The daughter of Cicely (Hyland) and Arthur Cecil Butler, Gweneth Leigh Butler was born June 1, 1915 in Kensington, London, England. Less than a month prior to her birth, her father's business partner Evan Arthur Leigh of Yewbarrow Hall, Grange-over-Sands, perished during the sinking of the S.S. Lusitania. Interestingly, Gweneth's sister Audrey later married Vivian Whitewright Warren Pearl, the son of a famous surgeon-major who had survived the Lusitania's torpedoing. Evan Arthur Leigh left a third of his estate to Gweneth's father, giving the family the means to start a new life in America during The Great War.
Cecil, Cicely, Gweneth and Audrey Butler and the family's live-in nurse made the dangerous wartime Atlantic crossing to America and took up residence on Riverway in Boston. Cecil, a textile merchant, set up shop on Summer Street. His company Leigh & Butler served as the agent for The English Card Clothing Co., one of England's largest card clothing manufacturers.
The Butler family all became members of the Skating Club Of Boston. Gweneth grew up skating alongside the likes of Theresa Weld Blanchard, Nathaniel Niles and Sherwin Badger, as well as a future rival who was only four years younger - Maribel Vinson.
The Stock Market Crash and the death of Gweneth's grandmother brought the Butler family back to London in the early thirties. Gweneth continued her skating at the Westminster Ice Club, Queen's Ice Rink and on winter sojourns to Switzerland. She made her international competitive debut in 1933, the same year she was 'presented' as a debutante. Although she finished a disappointing ninth at that year's European Championships, she earned a silver medal at an international competition held in St. Moritz.
After missing the entire 1934 season due to an ankle injury, Gweneth returned to competition in 1935, placing a very impressive fifth at both the European and World Championships. In both events, she placed third in the school figures. Considering the politicking that went on during that era and her relative competitive experience, these results only confirmed what everyone around her was saying - that she was quite remarkable at figures.
The same could not be said of Gweneth's free skating. In almost every competition she entered, she dropped in the standings after the figures. At the time, the British press was raving about the beauty, youth and free skating talented of Cecilia Colledge and Megan Taylor. None of these adjectives were used to describe Gweneth. Reporters repeatedly felt it worth mentioning that she was the tallest of the crop of female British skaters. They ran her picture in "The Bystander" in February of 1936 on a photo page titled "A Selection Of Spinsters From Every Set", describing her as "A Bonny Lass, always sunburnt".
Despite the fact that the press never seemed to get behind her as they did Cecilia and Megan, Gweneth soldiered on, winning the silver medal behind Colledge at the 1935 British Championships. She earned a spot on the 1936 Winter Olympic team and placed a very creditable fifth in the figures, but was forced to withdraw before the free skating due to 'indisposition' - a bad flu and a high fever. Her final international competition was the 1936 World Championships in Paris. She again placed - you guessed it - fifth. At that year's British Championships, she placed fourth behind Colledge, Mollie Phillips and Belita Jepson-Turner. Gweneth's competitive career ended the following year when she broke her ankle while skiing in St. Moritz.
In August of 1938, Gweneth married Arthur John Horton Benn, the great-grandson of Colonel William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody. Their son Michael was born on October 12, 1939, just over a month after World War II broke out. The War had a profound impact on the Butler family. In a letter published in the December 1939 of "Skating" magazine, Gweneth's mother wrote, "We are living down at our country cottage. When everyone was asked to leave London. We shut down the town house. Cecil (Mr. Butler) is Air Raid Warden for this district and I am attached to the Women's Volunteer Service and am Billeting Officer for the village which has meant a good deal of work as there are over one hundred London children in the place. This entails boarding, educational arrangements, soup kitchen, clothing, etc. I also have a large household to arrange. Gweneth and her baby son with nurse are here and several others. Audrey (the second daughter) is here too. Both girls are enrolled at the Hospital and have passed their exams, but fortunately have not been needed yet. All their friends have joined up. We also have to grow more vegetables, etc., so I am becoming quite a gardener. Thank goodness I am very busy. All our friends are scattered and engaged on different jobs and it is difficult to see people except those quite near. Opinion in London on the length of the war is divided; some are optimistic; others exactly the reverse."
Within a year of her mother's letter, Gweneth left for America. Leaving her baby with her American mother-in-law in Chicago, she joined the cast of Arthur M. Wirtz and Sonja Henie's show "It Happens On Ice" at the Center Theatre and taught skating for several years at the Skating Club of New York. To aid in the War effort, she took part in a skating carnival to support the Seamen's Church Institute of New York's effort to purchase Christmas kits for men in the United States Merchant Marine. After the War, Gweneth and her husband divorced. He remarried in 1949; she in 1957 to Ian Bailey. She lived out her golden years quietly in London, passing away on November 15, 2006 at the age of ninety-one.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.
