"Seeing It Through" WW1 Community project - Ware event Oct 2016 display 4 (Barclay family of East Hertford)

 

Vera Barclay at the Junction start, above the village, St Moritz

 

Claudia Barclay - San Moritz run steering 2 sleds

 

Envelope from Edward Packe to Claudia Barclay in France

 

Bay Cubs Pioneer

 

Message streamer from Edward Packe to Claudia Barclay

The Barclay family of East Hertford

• The young women shown in these pictures are the daughters of internationally famous authoress Florence Barclay of Hertford Heath Vicarage;
• Vera “Bay” (pictured on the Cresta Run, San Moritz around 1913), helped set up and run the East Hertford/ Hertford Heath Scouts in 1912, at age 19.
• Younger sister, Claudia “Bob” Barclay ran the village Guides (pictured driving a sled with two boys in 1913) and was described by her younger sister, Angela as a “flapper”. It is documented that she was a soloist, accompanied by Mr Govier (see details in next post) at St Mary’s school Fete.   She later married Captain E Packe RFC (previously a student of Haileybury school), near the family home at Hertford Heath;
• The Scout Troop was so popular that Vera decided to form a Junior Section in 1913, which she put in the charge of her younger sister, Angela “Angel” (age c. 14);
• The ‘pack’ was so successful that Vera wrote an article entitled “How a Lady Can Train the Cubs” for The Scout magazine in January 1915. She was asked to work on The Wolf Cub’s Handbook with Baden Powell, first published in December 1916;
• At the start of WW1, both Vera and Claudia worked at the VAD (Voluntary Aid Detachment) at Wallfields in Hertford. They then served as nurses at Netley and in France respectively.

Claudia’s fiancé dropped a note to Claudia’s YMCA camp at Trouville when flying an early morning patrol in February 1918 – he records the event in his diary (available online) and the family still have the note and the streamer it was dropped with (also online – http://gwydir.demon.co.uk/diaries/index.htm.