Eve Branson
Branson in 2013
Born
Evette Huntley Flindt[1]

(1924-07-12)12 July 1924[2][3]
Edmonton, Middlesex, England
Died8 January 2021(2021-01-08) (aged 96)
United Kingdom
Occupation(s)Founder and director of the Eve Branson Foundation
Philanthropist
Child welfare advocate
Board member ofInternational Centre for Missing & Exploited Children
Spouse
Ted Branson
​
​
(m. 1949; died 2011)​
Children3, including Richard and Vanessa
Websiteevebransonfoundation.org.uk

Evette Huntley Branson (née Flindt; 12 July 1924 – 8 January 2021)[4] was a British philanthropist, child welfare advocate, and the mother of Richard Branson.[5]

Life and career

Branson was born in Edmonton, Middlesex, England, the daughter of Dorothy Constance (née Jenkins) (19 June 1898 - August 1997) and Major Rupert Ernest Huntley Flindt (11 St Faith's-road, West Norwood, 28 December 1890 - 19 October 1966).[1][6] As a young adult, she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRENS) during World War II. After the war ended, she toured West Germany as a ballet dancer with Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA).[7][8] She later became an airline hostess for British South American Airways. After marrying, Branson ran a real estate property business and was a military police officer and probation officer. She also wrote novels and children's books.[5]

In 2013 Branson published her autobiography, Mum's the Word: The High-Flying Adventures of Eve Branson.[9]

Eve Branson with the board of directors of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children

Branson established the Eve Branson Foundation and served as its director.[5]

Branson was a member of the board of directors of the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children ("ICMEC"), the goal of which is to help find missing children, and to stop the exploitation of children.[10][11] She was a founding member of ICMEC's board of directors in 1999, seeking to generate awareness of the centre's work, and her son Richard was ICMEC's founding sponsor.[11][12]

Personal life and death

She married, in Frimley, Surrey, on 15 October 1949, Edward James "Ted" Branson, born on 10 March 1918, a former Cavalryman, son of Sir George Arthur Harwin Branson and wife Mona Joyce Bailey.[13] He died on 19 March 2011 in his sleep at the age of 93.[8]

In 2011, Branson escaped a fire at her son's Caribbean home on Necker Island.[14]

Branson died from COVID-19 complications on 8 January 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom at the age of 96.[15][16] A celebration of her life was posted online by her son Richard.[17] He revealed that he owed his career to his mother, explaining that she had found a necklace in the 1960s and after the police let her keep the jewellery, because nobody had claimed it, she sold it and gave him the funds. "Without that £100, I could never have started Virgin," he said.[18]

Legacy

The VMS Eve the carrier mothership for Virgin Galactic and launch platform for SpaceShipTwo-based Virgin SpaceShips (Tail number: N348MS[19]) was named in her honour by Virgin Galactic and her son Sir Richard Branson.[20]

A new Airbus A350-1000, G-VEVE - Fearless Lady has been named in her honour and will be delivered to Virgin Atlantic in December 2021 as the first aircraft optimised for the airline's leisure routes.

References

  1. 1 2 Finding Your Roots, 2 February 2016, PBS
  2. ↑ "Richard Branson's blog". Virgin.com. Retrieved 11 January 2021.
  3. ↑ Mum's the Word: The High-Flying Adventures of Eve Branson, 2013, p. 4
  4. ↑ "Eve Branson obituary". The Times. 12 January 2021. Retrieved 14 January 2021.(subscription required)
  5. 1 2 3 "Eve's Story". The Eve Branson Foundation. Archived from the original on 16 October 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  6. ↑ Mum's the Word: The High-Flying Adventures of Eve Branson, 2013, p. 3
  7. ↑ McKeever, Vicky (11 January 2021). "Richard Branson reveals his mom — who helped him start Virgin — has died from Covid". CNBC. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  8. 1 2 "Eve Branson talks to Saga Magazine". Saga Magazine. 28 February 2013. Archived from the original on 17 September 2013. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  9. ↑ Branson, Eve (16 January 2013). Mum's the Word: The High-Flying Adventures of Eve Branson. AuthorHouse. ISBN 9781477245835 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ "ICMEC Board Members" Archived 3 July 2015 at the Wayback Machine. icmec.org.
  11. 1 2 Eve Branson (2013) Mum's the Word, p. 207.
  12. ↑ "International Children's Organization Expands Global Reach With Four New Board Members" Archived 29 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. icmec.org.
  13. ↑ "Ancestry of Sir Richard Branson". www.wargs.com.
  14. ↑ Day, Elizabeth (20 July 2014). "Eve Branson: 'I was not saved by Kate Winslet!'". The Guardian.
  15. ↑ Rocks, Chelsea. "Eve Branson: who was Richard Branson's mum who has died of Covid - and the Virgin founder's tribute to her". The Scotsman. Retrieved 14 January 2021.
  16. ↑ "Richard Branson's mother dies of Covid-19". CNN Business. 11 January 2021.
  17. ↑ "Celebrating my mum, Eve Branson | Virgin". Virgin News. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  18. ↑ "Richard Branson Reveals His Mom — Who Helped Him Start Virgin — Has Died From Covid". NBC. 11 January 2021. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  19. ↑ "FAA N Number Registration for "Eve"". Archived from the original on 28 March 2012. Retrieved 28 July 2008.
  20. ↑ Gorman, Steve (12 July 2021). "Billionaire Branson soars to space aboard Virgin Galactic flight". Reuters.
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