Name Anne Bryans | ||
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Dame Anne Bryans, DBE, DStJ (29 October 1909 – 21 April 2004) spent much of her life in the service of the joint Voluntary Aid Detachment of the British Red Cross Society and the Order of St John of Jerusalem. She was Chairman of the Joint Service Hospitals Welfare and VAD Committee from 1960-1989.
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Early years
She was born Anne Margaret Gilmour in Edinburgh on 29 October 1909, the only daughter of John Gilmour 2nd Baronet Gilmour of Lundin and Montrave (1876-1940) and Mary Louise (née Lambert; 1878-1919). Her brother John Gilmour (1912-2007) succeeded to the Baronetcy.
Later years
She joined the British Red Cross Society in the late 1920 and became a member of staff in 1938. She became the Deputy Commissioner of the British Red Cross and St John War Organisation, Middle East Commission, in 1943 and was Commissioner from January–June 1945. She was the only woman to be appointed a Commissioner during the Second World War. She was Deputy Chairman of the BRCS Executive Committee from 1953–64, and Vice-Chairman, from 1964-76.
Family
In 1932 she married Lt Cdr John Reginald Bryans RN, FRGS, son of the son of Rev. Reginald du Faure Bryans; the couple had one son, Lt Cdr John Patrick Gilmour Bryans RN FRGS (born 1933).
Other appointments
Deaths
Dame Anne Bryans died at Lundin Links, Fife, Scotland, on 21 April 2004, aged 94.