From Wikepedia:
Gladys Helen Rachel Goldsmid was born in Belfast to Colonel Albert Edward Williamson Goldsmid and Ida Stewart Hendricks on 4 December 1879. On 9 February 1898 she married Louis Samuel Montagu and became 2nd Baroness Swaythling on 12 January 1911.
She was Officer of Public Instruction at France before her marriage. During the First World War Swaythling volunteered with the Wounded Allied Committee and Belgian refugees.
A contemporary magazine wrote an article on Gladys:
28, KENSINGTON COURT. LADY SWAYTHLING’S working day may be said to be an object lesson in the economical utilisation of time. How she packs all her multifarious efforts into the space of a few hours is a mystery to those unacquainted with her habits of orderliness and system. I found her one morning last week busily dictating letters on a variety of subjects to her secretary, but she graciously relinquished her work in order to talk to me about the various projects with which she is identified, and about her beautiful house where she performs her work.
In the almost cloister-like stillness of Kensington Court there are many charming houses richly stored with objets d’art, but there are few, if any, which possess interiors of such artistic and archeological interest as that in which Lady Swaythling discharges the duties of hostess. The most notable features are the Jacobean dining room, the Louis Seize drawing room, the wonderful hall, with its massive fireplace and oak mantelshelf, and the library. The dining room was taken solidly from an old Jacobean residence in Winchester, and structural alterations had to be made in order to accommodate it at 28, Kensington Court. It is of light oak, and the carving of the panels is particularly well-preserved. The handsome appearance of the old Jacobean furniture is due to the careful result of selecting the timber and splitting it to show the fine figure of the wood. The surface is free from the modern abomination of varnish, and centuries of rubbing have resulted in producing a rich warm tone which it is impossible to copy by any of the subtle arts known to the modern imitators. The light comes from beautiful massive old sconces of the period, and the chairs (the backs and seats of which are of carved leather) are in perfect keeping with the room. The Louis Seize drawing room is perhaps the most perfect of its kind in England. There is no base imitation here. It is the actual room which environed the occupants of a house in the Place Vendome during the reign of the ill-fated monarch, and every portion of the walls and furniture (with the exception of the piano), has been brought over here from Paris, the room being altered to fit the scheme. Even the old Parisian windows and sashes are inserted to strengthen the resemblance. The tapestry on the chairs is of exquisite workmanship, and although the work is faded in parts, under the hand of Time, the design is still strikingly effective. There is a stateliness about the tout ensemble which one cannot unfortunately associate with modern rooms, and Lady Swaythling humorously remarked that no one would dream of singing a comic song in a room so suggestive of dignity.
On the first landing are cases containing specimens of all that is best in Japanese art, which Lord Swaythling collected during a stay of some months in that fascinating country, and they are cunningly illuminated by electric Jets. The library shelves would fill the breast of any ardent bibliophile with envy, hatred and all uncharitableness, for here, in exquisite cases, is one of the finest collections of first editions of the moierns outside the British Museum. After having exhausted the beauties of the house, including the charming nursery at the top all decked out in Dutch tiles, Lady Swaythling was good enough to tell me something about the work in which she is engaged, and which takes her many hours every day to accomplish. Her many public duties are concerned with the Liberal Social Council, of which she is a member of the Executive Committee; Queen Mary’s Holiday Home for Governesses; the London Ladies’ Association to Found Educational Exhibitiors for the Sons of Naval and Military Officers and Civil Servants in Straitened Circumstances, of which she is the Honorary Treasurer. Lady Swaythling also takes a deep interest in her husband’s work in the Jewish community, and, as orthodox Jews, they conform strictly to the tenets of the ancient faith. She. also superintends the whole of her husband’s private benefactions, keeping a record of them active year by year, so that she can obtain in a moment the precise amount which he gives to each individual, charity, or institution.
The most interesting evidence of her deep love for her children is the diaries which Lady Swaythling keeps of their progress in school and sport. These constitute charming histories of her children year by year which will prove in time to come valuable family records. Had mothers of important families had done this in the past how Historians would have blessed them. She is a strict teetotaler and non-tea drinker, never plays bridge or golf, but is an ardent member of the Bath Club, plays cricket and is an ardent swimmer. She teaches little ones to follow her example. Her youngest boy, when he was only four and a half years old, swam the whole length of the swimming Bath Club, an unprecedented feat for so young a sportsman. She is the possessor of a beautiful soprano voice, and has been trained by Tosti and by Dr. Lierhammer. Lady Swaythling talks with animation on a variety of subjects, and her sentences are punctuated by a charming little laugh when anything amuses her.
On the subject of the Suffragettes, she has most pronounced opinions, although she is a woman of progressive instincts. “The subject” she said, “is so complex and woman is so unfitted to express opinions on such subjects as the expenditure on the Army and Navy or anything in connection with our temporal forces. With regard to the subjects directly concerning woman, which will come under the cover of administrative legislation, I would allow every woman no matter her station in life to have a voice in the administration of all questions affecting the hearth and home, But,” her ladyship· continued, “as Parliament is at present constituted, it is not feasible, as you cannot have members voting on certain questions and not on others. That appears to me to be the stumbling block in the way of the full exercise of the Parliamentary franchise by women.
“Then you are opposed,” I remarked, “to the present militant suffragette.”
“Oh, certainly,” she explained. “I think there is such a wide field of endeavour, without agitation, in which women might exert themselves for the in benefit of their fellow creatures. Work lies all around us and if only women of leisure and wealth did that which lies in their immediate vicinity a good many evils affecting the poor would be eradicated.” In addition to the beautiful house at 28 Kensington Court, Lord and Lady Swaythling, have a country abode at Townhill Park, Biterne, near Southampton, where all the joys of outdoor life are indulged in.
