The obituary of Lady Olive Smith-Dorrien

Obituary

Lady Smith-Dorrien

Lady Smith-Dorrien, D.B.E., widow of Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, G.C.B., G.C.M.G., D.S.O., died at her home in London on Saturday.
She was Olive Crofton, daughter of Colonel John Schneider, of Furness Abbey, Lancashire, and her marriage took place in 1902. When war broke out in 1914 and her husband organized the masterly withdrawal of II Corps from Mons she felt that she could not remain inactive. A notable needlewoman herself, she inspired a devoted band of women to make bags for the reception of wounded men's possessions so that the contents could be cared for and preserved in hospital, and through the medium of her Hospital Bag Fund provided for British and colonial troops some five million bags. Her services were recognized in 1916 by her creation as a D.B.E. The Hospital Bag Fund, however was by no means the sum of her war-time activities, for as president of the Blue Cross she did much to alleviate the sufferings of the horses which were largely used for military purposes in the 1914-18 war, and for her services in that field she received the gold medal of the Reconnaissance Francaise.
After her husbands tragic death in a road accident in 1930, she bravely set out to make her life anew; in 1932

she became Principal of the Royal School of Needlework and remained in the post until last year. The many notable exhibitions held at the school in that period were largely due to her untiring effort and in 1937 she was awarded the Coronation medal for work done in Westminster Abbey, which included the splendid work on the canopy held over the King and Queen during their anointment and the Queen's coronation robe and train.
As soon as war broke out again she reorganized her Hospital Bag Fund and offered her services to the War office and the Red Cross and the fund again came into operation in 1940. Soon afterwards she became chairman of the Soldiers', Sailors' and Airmens' Families Association Central Clothing Depot, and president of the clothing branch of the Officers' Families Fund. On the suggestion of Mrs. Samuel Guiness and helped by the generosity of donors, she organized the sale of many beautiful and historic pieces of lace, the proceeds of which were used to provide garments for expectant mothers and layettes, cots, and perambulators for the families of junior officers of the services. The deaths of two of her three sons, one on active service in Italy in 1944 and the other in the bomb outrage at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem in 1946, did not daunt her, though she felt her loss deeply and she continued her beneficent activities until ill-health compelled her to retire last year.