool Echo. Liverpool, UK. 14 December 1939. p. 13.
  13. ^ "First Guide team has left these shores". Sheerness Times Guardian. Sheerness, UK. 7 July 1944. p. 6.
  14. ^ "Rotherfield Girl in Greece". Sussex Express. Sussex, UK. 8 December 1944. p. 3.
  15. ^ "Woman's Realm". The West Australian. Perth, Australia. 6 October 1944. p. 3.
  16. ^ "First Guide team has left these shores". Sheerness Times Guardian. Sheerness, UK. 7 July 1944. p. 6.
  17. ^ "Greece welcomes Girl Guides". The Christian Science Monitor. Boston, USA. 21 March 1945. p. 9.
  18. ^ D Paterson (June 1945). "From Camp to liberated Europe". The Camping Magazine (Vol. 17 No. 6 ed.). insert: American Camping Association. p. 5.
  19. ^ "Richmond Division Girl Guides". Richmond Herald. Richmond, UK. 24 February 1945. p. 10.
  20. ^ Hampton, Janie (2011). How the Girl Guides won the war. Oxford, UK: ISIS. p. 383. ISBN 9780753152829.
  21. ^ "Guide International Service". Matilda (Vol. XXV No. 5 ed.). Sydney, Australia: Girl Guides Association, Victoria. June 1948. p. 3.
  22. ^ "Girl Guides's World Conference". Paisley Daily Express. Paisley, UK. 5 April 1952. p. 3.
  23. ^ "The Girl Guides' World Conference". Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail. Hartlepool, UK. 16 August 1954. p. 2.
  24. ^ "UK chief Guide opens new County camp site at Scarisbrick". Ormskirk Advertiser. Ormskirk, UK. 11 May 1967. p. 16.
  25. ^ "Scarisbrick Campsite and training centre". girlguidingsefton.org.uk. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  26. ^ "Girl Guides". Liverpool Evening Express. Liverpool, UK. 24 February 1945. p. 7.
  27. ^ "Guiding Star". Manchester Evening News. Manchester, UK. 20 August 1954. p. 4.
  28. ^ CW (April 1985). "Miss Margaret H Pilkington". Guider (Vol. 72 No. 4 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. p. 17.
  29. ^ "Dedication for Division's new standard". Ormskirk Advertiser. Ormskirk, UK. 26 February 1953. p. 7.
  30. ^ "Guiding Star". Belfast Telegraph. Manchester, UK. 22 July 1955. p. 4.
  31. ^ "November". Faversham News. Faversham, UK. 3 January 1958. p. 3.
  32. ^ "Guide camp at Knowsley park". Liverpool Echo. Liverpool, UK. 5 June 1964. p. 7.
  33. ^ "Scouters, Guiders at conference". Runcorn Guardian. Runcorn, UK. 5 March 1970. p. 12.
  34. ^ "Three Guides and Guiding". Liverpool Echo. Liverpool, UK. 9 July 1970. p. 10.
  35. ^ CW (April 1985). "Miss Margaret H Pilkington". Guider (Vol. 72 No. 4 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. p. 17.
  36. ^ "Lancashire appoint their first Deputy Lieutenants". Liverpool Daily Post. Liverpool, UK. 23 June 1970. p. 7.
  37. ^ "Three Women among Lancs Deputy Lieutenants". Liverpool Echo. Liverpool, UK. 23 June 1970. p. 10.
  38. ^ CW (April 1985). "Miss Margaret H Pilkington". Guider (Vol. 72 No. 4 ed.). London, UK: Girl Guides Association. p. 17.
  39. ^ "Three Ulster Girl Guides are chosen". Manchester Evening News. Ulster, UK. 20 August 1954. p. 1.
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