Audrey Sale-Barker
Encyclopedia
Audrey Florice Durell Drummond-Sale-Barker (1903? - 21 December 1994 in Dorset
, England
), nicknamed Wendy, was a British alpine skiing
champion and prominent aviator
. She was born into high society, the daughter of children's writer Lucy Sale-Barker
and Maurice Drummond-Sale-Barker. After her marriage to George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk
in 1947, she became Audrey Douglas-Hamilton, Countess of Selkirk.
, she was the first female skier to win the diamond badge at the prestigious Arlberg-Kandahar
race, signifying at least four top-three finishes in the combined
race. She won the combined title at the second A-K race, held in St. Anton
in 1929.
American skier Alice Kiare described Sale-Barker as a striking figure:
Sale-Barker was captain of the British women's team at the 1936 Winter Olympics
, held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen
, Germany
, the first Olympics to include alpine skiing.
During her ski career, Sale-Barker was romantically linked to Alexander Edward John Bulwer-Lytton, Lord Knebworth (1910-1942), an "impossibly dashing" young viscount who served as president of the Kandahar Ski Club before dying in a plane crash during World War II.
to Cape Town
in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth. They were held up for a time in Cairo
when Sudan
ese authorities wouldn't permit them to fly through the country. On their return from Cape Town, they crashed near Nairobi
; Page broke her leg, and Sale-Barker suffered a minor head injury. According to one contemporaneous account, the women were sighted by scouting plane and then located by a rescue party. But according to another, more persistent account, the aviators were saved when a Maasai tribesman came upon them, and Sale-Barker sent him for help with a note written in lipstick, reading "Please come and fetch us. We've had an aircrash AND ARE HURT."
In June 1940, Sale-Barker joined the Women's Section of the Air Transport Auxiliary
(ATA), a British military department charged with ferrying planes from one place to another. She was a close friend of famed ATA pilot Amy Johnson
. On November 30, 1945, it was Sale-Barker who was charged with lowering the ATA flag for the last time.
and assumed the Douglas-Hamilton surname; they had no children. She died in 1994, just one month after her husband. In a remembrance written a few days after her death by her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton and Brandon
described her postwar married life as a selfless one, dedicated to supporting her husband and those in need.
Her nephew is the Scottish Conservative politician James Douglas-Hamilton.
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
), nicknamed Wendy, was a British alpine skiing
Alpine skiing
Alpine skiing is the sport of sliding down snow-covered hills on skis with fixed-heel bindings. Alpine skiing can be contrasted with skiing using free-heel bindings: Ski mountaineering and nordic skiing – such as cross-country; ski jumping; and Telemark. In competitive alpine skiing races four...
champion and prominent aviator
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...
. She was born into high society, the daughter of children's writer Lucy Sale-Barker
Lucy Sale-Barker
Lucy Elizabeth Drummond Sale-Barker, née Davies, known also by her first married name Lucy Villiers was a British children's writer. She began her literary career with occasional articles for Dublin University Magazine and St James's Magazine, and about 1872 began to write regularly for children...
and Maurice Drummond-Sale-Barker. After her marriage to George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk
George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk
Group Captain George "Geordie" Nigel Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk, KT, GCMG, GBE, AFC, AE, PC, QC , was a Scottish nobleman and Conservative politician.-Early life:...
in 1947, she became Audrey Douglas-Hamilton, Countess of Selkirk.
Skiing career
An inaugural member of the Ladies' Ski Club organized by Sir Arnold LunnArnold Lunn
Sir Arnold Henry Moore Lunn was a famous skier, mountaineer and writer. He was knighted for "services to British Skiing and Anglo-Swiss relations" in 1952.He was born in Madras, India and died in London.-Early life:...
, she was the first female skier to win the diamond badge at the prestigious Arlberg-Kandahar
Arlberg-Kandahar
The Arlberg-Kandahar race is an annual alpine skiing event. The first edition of the race was held in 1928 in St. Anton, in the Arlberg district of Austria. The location originally alternated between St. Anton and Mürren, Switzerland...
race, signifying at least four top-three finishes in the combined
Alpine skiing combined
Combined is an alpine skiing event. Although not technically a discipline of its own, it is sometimes referred to as a fifth alpine discipline, along with downhill, super G, giant slalom, and slalom.-Traditional & Super-Combined:...
race. She won the combined title at the second A-K race, held in St. Anton
St. Anton
Sankt Anton am Arlberg is a village and ski resort in Tyrol, western Austria, with a permanent population of approximately . It is situated at above sea level in the Tyrolean Alps, with Aerial tramways and chairlifts up to . It is also a popular summer resort among trekkers and...
in 1929.
