Hon. Beryl Cozens-Hardy, OBE (1911-2011)

By all accounts, Cozens-Hardy was a powerhouse. She was the first British woman to chair the WAGGGS committee in the 1970s, overseeing 7 million girls around the world. She canoed down the Amazon aged 64. She was stationed in Bermuda working in counter-espionage during WWII. She was a fierce gardener. She admired "stickability".

I discovered her name as one of the recipients of the Silver Fish Award. As of now there are 11 more women on the list missing a bio. My plan is to rectify that. Every single one of these women must have been truly extraordinary to have received this honour. It's only right that they are included the story of Guiding now.

A nice circular addition to this story is that Cozens-Hardy was a long-term resident of Norfolk, and was instrumental in getting the Norfolk GirlGuiding Archive Resource Centre (ARC) established. This is where I managed to get Mary Chater's memoirs added to back at the start of my journey.

After publishing this bio, I sent a link to Margaret Bird, the author of "Mary Hardy and her World" (2020). She was able to fill in a few more details and correct a couple of details, which was great!

Visit: Hon Beryl's page

Next up: Dame Anstice Gibbs

Photo Credit: .www.burnham-press.co.uk