"TRUE IRISHWOMAN"

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 19, 22 July 1939, Page 19

"TRUE IRISHWOMAN"

THE LATE LADY GODLEY

ADVENTUROUS LIFE

(By Air Mail from "The Post's"

Representative.)

LONDON, July 3,

Lady Godley, whose death occurred on June 29 at Ploughley, near Newbury, Berks, had been in failing health for some considerable time. Indeed, it may be said, that she never really recovered completely from her fall at Government House, Gibraltar, when General Sir Alexander Godley was Governor some years ago. On that occasion she broke her hip, and she always since had needed to use a stick when walking. But lameness did not prevent her from travelling, for she had been in New Zealand since then, as well as in South Africa and the East. Sir Alexander Godley has received a large number of letters of condolence from friends, among whom were many New Zealanders.

The funeral of Lady Godley took place two days later, at Woodlands St. Mary, near Newbury, the Rev. Arthur Watson officiating. The High Commissioner for New Zealand was present. Mr. Jordan sent a wreath on behalf of the Government of New Zealand and one also on behalf of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers' Association.

In an appreciation. "The Times" refers to Lady Godley's adventurous life. The writer says: "She had accompanied her distinguished husband throughout his service and to all quarters of the

globe—in spite, latterly, of serious physical handicaps—and showed all the courage of a true Irishwoman in the hardships and anxieties of a soldier's wife. Louisa Marion Fowler was the daughter of Mr. Robert Fowler, D.L., and thus came of a .well-known Irish family—the Fowlers of Rahinston— whose fortunes had been founded by one of the archbishops of Dublin in the early eighteenth century. Bob Fowler, the famous cricketer, was her nephew. In her youth she was a keen and accomplished rider to hounds, as was her husband. John Watson, the celebrated M.F.H. and polo player, said of her that she was the best rider to hounds that he had ever seen. Her marriage took place in 1898, when her husband was serving in the mounted infantry on Salisbury Plain.

"In 1899 she accompanied him to South* Africa, where hostilities were imminently expected. When that occurred Lady Godiey was in Bulawayo, and there she remained during the seven months when ncr nusDand was shut up in the siege of Mafeking. When Mafeking was relieved she joined her husband there, and decided, in company with Lady Sarah Wilson, who had actually been in Mafeking during, the siege, to travel across the Western Transvaal to Pretoria. They journeyed in a Cape cart drawn by two white horses, and naturally outdistanced the British troops, whom they were supposed to be accompanying. . . . Few women can have had a more varied and venturesome life, or can have shown a finer blend of high spirits and endurance."