Angela Olivia, Countess of Limerick, served the Red Cross for more than 60 years and became one of the institution’s best known leaders.

In 1915, she trained as a Red Cross volunteer nurse and, falsifying her age because she was too young to serve abroad, nursed World War One wounded in both French and British hospitals.

In London in 1940, during the German "blitz", she was in charge of the local Red Cross branch and went on to dominate development of the British Red Cross for 20 years. An extensive traveler, she died in 1981.

The Times of London said in her obituary: "Angela Limerick had a great breadth of vision, an astonishing memory and grasp of detail, and a remarkable ability to establish close and lasting personal relationships after brief acquaintance; above all she had the gift of inspiring and encouraging others and bringing out the best in them."

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