Elsie Bambridge

Civilian

Lady Elsie Bambridge was the daughter of English writer Rudyard Kipling and the wife of Captain George Bambridge. In 1938, Elsie and her husband bought Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire's largest stately home, parts of which were requisitioned by the British Army in 1943, in order to build a general hospital to deal with casualties of the expected future invasion of Europe. This later became the 163rd US Army General Hospital.



Lady Bambridge and her husband strongly resisted plans to create a hospital on their land and regularly appealed to the National Trust to oppose the War Office's decision to do so. Despite having to give in and allow the hospital to be created, Lady Bambridge did not feign to welcome the new development.



Sergeant Charles R Willey, an American who was stationed at the 163rd General Hospital, recalls one particular incident which highlights the friction between Lady Bambridge and the hospital staff:



“Cpl Hyde had a day off and he planned to bike to Cambridge. Deciding to go by way of the back gate he pedalled out the gate and was soon passing the big manor house where Lady Bainbridge [sic] lived. She was walking along her estate road as Cpl Hyde approached. As he got close to her he shouted, “Lady, get the f--k out of the road before I run you down.” Needless to say that didn’t go over very well. The back gate was immediately closed, never to open again during my stay.”



Despite the eventual closure of the 163rd General Hospital in 1946, the land used for the hospital was not immediately returned to Elsie Bambridge (her husband George had died in 1943) and in fact continued to be used for a variety of functions up until 1960.

Connections

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Events

Event Location Date Description

Born

Vermont, USA 2 February 1896

Other

Married

St Margaret's Church, Saint Margaret Street, Westminster, London SW1P 3JX, UK 22 October 1924 Married Captain George Bambridge.

Died

Arrington, Royston, Cambridgeshire SG8, UK 24 May 1976 Wimpole Estate
Arrington, Royston, Cambridgeshire SG8, UK 24 May 1976 In 1938 Elsie and her husband bought Wimpole Estate, Cambridgeshire's largest stately home.

Revisions

Date
Contributorrossingtonj
Changes
Sources

Research paper written by George Duncan - Document 16225
Detailed biography: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7526849
Wedding information: http://www.lafayette.org.uk/bam9242.html