Barbara Helen Rawson was born on 2 March 1893 at Brand Hall, Norton in Hales, Shropshire, the eldest child and only daughter of Philip Heathcote Rawson (1864-1917) and Lillie Campbell Rawson (née Clarke-Preston) (1867-1927). A second child, Philip Colin Rawson (1896-1915), was born at Brand Hall on 1 June 1896.
By 1904, the Rawson family had moved to Brecon House in Long Street, Sherborne, where Barbara was enrolled at Sherborne School for Girls. Like his father, Barbara’s brother Philip Colin (known as Colin) went to Eton College where he was a member of L.S.R. Byrne’s house.
In June 1905, Barbara took part in the Sherborne Pageant, which was staged at Sherborne Old Castle on 12-16 June to commemorate the 1200th anniversary of the arrival of Aldhelm in Sherborne. Barbara appeared in the final tableau of the Sherborne Pageant as one of four attendants flanking ‘Sherborne England’ (Florence Drewe) and ‘Sherborn USA’ (Dorothy Isabel Parker).
During the First World War Barbara served from April 1915 to December 1918 as a VAD nurse at Greenhill hospital in Sherborne. Her younger brother, Philip Colin Rawson (1896-1915) served as a 2nd Lieutenant in the 1st Battalion of the Royal Berkshire Regiment and was killed in action at Fosse 8, France, on 28 September 1915, aged 19. He is commemorated on the Loos Memorial in France, on the Sherborne War Memorial in Half Moon Street, and on the Rawson family grave in Sherborne cemetery.
Barbara’s father, Philip Heathcote Rawson (1864-1917), died on 23 April 1917 and was buried in Sherborne cemetery on 27 April 1917. Philip had been a keen supporter of the Church Lads’ Brigade and in May 1917 Mr Grimley proposed that the C.L.B. Hall in Westbury, Sherborne, which Mr Rawson had purchased for the C.L.B., should be named the ‘Rawson Hall’ in his honour.
Barbara’s mother, Lillie Campbell Rawson (née Clarke-Preston) (1867-1927), died after a long illness on 15 October 1927, aged 60, and was buried in Sherborne cemetery on 20 October 1927. Lillie Rawson had been a supporter of the Yeatman Hospital, the Nursing Association, the Child Welfare Association, the local branch of the Primrose League, of which she was warden, the local Conservative Women’s Association, and the Women’s Club. With Barbara she had also continued her late husband’s close connection with the C.L.B.
Barbara never married, but instead devoted herself to Sherborne. In July 1934 she was one of eight women sworn in as county magistrates at the Dorset Quarter Sessions. Previously there were only eleven women on the county bench out of 200 magistrates. Together with Barbara, the oaths that day were taken by Mrs Rosa Eveline Debenham of Manor House, Wootton Glanville; Miss Mary Evelyn Dymond of Two Leas, Langton Matravers; Mrs Ina Kathleen Mathews of The Kendalls, Gillingham; Mrs Mary Georgina Norris of Semington, The Avenue, Sherborne; Mrs Edla Marian Norton of Karlsham, Ivy Cross, Shaftesbury; Mrs Winifred Webber of The Croft, Shillingstone; and Mrs Audrey Mary Williams of Woodland House, Blandford.
Barbara also served as Chair of Sherborne Women’s Conservative Club, as a Governor of Lord Digby’s School, and made the communicants kneeling mats for the Lady Chapel of Sherborne Abbey.
Barbara Rawson died on 23 December 1953, aged 60, and was buried in Sherborne Cemetery on 29 December 1953.
With special thanks to Barbara Elsmore for sharing with me her research into the life of Barbara Helen Rawson.
Rachel Hassall
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