The Stock Market Crash and the death of Gweneth's grandmother brought the Butler family back to London in the early thirties. Gweneth continued her skating at the Westminster Ice Club, Queen's Ice Rink and on winter sojourns to Switzerland. She made her international competitive debut in 1933, the same year she was 'presented' as a debutante. Although she finished a disappointing ninth at that year's European Championships, she earned a silver medal at an international competition held in St. Moritz.
Audrey and Gweneth Butler
The same could not be said of Gweneth's free skating. In almost every competition she entered, she dropped in the standings after the figures. At the time, the British press was raving about the beauty, youth and free skating talented of Cecilia Colledge and Megan Taylor. None of these adjectives were used to describe Gweneth. Reporters repeatedly felt it worth mentioning that she was the tallest of the crop of female British skaters. They ran her picture in "The Bystander" in February of 1936 on a photo page titled "A Selection Of Spinsters From Every Set", describing her as "A Bonny Lass, always sunburnt".
Mollie Phillips, Cecilia Colledge, Graham Sharp, Gweneth Butler, Jackie Dunn and Belita Jepson-Turner in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Photo courtesy National Archives Of Poland.
Despite the fact that the press never seemed to get behind her as they did Cecilia and Megan, Gweneth soldiered on, winning the silver medal behind Colledge at the 1935 British Championships. She earned a spot on the 1936 Winter Olympic team and placed a very creditable fifth in the figures, but was forced to withdraw before the free skating due to 'indisposition' - a bad flu and a high fever. Her final international competition was the 1936 World Championships in Paris. She again placed - you guessed it - fifth. At that year's British Championships, she placed fourth behind Colledge, Mollie Phillips and Belita Jepson-Turner. Gweneth's competitive career ended the following year when she broke her ankle while skiing in St. Moritz.
Arthur John Horton Benn and Gweneth Butler
In August of 1938, Gweneth married Arthur John Horton Benn, the great-grandson of Colonel William F. 'Buffalo Bill' Cody. Their son Michael was born on October 12, 1939, just over a month after World War II broke out. The War had a profound impact on the Butler family. In a letter published in the December 1939 of "Skating" magazine, Gweneth's mother wrote, "We are living down at our country cottage. When everyone was asked to leave London. We shut down the town house. Cecil (Mr. Butler) is Air Raid Warden for this district and I am attached to the Women's Volunteer Service and am Billeting Officer for the village which has meant a good deal of work as there are over one hundred London children in the place. This entails boarding, educational arrangements, soup kitchen, clothing, etc. I also have a large household to arrange. Gweneth and her baby son with nurse are here and several others. Audrey (the second daughter) is here too. Both girls are enrolled at the Hospital and have passed their exams, but fortunately have not been needed yet. All their friends have joined up. We also have to grow more vegetables, etc., so I am becoming quite a gardener. Thank goodness I am very busy. All our friends are scattered and engaged on different jobs and it is difficult to see people except those quite near. Opinion in London on the length of the war is divided; some are optimistic; others exactly the reverse."
Gweneth Butler in 1942
Within a year of her mother's letter, Gweneth left for America. Leaving her baby with her American mother-in-law in Chicago, she joined the cast of Arthur M. Wirtz and Sonja Henie's show "It Happens On Ice" at the Center Theatre and taught skating for several years at the Skating Club of New York. To aid in the War effort, she took part in a skating carnival to support the Seamen's Church Institute of New York's effort to purchase Christmas kits for men in the United States Merchant Marine. After the War, Gweneth and her husband divorced. He remarried in 1949; she in 1957 to Ian Bailey. She lived out her golden years quietly in London, passing away on November 15, 2006 at the age of ninety-one.
Skate Guard is a blog dedicated to preserving the rich, colourful and fascinating history of figure skating. Over ten years, the blog has featured over a thousand free articles covering all aspects of the sport's history, as well as four compelling in-depth features. To read the latest articles, follow the blog on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube. If you enjoy Skate Guard, please show your support for this archive by ordering a copy of figure skating reference books "The Almanac of Canadian Figure Skating", "Technical Merit: A History of Figure Skating Jumps" and "A Bibliography of Figure Skating": https://skateguard1.blogspot.com/p/buy-book.html.