HEREFORDSHIRE HOME GUARD WW2 (2) - A REDOUBTABLE LADY

Following the previous post on the Home Guard in Herefordshire during WW2, a little more:

“One of the more unusual units of home defence in Herefordshire was known as the ‘Much Marcle Watchers’. Formed before Eden’s speech, the unit came about when Lady Helena Gleichen, a distinguished artist and relative of King George VI, walked into the Headquarters of the Shropshire Light Infantry at Ross-on-Wye and asked for 80 rifles together with ammunition. She added that she could do with some machine guns as well in order to form a defence force. Stunned by this outrageous request, the officers stuttered that no guns were available and even if this were not the case they would not let her have any. Undefeated, Lady Helena went ahead and gathered together a force of men armed with an armoury of shotguns including Austrian rifles and bayonets taken from her own collection of guns. That same night the ‘Much Marcle Watchers’ were on duty ready to defend their beloved Herefordshire, the forerunners of the yet to be formed Home Guard.” (note 1)

Lady Helena Gleichen in her WW1 Uniform.

Lady Helena, an aristocratic and clearly redoubtable lady (note 2) lived at Hellens Manor, an ancient house and estate situated close to Much Marcle, seven miles north east of Ross on Wye and some two miles south west of Ledbury (note 3). In VBCW terms, this clearly places the estate at the very limit of Anglican influence (centred, in the south, upon Ross on Wye in the charge of Captain "Teddy" Jermingham) yet, at the same time, vulnerable to the increasing BUF build up in Ledbury itself. Quite what position Lady Helena took upon Edward VIII's intended marriage to Wallis Simpson is unknown, but it is unlikely that such a strong County personality would have passively stood aside, even from civil conflict, should it have swept uninvited towards her estate....

Notes:

(1)  Source - Herefordshire & Worcestershire Airfields in the Second World War by Robin J. Brooks pub. Countryside Books, Newbury (2006) pps. 226

(2). See Lady Helena's WIKI entry HERE

(3). Hellens still stands, and is open to visitors on escorted tours. See HERE for the history of the house (going back to at least the 12th century) and HERE for the Manor's modern web page.

(4). Lady Helena's memoirs, "Contacts and Contrasts", going up only to the end of WW1 but containing such charming chapter titles as "Yachting with Princess Eugenie", "About Horses" and "Dogs" can be found on the Internet Archive HERE