(1884-01-13)13 January 1884[citation needed] Guernsey, Channel Islands
Died
14 July 1974(1974-07-14) (aged 90) Sark, Channel Islands
Spouses
Dudley Beaumont
(m. 1901; died 1918)
Robert Hathaway
(m. 1929; died 1954)
Children
8 (including Francis William Beaumont)
Parent(s)
William Frederick Collings Sophie Moffatt
Dame Sibyl Mary HathawayDBE (néeCollings, formerly Beaumont; 13 January 1884 – 14 July 1974) was Dame of Sark from 1927 until her death in 1974. Her 47-year rule over Sark, in the Channel Islands, spanned the reigns of four monarchs: George V, Edward VIII, George VI and Elizabeth II.
The Dame was the daughter of the eccentric Seigneur of Sark, William Frederick Collings. Sibyl learned French, Sercquiais, Norman and German prior to becoming feudal lady of Sark. She married Dudley Beaumont in 1901, and they had seven children. One of her children died in infancy, and her husband died from Spanish flu in 1918, leaving her a financially troubled widow. She succeeded her father in 1927, and immediately set about reinforcing her feudal rights and promoting tourism on the island, which she affectionately called "the last bastion of feudalism". When she remarried in 1929, her second husband, Robert Hathaway, legally became her senior co-ruler, but she kept control of the government.
Dame Sibyl's tenure saw the German occupation of the Channel Islands in the Second World War, during which she refused to evacuate and convinced the islanders to stay as well. Her eldest son and heir apparent, Francis William Beaumont, was killed in 1941, while her husband was deported to an internment camp in 1943. The Dame remains best known for her indomitable conduct during the occupation. After the war, she continued her publicity campaign, strengthening the island's tourism industry.
Having been widowed again in 1954, she went on to rule alone, and was made Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1965. She was described by a British government official as a "lady of unusual personality", and is often referred to as a benevolent dictator. Dame Sibyl died at the age of 90, and was succeeded by her grandson, Michael Beaumont.
Dame Sibyl Mary Hathaway DBE (née Collings, formerly Beaumont; 13 January 1884 – 14 July 1974) was Dame of Sark from 1927 until her death in 1974. Her...
Spalding, eventually becoming a naturalised British citizen. In 1929, Hathaway met Sibyl Beaumont, dame of Sark in the Channel Islands and widowed mother of...
the Sark residents and the German authorities in 1940 was 56-year old SibylHathaway, who was Dame of Sark (feudal ruler) from 1927 until her death in 1974...
Collings (1853–1882) William Frederick Collings (1882–1927) SibylHathaway (1927–1974) Robert Hathaway (1929–1954) Michael Beaumont (1974–2016) Christopher Beaumont...
Normandy. The flag of Sark was designed in 1938 when the Dame of Sark, SibylHathaway, approached Herbert Pitt to design a personal standard for herself....
Regiment 583. He took office the day after the German occupation, deposing SibylHathaway as the most senior authority in the island with the title Inselkommandant...
Retrieved 7 June 2009. Hathaway, Sibyl (1962). Dame of Sark: An Autobiography. New York: Coward-McCann, Inc. pp. 60–62. Hathaway, Sibyl (1962). Dame of Sark:...
was a British Army officer and painter. He was the first husband of SibylHathaway, 21st Seigneur of Sark, and grandfather of her successor, Michael Beaumont...
northwest Sark that was, at that time, owned by the Seigneur himself. When SibylHathaway sold the island of Brecqhou to Angelo Clarke in 1929, she transferred...
James (1984). Guernsey people. Phillimore. ISBN 0850335299. Collings Hathaway, Sibyl (1975). Dame of Sark, an autobiography. Heinemann. Commire, Anne (2000)...
Tchico was also reputed to haunt La Coupée as it ran the roads of Sark. SibylHathaway, Dame of Sark, recorded that some of the Islanders believed that the...
British Academy Television Award for Best Actress 1976 Dame of Sark Dame SibylHathaway TV movie 1978 Les Misérables Sister Simplice TV movie 1980 The Hostage...
surrender of the occupying troops and leaving them under the orders of Dame SibylHathaway. May 12 – Argentinian labour leader José Peter declares the Meat Industry...
Younghusband 1965: The Baroness Adrian, Florence Cayford, Mabel Crout, SibylHathaway, Joan Henderson, Barbara Hepworth, Elizabeth Lane, Catherine Scott,...
received a certain amount of stigma as a result. A notable ruler of Sark, SibylHathaway, who was a speaker herself, proclaimed that it could "never be written...
that all islanders evacuate. All but a handful did so. Dame of Sark, SibylHathaway encouraged everyone to stay. Guernsey evacuated 80% of school-age children...
Blackett, English physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1897) 14 July – SibylHathaway, Dame of Sark (since 1927) (born 1884) 24 July – James Chadwick, English...
Died: SibylHathaway, 90, hereditary ruler of the island of Sark in Britain's Channel Islands since 1927, died after a short illness. Dame Sibyl, described...
Collings Sark Dame of Sark 1852 1853 1 year, 0 days United Kingdom SibylHathaway Sark Dame of Sark 20 June 1927 14 July 1974 47 years, 24 days United...
Channel Islands – Chris Lake, 1986 (999) Dame of Sark, an Autobiography – SibylHathaway, 1986 (750) Architecture in Jersey – Maurice Boots, 1986 (750) Jersey...
since 1882. He was succeeded as ruler by his 33-year-old daughter, Dame SibylHathaway. In an incident of antisemitism that shocked the United States, three...
Seigneur Sibyl Mary Hathaway, who was present during the German occupation, were made into a play and television drama of the same name. Dame Sibyl also wrote...
including the medical information, was updated and reissued in 2018. Slip-Shod Sibyls: Recognition, Rejection and the Woman Poet (1995) is an account of women...
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