Person    | Female  Born 1875  Died 1960

Lady Eleanor Keane

Categories: Children, Social Welfare

Pioneer in youth work. Born Eleanor Lucy Hicks-Beach, eldest daughter of 1st Earl St Aldwyn. On Valentine's day 1907, just 2 months before laying the foundation stone, she married the Irishman Sir John Keane (1873 -1956) and went on to have 1 son and 3 daughters. At the same period she was Chair of the St Mary’s Girls' Club Building Sub-Committee responsible for the 1907 building in Union Street. That Wikipedia link has a photo which may show Eleanor but since it claims to show two of Sir John's sons we don't trust it!

1931 The Sydney Morning Herald reports her organising an exhibition of embroidery in London. Chairman of the National Association of Youth Clubs 1924-1939. There is a Nerine flower named for her.

From Sisterhood or Surveillance? She was President of the National Council of Girls' Clubs and present at a 1937 international rally of physical culture in Hamburg ("Strength Through Joy"). Our photo comes from that document and is captioned "Girls' club members at a physical culture rally, Hamburg, 1938" so it seems possible that the lady in the dark suit behind the second row might be Lady Eleanor. Otherwise we refer you to the 3 photographic portraits of her with her 3 sisters (1923-31) held by the National Portrait Gallery, which, as we type, are "not currently available".

Her 12 December 1960 Times obituary doesn’t give many facts but makes it clear she was an important figure over a long period of time.

The plaque refers to 'our sisters': Eleanor had 3 sisters and perhaps her husband also had sisters, but that we cannot discover. Perhaps it was a nod to the suffrage movement? We think it probably just refers to the girls who belonged to the girls' club which used the building.

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Lady Eleanor Keane

Commemorated ati

Lighthouse mission - Keane

To the honour & glory of God and in love of our sisters this stone was la...

Read More

Other Subjects

Jacob Sebastian Holstein

Jacob Sebastian Holstein

From The Peerage: Jacob was the son of Alison Margaret Worsley (b.1963) and Christian Holstein. They married in 1992 and divorced 1996. Alison married again in 1997 and her married name became McIn...

Person, Children

1 memorial
Punch & Judy

Punch & Judy

Punch's Puppet Show was first performed in England and witnessed by Samuel Pepys 1662, in Covent Garden.  And still popular in 2015.

Group, Children, Theatre

2 memorials
Osman Sharif

Osman Sharif

Killed aged 16. Evening Stardard reports an arrest of another 16 year old suspected of stabbing Sharif. Our photo was taken from a framed image at the shrine.

Person, Children, Tragedy

1 memorial
Joy Harman

Joy Harman

One of the 11 "children of England" present on 7th July 1933 when The Princess Royal laid a foundation stone for a nurses home for the Great Ormond Street Children's Hospital.

Person, Children

1 memorial
Wyndham-Ashley Mission

Wyndham-Ashley Mission

At 112 Regency Street, SW1, between Douglas Street and Rampayne Street. In 1921 the secretary was R. C. Hart-Dyke. (From Street Directory). Amalgamated with the One Tun Mission in 1930. From Westm...

Group, Children, Social Welfare

1 memorial