American skier Alice Kiare described Sale-Barker as a striking figure:
Audrey Sale-Barker made an extraordinary impression on everybody who saw her ski. Very tall, extremely slim, her height accentuated by trousers so long that they touched the ground around her boots, pale honey-coloured hair, a vague dreamy expression, and when she skied I can only describe her as a sleep-walker. She stood very erect, with both arms slightly lifted in front of her, she had little or no reserve strength in a race, gave everything she had, and often collapsed and fainted when a race was over. She had incredible courage, and I will never forget seeing her take the last steep slope of Dengert at the finish of the 1928 Arlberg-Kandahar absolutely straight, with lifted arms like someone in a trance.
Sale-Barker was captain of the British women's team at the 1936 Winter Olympics
1936 Winter Olympics
The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1936 in the market town of Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany. Germany also hosted the Summer Olympics the same year in Berlin...
, held at Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen
Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a mountain resort town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the administrative centre of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in the Oberbayern region, and the district is on the border with Austria...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, the first Olympics to include alpine skiing.
During her ski career, Sale-Barker was romantically linked to Alexander Edward John Bulwer-Lytton, Lord Knebworth (1910-1942), an "impossibly dashing" young viscount who served as president of the Kandahar Ski Club before dying in a plane crash during World War II.
Aviation
In 1929, Sale-Barker earned her Aviator's Certificate. In October and November 1932, she and another female pilot, Joan Page, flew from LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
in a de Havilland Gipsy Moth. They were held up for a time in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
when Sudan
Sudan
Sudan , officially the Republic of the Sudan , is a country in North Africa, sometimes considered part of the Middle East politically. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the...
ese authorities wouldn't permit them to fly through the country. On their return from Cape Town, they crashed near Nairobi
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
; Page broke her leg, and Sale-Barker suffered a minor head injury. According to one contemporaneous account, the women were sighted by scouting plane and then located by a rescue party. But according to another, more persistent account, the aviators were saved when a Maasai tribesman came upon them, and Sale-Barker sent him for help with a note written in lipstick, reading "Please come and fetch us. We've had an aircrash AND ARE HURT."
In June 1940, Sale-Barker joined the Women's Section of the Air Transport Auxiliary
Air Transport Auxiliary
The Air Transport Auxiliary was a British World War II civilian organisation that ferried new, repaired and damaged military aircraft between UK factories, assembly plants, transatlantic delivery points, Maintenance Units , scrap yards, and active service squadrons and airfields—but not to...
(ATA), a British military department charged with ferrying planes from one place to another. She was a close friend of famed ATA pilot Amy Johnson
Amy Johnson
Amy Johnson CBE, was a pioneering English aviator. Flying solo or with her husband, Jim Mollison, Johnson set numerous long-distance records during the 1930s...
. On November 30, 1945, it was Sale-Barker who was charged with lowering the ATA flag for the last time.
Marriage and later life
On 6 August 1947, she married George Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of SelkirkGeorge Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk
Group Captain George "Geordie" Nigel Douglas-Hamilton, 10th Earl of Selkirk, KT, GCMG, GBE, AFC, AE, PC, QC , was a Scottish nobleman and Conservative politician.-Early life:...
and assumed the Douglas-Hamilton surname; they had no children. She died in 1994, just one month after her husband. In a remembrance written a few days after her death by her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton and Brandon
Elizabeth Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton and Brandon
Elizabeth Ivy Douglas-Hamilton, Duchess of Hamilton OBE DL was the daughter of Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland and his wife, Helen. Lady Elizabeth Ivy Percy was born at Alnwick Castle in Northumberland and spent her youth between there, Albury House in Surrey and Syon House in Middlesex...
described her postwar married life as a selfless one, dedicated to supporting her husband and those in need.
Her nephew is the Scottish Conservative politician James Douglas-Hamilton.