Ethel Snowden - Later Life

Later Life

Viscountess Snowden moved to a flat in Dolphin Square, disliking visiting Eden Lodge which was used by an evacuated Government office during the Second World War. She attempted unsuccessfully to get reappointed as a BBC Governor and in 1937 visited the Nuremberg Rally, writing for the Sunday Chronicle to criticise other British people present for refusing to give the salute and to say that she found Hitler "a simple man of great personal integrity" of whom "I would not hesitate to accept his word". Her other journalism made a strong defence of her husband; it was said that the quickest way to win her favour was to praise Philip. She entertained Queen Mary to tea at Dolphin Square in 1938, and became President of the Band of Hope, the leading Christian temperance organisation, in May 1939. When war did break out, she supported it and expressed the view that Nazis were utterly evil, but she had reservations about area bombing. In August 1943 she denounced the BBC for poor moral standards in regard to drinking, swearing, and marital fidelity; she was nevertheless invited to appear as a panellist on The Brains Trust.

Snowden suffered a severe stroke in 1947 which left her disabled and permanently resident in the Warleigh Nursing Home in Wimbledon, although her mind remained active. She sent a letter of support to Conservative Party candidate Cyril Black, a teetotaller, in Wimbledon at the 1950 general election. Her father died that year at the age of 93, and she outlived him by only a few months. Her will was worth £23,279, the majority being the money she had earned in her early career. After cremation her ashes were scattered on the same moor as her husband.