Marriage and Children In January 1912, Olave met
Second Boer War British general and founder of the Scouts, Robert Baden-Powell, on an ocean liner (RMSP
Arcadian) on a cruise to the
Caribbean. He was on his way to
New York City to start a round-the-world lecture tour. She was 23, and he was 55, and they shared a birthday. They became engaged on his return to England in September of the same year, causing a media sensation. They married on 30 October 1912 in a private ceremony in
St. Peter's Church, Parkstone, her parish church. Apart from the clergy, the only other people present were Robert's brother, sister, and
Robert Kekewich, a close friend of his and Best Man, as well as Olave's mother, and brother, her brother-in-law, and Sie Bower, a close friend of hers, who had introduced them on that cruise. The Scouts and Guides of England each donated a penny to buy the Baden-Powell couple a wedding gift of a car (not the
Rolls-Royce called "Jam-Roll" that was presented to them in 1929). Olave's father helped financially with the purchase on Armistice Day 1918 of
Pax Hill (hence the name they gave it) near
Bentley, Hampshire, as a family home where she lived with her husband from 29 January 1919 until 25 October 1938. and they had two sons; and •
Betty Clay (1917–2004), who, like her mother, met her future husband on board a ship — an older man (by a decade) who shared her birthday. On 24 September 1936 she married Gervas Charles Robert Clay (1907–2009), who worked for HMOCS — His Majesty's Overseas Civil Service — in Northern Rhodesia from 1930 to 1964. They had a daughter and three sons. Betty Clay was also prominent in the
Guide Movement in
Northern Rhodesia until they retired to England in 1964, when she became involved with the
Girl Guides in England until her death. In addition, when Olave's sister, Auriol Davidson, née Soames, died in 1919, Olave took her three nieces, Christian (1912–1975), Clare (1913–1980), and Yvonne (1918–2000), into her family and raised them as her children.
War work During 1915 and 1916, with
World War I in progress, Olave assisted directly with the war effort in France. Robert had seen the usefulness of the
YMCA's recreational huts for the soldiers and persuaded the
Mercers' Company (of which he had been Master in 1912) to pay for such a hut at Val-de-Lievres,
Calais. It was to be staffed by adults connected with Scouting. Olave was one of the team of five men and three women who staffed the hut at the start. She persuaded her mother to look after the children when she was away. Olave left for France on 7 October 1915, when her second child was five months old. Her regular work in the Mercers' hut included serving
cocoa and cigarettes and chatting with those who came in. She also recalled in her autobiography playing her violin and singing at the Christmas Concert. Olave also adopted several stray animals during her time in Val-de-Lievres. Olave accompanied Robert on many of his Scouting tours and to events. She also typed letters for him. In 1915, the Baden-Powells bought a small car, and after Robert taught her to drive, Olave often drove him to engagements. In October 1916, the first conference for County Commissioners was held, and it was here that the Commissioners unanimously requested that Olave take the role of Chief Commissioner – she was just pregnant with her third child. Shortly before this, she had organised a great number of women in other parts of Britain to take up roles in Guiding. just before his murder on 24 January 1941. After her husband's death, Olave received thousands of letters of condolence. She was helped to reply to them all by Bertha Hines, the wife of
David Hines, who was away fighting the Italian army that had invaded
Ethiopia and
Somalia. Olave often watched Bertha's baby daughter, Penny, while Bertha typed reply letters.
World War II In 1942, she braved
U-boat attacks to return to the UK and, as she had no home to return to, was allocated a
grace and favour apartment in
Hampton Court Palace, in which she lived from 1943 to 1976. Her own home, Pax Hill, had been commandeered and taken over by the Canadian military. Through World War II, she toured the United Kingdom. She was on a visit when a
V2 missile damaged her Hampton Court apartment in 1944. She went to France and toured throughout Europe as soon as she could after
D-Day, as the war ended, to help revive Guiding and Scouting.
After World War II in 1960. To her left,
Helvi Sipilä, to her right,
Jarl Wahlström. Olave led the Guide Movement worldwide for forty years, travelling all over the globe helping to establish and encourage the Guide Movement in other countries, and bringing membership to over six and a half million worldwide. Olave was present in Washington, DC in 1962 for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scouts. Having suffered a heart attack in Australia in 1961, she was finally banned from travelling by her doctor at the age of 80 in 1970 when she was diagnosed with
diabetes, from which she eventually died. In 1968, the
Boy Scouts of America (BSA) gave Olave a credit card to defray her travel costs. When she stopped travelling, the BSA asked her to use the card for 'keeping in touch'. Her ashes were taken to Kenya to be buried in the same grave as her husband's remains. She was survived by her two daughters, her son having predeceased her. ==Legacy==