Mary Katherine Herbert 1903 – 1983

Mary Herbert

Mary Herbert was born 1903 in Ireland.  After the outbreak of World War 2, she went to work in the British Embassy in Warsaw, before becoming a Civilian Translator for the Air Ministry in London.  She spoke many languages including French and German. 

            In 1941, she joined the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) as a general duties and intelligence clerk.  Then in 1942, she requested to be released from the WAAF in order to join the SOE (Special Operations Executive).

            After completing her SOE training in 1942, Mary travelled to Bordeaux in France.  Here she acted as a courier for the Scientistcircuit under the codename ‘Claudine’.  It was her job to liase with the different scientist groups and transport messages.  She was also used to seek out ‘safe houses’ and find potential recruits for the SOE. 

            In 1944, ‘Claudine’ was arrested by the Gestapo in Poitiers.  She endured many months in prison under harsh conditions.  She was tortured many times but told the Germans nothing.  The whole time she managed to stick to her story, that she was a French woman from Egypt.  Her knowledge of the French language and a previous trip to Cairo meant that she was able to pull it off.  The Germans finally released her and she hid in Poitiers until the end of the war.

            Later in life, she worked as a translator and language teacher, but suffered from a deep depression and committed suicide in 1983 at the age of 79.  She was one of the few women who never received any medals, for the bravery they showed whilst working for the British resistance during WW2.

Louisa Twining 1820 – 1912

Louisa Twining

Louisa Twining was an English Philanthropist and activist for the English Poor Law.  She was born into the famous ‘Twining’s Tea’ family, and spent her early years as an artist and art historian.

            Louisa started the movement for social reform in 1853.  She then dedicated the rest of her life to working with the Poor Law.

            From 1858-59, she attended Great Ormond Street Hospital on a daily basis.  Her aim was to learn about nursing, unfortunately, she found that she was not able to perform the job.  Also during 1859, she wrote an article to The Times (London) about the poor quality of the standard of nursing in the workhouses.  An area that she was working to improve upon.

            The Workhouse Visiting Society was also established by Louisa Twining in 1858.  Reports were made of the conditions that were found within, so that changes could be made in order to improve the appalling conditions that people were forced to endure.  Being poor was not a crime, yet these people were treated worse than criminals.  Louisa’s work with the Poor Law helped to bring them better health care, as well as improvements to their dietary and sanitation needs.

In 1861, Louisa helped to establish an industrial home for workhouse girls that had been sent out to service.  The following year, she opened a home for aged and incurables.  Both homes were side by side on Great Ormond Street.  She gave comfort, shelter and most importantly, medical help to those who would otherwise have been forgotten and abandoned by the system.  She also opened St Luke’s Home for Epileptic Incurable Women, situated in her own home.

                        Louisa Twining was the Poor Law Guardian for Kensington and for Tunbridge Wells, 1884-90.  One of the first females to be elected for the role.  She was also one of the people, who helped start the Metropolitan and National Association for Nursing.  It was set up to encourage proper training for nurses, in order to improve the standards of nursing care offered to people in the workhouses and homes.

            Louisa finally retired from her life’s work in 1900, and died 1912 in Tunbridge Wells.

Eleanor Davies-Colley 1874-1934

Eleanor Davies-Colley

Eleanor Davies-Colley was amongst the first women to pursue a surgical career in the United Kingdom, in a time when it was still very much a male-dominated profession.  She was also co-founder of South London Hospital for Women and Children.

            After leaving school, she worked with the poor children in London’s East End, before beginning her medical studies in 1902.  She studied at London School of Medicine for Women, achieving an MB BS degree in 1907.  Davies-Colley graduated with her MD degree from the University of London in 1910.

            In 1911, Eleanor Davies-Colley became the first female fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.  She also started raising funds along with her colleague Maud Chadburn, to open a new South London Hospital for Woman and Children.  As well as offering improved medical care for women, it was also going to be an aid to help enhance the career prospects for female medical practitioners.  At the time, many hospitals still refused to employ women doctors.

            They raised enough money for an out-patients department in Newington Causeway which opened in 1912.  By 1916, they had a purpose built hospital on Clapham Common that was staffed entirely by women.  The hospital remained open until 1984, and retained its women-only staffing policy until the day it closed.

            In 1917, Davies-Colley became one of the founding members of the Medical Women’s Federation.  She demonstrated anatomy at the London School of Medicine, before going on to become Surgical Registrar at the Royal Free Hospital.

            Later on in life, she became a surgeon at the Marie Curie Cancer Hospital, and was Senior Obstetrician at the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital.

