Editha Olga Bailey

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Editha Olga Yseult Bailey, Lady Bailey (born Edith Olga Yseult Donnison; 3 July 1903 – 1 August 1980) was a British-born woman who became a leading community worker in Australia, especially in preschool education.

She was born in London and studied at Wycombe Abbey and the Slade School of Fine Art in London. She met Kenneth Bailey, a Rhodes Scholar from Melbourne, through her brother Vernon Donnison, and they married in Melbourne on 12 August 1925. They had three sons.

While living in Melbourne in the 1930s and early 1940s, Yseult Bailey was active in the Kindergarten Union of Victoria and helped establish the Lady Gowrie Centre for pre-school education and the University Women’s Wartime Nursery.

During World War II the family moved to Canberra, where Kenneth Bailey worked for the Commonwealth Government. Editha Bailey pushed for the creation of a kindergarten in Canberra. In 1942 she joined a delegation to Health Minister Jack Holloway, and afterwards was invited to Government House to advise Lady Gowrie. She was appointed president of a provisional pre-school committee, and when the Canberra Nursery Kindergarten Society was formed in November 1943, she served as its president.

Bailey played a key role in forming the Australian Pre-School Association. She served as its president, became a life member, and remained an honorary life vice-president until her death. In 1961 she was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her work in preschool education.

Her husband was knighted in 1958, making her Lady Bailey. She died in England on 1 August 1980, aged 77.