Another article on Lady Swaythling appeared The Gentlewoman and Modern Life Magazine on 13 July 1912.
Hampshire Advertiser – Saturday 29 July 1922
The Sketch – Wednesday 30 May 1923
She also worked with the Ladies London Association. Throughout 1921 to 1962 Swaythling was Vice-President the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.
After her husband died, Swaythling was involved in the Electrical Association for Women for three decades, acting as treasurer from 1931–1938 and then as president 1938–1957.
She also volunteered with refugees during the second world war. André Simon credited her with inspiring the founding of International Wine and Food Society. Swaythling was President of the Southampton Branch of the Alliance Française in Great Britain.
Honours
Swaythling was known for her philanthropy and awarded several honours during her life. She was appointed Dame of Grace, Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem and given an O.B.E. Swaythling was also a Fellow of both the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Photographic Society.
Gentlewoman – Saturday 05 July 1919
LADY SWAYTHLING is hard at work on many of her after-the-war activities. She was Miss Gladys Goldsmid, a daughter of the late Colonel Albert Goldsmid, M.V.O., and she married in 1898. She is attractive and goes about a great deal; but her children – three boys and one little girl – claim her first thoughts and attention. Her war work was excellent. She did much for Russian soldiers who suffered from tuberculosis, and when war broke out, she gave up to them her beautiful home, Allington Manor, in Hampshire. This was turned into a Sanatorium, and the men were so well cared for that many of them were able to return to the front. Lord Swaythling belongs to a group of Jewish Peers, including Lord Rothschild, Lord Reading and Lord Michelham. He is head of the firm of Messrs. Samuel Montagu and Co. and although much in London, he likes the country and yachting. He now owns Townhill Park, near Southampton. The first Lord, a great authority on banking and finance, was named Montagu Samuel, but he reversed the cognomens, and Montagu is the family name of the Barony. However, the old name is respected, and each of the present Peer’s sons is called Samuel. Lord and Lady Swaythling’s town house, 28, Kensington Court, contains many art treasures, some of which are of historic interest.
Lady Swaythling had four children with her husband:
- Stuart Albert Samuel Montagu, 3rd Baron Swaythling
- Ewen Edward Samuel Samuel Montagu
- Ivor Goldsmid Samuel Montagu
- Joyce Ida Jessie Samuel-Montagu
Gladys died on 8 January 1965 in London.
She was a great-aunt of comedian Christopher Guest.
Gladys Helen Rachel née Goldsmid Lady Swaythling (1879-1965)
Lady Swaythling at a reception at the Yugoslav Legation – 25th November 1936:
Colonel Albert Edward Williamson Goldsmid
The Sketch – Wednesday 03 January 1900:
SOME NOTABLE OFFICERS. Colonel A. G. W. Goldsmid, Assistant- Adjutant- General of the 6th Division, was born at Poona in 1846, his father, Mr. Henry E. Goldsmid, being in the “H.E.I. C.S.,” Honourable East India Company Service; and holding the appointment of Chief Secretary to the Government. After passing for Woolwich and Sandhurst, Colonel Goldsmid went to the latter, where he passed second and obtained the Mathematical Prize; he was then gazetted to the 104th Regiment, of which he became Adjutant in India. On coming home, he was for some time employed in the Intelligence Department, and subsequently held the appointments of Brigade-Major at Belfast for five years, Deputy-Assistant-Quartermaster-General for five years, and Deputy- Assistant-Adjutant-General for three years at Headquarters. He was then asked by Baron de Hirsch to conduct and organise the scheme for the colonisation of the Jews in Argentina, and obtained a year’s leave from the Army on half-pay in order to effect this. It took him thirteen months to complete a work the difficulties of which would have seemed insurmountable to anyone with less pronounced powers of organisation. A mass of people, who for countless generations had been employed in trade, and had been inhabitants of city and Ghetto, suddenly found themselves face to face with the problem of primitive agriculture, to the solution of which a large proportion of families were wholly unfitted, both by physique and temperament. These were sent back to Europe by Colonel Goldsmid, or disposed of in other ways, and there still remained about seven hundred families, and the administration of four colonies to be organised. The disbursement of the capital of two millions, in portions of half a-million dollars at a time, was left entirely to Colonel Goldsmid’s discretion, and this portion of his work alone implied an immense amount of responsibility and clear-headed powers of discrimination. Within a year after this, Colonel Goldsmid was promoted to his present rank, and was given the command of the 41st Regimental District, which he held from 1893 to 1897, in the April of which year he was appointed Assistant- Adjutant-General of the Thames District at Chatham. In the October of this year he was transferred to Aldershot to replace the Deputy-Adjutant-General, who was leaving for the war. He has a beautiful wife and two charming daughters, one of whom is married to Mr. Louis Montagu, eldest son of Sir Samuel Montagu, M.P.
Henry Edward Goldsmid:
Indian civil servant; born in London May 9, 1812; died at Cairo, Egypt, Jan. 3, 1855. Father of the above. He entered the service of the East India Company in 1832, and three years later became assistant revenue commissioner for Bombay. While occupying this post he devised the revenue survey and assessment system, Puna being included in its organization. “Goldsmid’s Survey,” as it was called, was a great boon to the poor agriculturists of the presidency; and it was permanently established by the Bombay legislature in 1865. It was incorporated in the Bombay revenue code of 1879, and was also adopted by the Berars and the native state of Mysore.
Goldsmid’s health broke down owing to his incessant labors; and after holding the positions of private secretary and chief secretary to the governor of Bombay, he went to Cairo, where he died. Ten years later a memorial rest-house was erected by public subscription at Decksal, near the place where Goldsmid’s survey had