Kathleen Chambers, Oswald and Biddy’s only child, is the subject of many searches on Google.
Of course, I know what happened to her.
It’s all in my book, Mrs. Oswald Chambers, published in October 2017.
The little girl who spent crucial years in a WWI camp served as a major source I turned to frequently while writing the biography.
But I know you’re curious.
Here are some hints.
Kathleen Chambers Childhood
Kathleen spent her first two years doted on at the Bible Training College her parents ran in London.
She sailed U-boat-infested seas to Egypt when she was two and a half years old, with her mother and family friend Mary Riley.
Kathleen Chambers served as a source of constant entertainment, love, and encouragement to ANZAC soldiers at the YMCA‘s Zeitoun camp.
Oswald Chambers died when she was four years old. Kathleen already knew about death and loss from soldier friends who died in the Sinai and in the trenches of France.
The little girl, taught by her parents that heaven is a wonderful place, believed them.
In her own way, she ministered to her mother, family friends, and the soldiers by her faith in God.
Youth
Circa 1925
Kathleen returned to England at the age of six. She and Biddy lived in London and Oxford.
Instrumental in some of the significant events of her mother’s post-war life, the girl grew up like most others in poor post-war England.
She had a keen mind and a strong will.
Biddy sheltered her from “the ministry of the books.”
Kathleen had nothing to do with her father’s words, ideas, teaching or material as she grew up.
Family friends made sure she had access to a good education.
Maturity
Born in 1913, Kathleen came of age before World War II.
Her health and the war changed her life. It also added drama to Biddy’s existence!
As a mother, I was awed by Biddy’s courage and patience with Kathleen. Modern parents can learn much from how Biddy handled her daughter’s spiritual growth.
While she had many friends, Kathleen never married. I don’t know what she looked like as a young woman.
(If you have a photo of Kathleen Chambers between the ages of 13 and 60, please send it to me!)
Post War years
From a 1974 article in Decision Magazine
Kathleen owned a car and worked with handicapped children.
When her mother’s health failed, Kathleen stepped in to care for Biddy.
After Biddy’s death, the quirky opinionated, though polite woman continued in the ministry begun years before with the Oswald Chambers Publication Association, Ltd.
She looked like her father, but she had no memory of him.
In 1991, Kathleen Chambers sat for a lengthy series of interviews with Oswald Chambers’ biographer, David McCasland.
(He dedicated his book, Oswald Chambers: Abandoned to God to her)
She died in 1997 at the age of 84.
My thoughts?
I enjoyed watching a series of videos taken from McCasland’s interview with Kathleen.
The transcript of the full interviews made me laugh, and shake my head. The stories sent me time and again to Google for research.
You can order Mrs. Oswald Chambers here and learn all about Kathleen.
I could not have written my book without Kathleen’s pithy remarks, memories, and matter-of-fact character.
You’ll like her.
You can order Mrs. Oswald Chambers here.
Tweetables
What happened to Oswald Chambers’ daughter? Click to Tweet
Was Oswald Chambers’ daughter a Christian? Click to Tweet
Kathleen Chambers: a complicated character. Click to Tweet
Writing about Oswald and Biddy Chambers was a joyful research and spiritual experience!
I related the stories about God’s leading and my blessed–and astonished–reactions while writing Mrs. Oswald Chambers and A Poppy in Remembrance.
Thank you for the information,I am doing a 30day devotional on my iPhone.
That is what sparked my curiosity,I have read Abandoned to God, a most wonderful story. I did wonder if Kathleen ended up believing in Jesus?? That wasn’t made clear,perhaps because the information is not clear in regards to her life.😊🙏🏻💖
Oh, very sorry! Yes, Kathleen came to a greater knowledge of God when she started working as a nurse circa 1930’s, as an adult. She said at one point it can be a handicap to grow up in a Christian home. You hear about God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit all the time and so you think you know them, but really don’t. Everyone has to find their own relationship with Jesus and it took her awhile to “dial in” if you will. 🙂
She never married and lived with her mother most of her life, joining the Oswald Chambers Publication Association in 1936 and eventually taking over Biddy’s role when Biddy died in 1966. Kathleen knew Brother Andrew well, supported his ministry and a number of others, sent out her father’s books and loved her God. She died in 1997.
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify.