Barbara Mary Townsend (5A24)
| Date of Birth: | 11 Mar 1913 |
|---|---|
| Date of Death: | dunm 4 Apr 1970 |
| Generation: | 9th |
| Residence: | Fairhaven, Batheaston, Bath |
| Father: | Commander Richard Herbert Denny Townsend RN [5A11] |
| Mother: | Hill, Phyllis Marion Gathorne |
| Spouse: | Unmarried |
| Issue: | None |
| See Also: | Table VA ; Lineage ; Ancestors' Tree ; Descendents' Tree |
Notes for Barbara Mary Townsend
Barbara was educated at Highfield, Bushey, Herts and Farrington House, Surrey.
Aged 21, Barbara and 24 other young girls (including her sister Patsy), drawn from public schools across England, set off for a five-month tour of New Zealand and Australia on 2 August 1934 from Tilbury on the SS Rotorua. The group was chaperoned by Edith Thompson, CBE, the then president of the English hockey team.
Each girl took two suitcases and a hatbox, was forbidden to use lipstick and had to wear a hat at all times. On board they shared tiny four-bunk cabins and were roused every day by bugle call. The Captain inspected their cabins daily and they had to write a diary every night for their parents who had paid £150 for the trip.
It was a hugely exciting adventure for them; they travelled out via Curacao, the Panama canal and Fiji arriving in Wellington, New Zealand on 18 September. They visited Rotorua and Wanganui on North Island and left Wellington bound for Sydney, Australia, on 27 September. They remained in the country for the next 6 weeks visiting Canberra, all the main cities and Tasmania. They visited schools and universities, Government offices, ranches, mills, and the like, watched sheep shearing and were entertained throughout with picnics, receptions and dances. They set sail from Fremantle in early November and travelled back to the UK on the SS Moldavia via Colombo, Aden, Port Said, and Marseilles arriving in London on 14 December. The trip is recalled in an article in the Times of 17 August 2004 by Valerie Grove.
Two years later Barbara, her mother and sister Patsy, left Tilbury on board the SS Orontes on 26 September 1936 for a 6 month return visit to Australia and New Zealand. Patsy kept a diary (222mm x 170mm) of this trip - 273 pages and about 50,000 words. It is very personal and detailed and even includes a list of the hotels in which they stayed and the films they watched. The voyage was arranged by Thomas Cook & Son Ltd and cost £272 - 10s. Unlike the journey out in 1934 they travelled out via Gibraltar, Aden and Colombo and arrived in Fremantle on 27 October. They spent the next two weeks touring Australia visiting those places they saw on the previous trip before departing Sydney on 11 November bound for Auckland, New Zealand. They spent the next month touring North Island and then departed Wellington on 19 December on the SS Rangatira bound for Christchurch on South Island. Following extensive travels in South Island they returned to Wellington on 2 March 1937 and set sail for the UK, via the Panama Canal, on board SS Rotorua on 6 March. The itinerary and various other items are shown in Patsy's 'Scrapbook'.
During World War II Barbara served as a clerk in the Admiralty, Bath. Thereafter, she spent her whole life at her home, Fairhaven, in Batheaston making a living weaving tweeds. Barbara's mother bought the house, which was previously a boarding school for young ladies, from Mr Brown in May 1920.