Lucy Baldwin
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The Right Honourable The Countess Baldwin of Bewdley GBE, DStJ |
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| Born |
Lucy Ridsdale 19 June 1869 Bayswater, London, England, UK |
| Died | 17 June 1945 (aged 75) Astley Hall, Worcestershire, England, UK |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Resting place | Worcester Cathedral, Worcestershire, England, UK |
| Nationality | English |
| Spouse(s) | Stanley Baldwin (m. 1892) |
| Children |
Oliver, 2nd Earl Baldwin Arthur, 3rd Earl Baldwin |
| Relatives |
Edward Ridsdale (brother) Edward, 4th Earl (grandson) |
| Awards |
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Lucy Baldwin, Countess Baldwin of Bewdley, GBE, DGStJ (née Ridsdale; 19 June 1869 – 17 June 1945) was an English writer and activist for maternity health. From 1892 until her death in 1945, she was the wife of Stanley Baldwin, three-time Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. She was invested as a Dame of Grace, Order of Saint John of Jerusalem and a Dame Grand Cross, Order of the British Empire, and styled as Countess Baldwin of Bewdley on 8 June 1937.
She was born Lucy Ridsdale in Bayswater, London, the oldest daughter of Edward Lucas Jenks Ridsdale and Esther Lucy (née Thacker) Ridsdale. Known as "Cissie", she grew up with her sister and three brothers in the village in of Rottingdean, on the Sussex coast. Her brother Edward became a member of parliament from Brighton.
She married Stanley Baldwin on 12 September 1892 in Rottingdean. Among the attendees were Stanley's aunt Alice and her son, Rudyard Kipling. The couple had seven children:
As a girl, she was a member of the White Heather Club, the first women's cricket club, founded in 1887 at Nun Appleton Hall near Appleton Roebuck, Yorkshire. It was on the field where she met her future husband.
Apart from her home-making and raising of six children, she was also a formidable personality in her own right. She was very active and sociable, quite different from her husband in nature. Unlike her husband, she preferred the city life of London to the country. Their daughter Margaret Huntington-Whiteley said, "two people could not have been more unlike", but that "should they ever differ, it was always done quietly and politely." They shared the same deep Christian faith and moral outlook, and she was very supportive and encouraging of her husband. She often travelled with her husband during his time as prime minister, and she was an excellent speaker who found her own voice in politics.
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