My sister, Charlotte Bayntun-Coward, who has died aged 77, was a remarkable person. On one level she was an elegant woman who lived in a beautiful house outside Bath, adored her family and gave wonderful parties. But she was also a passionate advocate for the vulnerable in and around Bath.
Charlotte was born in Chesham Bois, Buckinghamshire, daughter of John Gibbons, who worked for the Arts Council when he returned from a PoW camp in Germany after the second world war, and his wife, Mersa (nee Foster), a teacher and artist. Charlotte did not take full advantage of her education, leaving school with virtually no qualifications. She worked as a dental nurse, as an assistant to the actor Donald Wolfit, and for the BBC in Bristol before her marriage in 1963 to the antiquarian bookseller Hylton Bayntun-Coward.
But once her children were born, Charlotte went to Bath Technical college (now Bath College) to study for her A-levels and duly went on to train as a social worker. She became a magistrate, fostered newborn babies awaiting adoption and got a job as a social worker at her local GP practice.
When she was 50 she became the almoner of St John’s hospital, Bath, which provides almshouse accommodation and grants, a role that allowed her to support vulnerable people in practical ways. She stayed at St John’s for 25 years, finally retiring at the age of 75.
She also worked for a whole range of other organisations, including those concerned with mental health (our father suffered from schizophrenia so she always felt affinity with people with mental health issues) and homelessness. She worked phenomenally hard, but she also knew how to have fun and loved travelling – to east Africa, Russia, the US, Norway, Mozambique, Turkey and India.
Hylton died in 2000. Charlotte is survived by her children, Emma, Edward, Polly and Jo, 12 grandchildren, her companion, Tony, her brother, William, and me.
