Awards
Olave was one of the most travelled people of her time.
Many of the countries she visited honoured her for her work with the youth of the world, and the following is a list of the decorations she wore:
Silver Fish 1918
The award of Silver Fish existed from the beginning of the Guiding movement. It is mentioned in the November 1909 edition of the Boy Scout Headquarters Gazette in "The Scheme for 'Girl Guides'". Here a girl must pass seventeen specified efficiency badges. However, in Pamphlet A: Baden-Powell Girl Guides, a Suggestion for Character Training for Girls, also published in 1909, twenty efficiency badges were needed to obtain the Silver Fish. This was later reduced to fifteen and, additionally, good all round work was required. The award was considered a sign of a girl 'who could make her way upstream'.
Around the time of the foundation of the Girl Scouts of the USA in 1912, their handbook listed the Silver Fish as the highest honour in Girl Scouting. However, before anyone could earn it, the Golden Eaglet was introduced.
In October 1917, the award changed to being given for outstanding service to the movement. At this time, the design also changed from a whiting with its tail in its mouth worn on a silver chain to a swimming fish worn on a dark and light blue striped ribbon.
The award became the highest in worldwide Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting, but then changed to become a Girlguiding UK specific award.
Olave Baden-Powell was presented with a gold Silver Fish in 1918, then the only one of its kind. In 1995, Betty Clay was presented with a gold Silver Fish in the form of a brooch.
1918 World War 1 Medal
1930 World Chief Guide - the one, the only!
1932 Grand Cross of the British Empire, by King George V
1933 Order of Merit, Poland
Finland's White Rose
THE President of Suomi-Finland evidently agrees with the Boy Scouts in their appreciation of the work done by the Chief Guide. Early in March she received the Badge of Merit of the White Rose of Finland. In thanking the President for the honour, Lady Baden-Powell characteristically said:
In having the Badge of Merit conferred upon me therefore I would like to assure Your Excellency that I shall indeed be proud to possess it, and I shall also feel that I am holding it as a token of appreciation of the work of the Girl Scout organisations in Finland.
Source: The Council Fire, April 1934
NOTE: There are many versions of this Award so unsure if this is the one Olave was awarded
1934 Silver Wolf
Just as we are going to press comes the news of the yearly County Commissioners' Conference of Great Britain, held at Girl Guide Headquarters in London. During the conference and just before lunch a door at the back of the room opened and Boy Scout Headquarters Commissioners stole quietly into the room. They came to take part in a notable event. This was the presentation of the Silver Wolf to the Chief Guide, Lady Baden-Powell. The Silver Wolf is the highest decoration of the Boy Scouts, and is only awarded by the Chief Scout himself for very special work. As the Chief was convalescing at Pax Hill, Lord Hampton, the Chief Commissioner of the Boy Scouts Association of Great Britain, actually made the presentation, and in a most delightful speech explained how it had come to be made.
A Committee of the Boy Scouts Council advises the Chief Scout on the recommendations for awards which come in to him from all over the world. As Lord Hampton put it: "When the - is away the mice do play." On this& occasion, the Chief Scout being away, the Committee were the mice. They decided that the Chief's wife had rendered many invaluable services to the Scouts. She continually shared the Chief Scout's much-loved but often very heavy burdens, and by her untiring devotion kept him fit and well for the leadership of the Movement. Her never-failing hospitality at Pax Hill, where she kept "open house" for Scout and Guide wanderers from far and near, had also been of incalculable value to the work of the Boy Scouts, while her interest and encouragement to Scouters and Guiders alike whenever she came into contact with them was a - deeply appreciated inspiration.
Amid clapping and almost cheering of those revered people, the British Girl Guide County Commissioners, Lord Hampton then hung the Silver Wolf round the Chief Guide's neck, and the green and yellow of the Scout colours became entwined with the light and dark blue of the ribbon on which the Chief Guide's Guide decoration the Silver Fish-was already hanging.
This mingling of the Scout and Guide colours could well be taken as an outward symbol of the real friendship and sympathy which exist between the Boy, Scout and the Girl Guide Associations in the Chief's own country.
Source: The Council Fire, April 1934
1935 King George V Jubilee
1937 King George VI Coronation
1949 Grand Cross of Phoenix of Greece
1951 Medal of Honour of Republic of Haiti
1953 Queen Elizabeth's Coronation Medal
1958 Malaysia's Semangat Padi
“Semangat Padi” is a malay phrase meaning the gentle “Spirit of the Padi”, whose golden stem bends gracefully and bows as the grains of rice it bears as a gift of god grow more substantial in offering their precious harvest.
For the spirit of a man to be likened to the “Spirit of the Padi”, he too must be grown to the golden time of the full and fruitful harvesting of his talents; a gentle man, offering his best gracefully and richly, and bearing bountiful knowledge and wisdom in the service of his fellow men.
That is why the Persekutuan Tanah Melayu Boy Scouts Association (now The Scouts Association of Malaysia) after National Independence in August 1957, named its highest Scout Award (for services of the most exceptional character) “Semangat Padi”; and why we are pround to have been able on April 5 1958, to award, personally, our first “Semangat Padi” to Olave Lady Baden Powell, World Chief Guide, and widow of our beloved Founder BP; she bears so richly the qualities that our “Semangat Padi” represents.
Sincere thanks to erichee@yahoo.com for this information
NOTE: There are many versions of this Award so unsure if this is the one Olave was awarded
1959 Receives 'Freedom' of the Cities of Panama and Reno!
Order of Vasco Nunez de Balboa Panama
Medal of Bernard O'Higgins of Chile
Order of the Sun of Peru
1960 Order of the Cedars of Lebanon
1962 Order of the Sacred Treasure of Japan
Order of the Grand Ducal Crown of Oaks, Luxembourg
Ceres Medal 1973
In Roman mythology. Ceres was the goddess of agriculture.
In 1971, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Coin Office began issuing a medal illus-trating Ceres in the form of a modern and distinguished woman associated with the FAO'S aim of Food for All. This year. the FAO have asked Lady Baden Powell to represent Ceres.
One side of the medal will show Olave, Lady Baden-Powell with the inscription 'CERES FAO ROME'. The other side will show three girls of Brownie, Guide and Senior age group with the. words 'Toward Food Education Employment for All' 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1973', and the 25th Anniversary Human Rights symbol. The medal has been designed by David Wynne.
Source: The Council Fire, 1973
If you know of any decorations which should be here, but are not, please tell us.
