Obituaries Australia

Lady Jessie Groom, widow of Sir Littleton Groom, a former Federal Minister and Speaker of the House of Representatives, died in Canberra yesterday after a brief illness.

She was a daughter of the late Rev. Charles Bell and Mrs. Bell, and spent most of her girlhood at the manse of the Clarion Street Presbyterian Church, South Melbourne, where her father was minister. In 1894 she married Sir Littleton Groom, then a young barrister, and went to Toowoomba.

Some years ago, when Sir Littleton Groom was senior Commonwealth delegate to the League of Nations, she visited England and the Continent with him. She took an active interest in his long political career, and after his death in 1936 lived at Canberra and devoted herself to public, social, and literary works. Lady Groom was founder of the Ladies' Literary Society in Toowoomba, and was patron from its formation. She was responsible also for forming the Young Women's Christian Association in Toowoomba.

She has left one daughter, Jessie, wife of Mr. Cecil Pearce, Southport. Another daughter, Grace, died many years ago.

Lady Groom's funeral will take place this afternoon. She will be buried at the side of her husband in the burial ground of St. John's Church, Canberra.