Iona Taylor

Iona Taylor, JP (1 April 1908 – 25 February 1978) was a Girl Guide Association (GGA) executive and volunteer for the Guide International Service (GIS) in post-war Europe. She was a recipient of the Silver Fish Award, the Girlguiding movement's highest adult award.

Personal life Iona Marjorie Taylor was born in St Albans to Arthur Enfield Taylor and Olive Marjorie Taylor née Tillard. She had a brother and a sister. Taylor met Anne Bodson from Luxembourg at Our Chalet in Switzerland in the 1930s, after which they became "very close friends". She died suddenly aged 69. She had been due to retire from her role as a magistrate on her 70th birthday the following month.

World War II Taylor trained in the Women's Transport Service (WTS), part of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY), and in 1938 joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service. When war broke out she was called up immediately, initially driving an ambulance in Portsmouth, then on the staff at the Driver Training Centre in Camberley. Taylor was one of the 198 British volunteers sent to occupied Europe and Malaya between 1945 and 1954.

Taylor's role with the GIS involved looking after displaced people (DPs) in Greece and Germany.

Guiding after GIS After returning from Europe, Taylor moved to Hampshire where she became the county's international Girl Guide representative. and between 1951 and 1961 she served as Hampshire's county commissioner.

In 1957 she welcomed Princess Margaret, Chief Ranger of the British Commonwealth and Empire, to the GGA's training centre, Foxlease. In the same year she was awarded the Silver Fish Award by Anstice Gibbs for her international service and "untiring work" in Hampshire.

Subsequent roles included: GGA Training Committee – chair A travelling commissioner – setting up Guide companies in new housing estates

Other Taylor organised Meals on Wheels in Boldre. She worked as a magistrate in Lymington for 28 years.