            In 2004, one of the lecture theatres at the Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, was refurbished in her honour, as a celebration of the role of women in surgery.

Dorothy Lawrence 1896 - 1964

Dorothy Lawrence

“I’ll see what an ordinary English girl without credentials can accomplish.”

Dorothy Lawrence was an English reporter who posed as a man to become a soldier during World War 1.  She was an inspiring journalist and had already had some articles published in The Times.  At the outbreak of war, she approached some of the Fleet Street newspapers in the hope of becoming a war reporter but was turned down.

            In 1915, Dorothy travelled to France and tried to volunteer as a civilian employee of the Voluntary Aid Unit, but was rejected once again.  She then tried her luck as a Freelance War Correspondent until she was arrested by the French Police, who ordered her to leave.  Unwilling to accept defeat, she then decided to disguise herself as a man in order to get the story she wanted.

            Dorothy befriended two British Soldiers and along with her ‘Khaki accomplices’; ten men who helped to smuggle her a khaki uniform, she altered her appearance in order to look more like a man.  With false papers in her pocket, Dorothy Lawrence headed to the front lines, as Private Denis Smith of 1^st Battalion, Leicestershire Regiment.

            After ten days of liberty working in the trenches, the stress of hiding her true identity, along with the hard-working conditions was beginning to take its toll on her health.  She began to suffer from constant chills, rheumatism and soon fainting fits.  It became clear to her that she would soon require medical aid, which would lead to her secret being found out.  The men who helped her would all find themselves in danger within the army.  Dorothy decided that the only thing she could do, was to present herself to the Commanding Sergeant, who placed her under military arrest.

            Dorothy Lawrence was taken to the BEF (British Expeditionary Force) Headquarters where she was interrogated as a spy, before being declared as a prisoner of war.    They also made her sign an affidavit, so that she would risk jail if she wrote anything about her experiences on the front line.

            On the way back to London, Dorothy shared the same ferry as Emmeline Pankhurst, who invited her to speak at one of her Suffragette meetings.  She also tried to write about her experiences but was silenced by the War Office, using the 1914 Defence of the Realm Act. 

            In 1919, she published an account of her experiences entitled; ‘Sapper Dorothy Lawrence: The Only English Woman Soldier.’  It was well received in a number of countries, despite being heavily censored by the War Office.  Despite her efforts, she never managed to receive any real credibility as a journalist.

            Dorothy Lawrence spent the final thirty-nine years of her life in an asylum, before being buried in a pauper’s grave.

Emily Davison 1872 - 1913

Emily Davison

‘Deeds not words.'

Born in 1872, Emily Wilding Davison was a militant activist who fought for women’s suffrage in Britain.  She was one of a group of women collectively known as Suffragettes.

            The Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) was formed in 1903 by Emmeline Pankhurst.  Emily Davison joined in 1906, after quitting from her job as a teacher.  She soon gained a reputation as a violent campaigner, disrupting meetings, throwing stones at politicians and even arson.  Many of her militant activities were unauthorised and not approved by the WSPU, meaning that she often fell out of favour with the leadership.

            One the night of 2^nd April 1911 when they were conducting the 1911 Census, Emily Davison hid overnight in a cupboard in the chapel of the Palace of Westminster.  She did it just so that she could give the House of Commons as her legitimate place of residence for that night.  It was one of her many ways of trying to gain more publicity for the Suffragette cause.  The Census documents state that she was found hiding in the crypt of the Houses of Parliament.  There is now a plaque commemorating the occasion which was unveiled in 1999.

            During her time in the WSPU, Davison was jailed nine times and often went on hunger strike, leading to her being force-fed a staggering forty-nine times.  She once tried to avoid it by barricading the door to her cell, forcing the prison officers to attempt to flood her out by placing a hosepipe through the window.  Davison was willing to die for her cause, but the door was broken down before the room had been filled.

            In 1912, just as she was nearing the end of a six-month sentence for arson in Holloway Prison, Davison threw herself down a 10metre iron staircase after yet another bout of force-feeding.  Her intentions were to end the suffering endured by her fellow women.  She sustained head and spinal injuries, that would leave her in discomfort for what would be the rest of her short, tempestuous life.

            Emily Davison’s most infamous moment came on 4^th June 1913, the day of the Epsom Derby.  History will remember her, as the woman who got trampled by the horse belonging to King George V.  She ran out from the side-lines and attempted to grab the horses’ bridle.  She had been working alone and no one was aware of her true intentions.  Two WSPU flags were later found in her possession, so it may be possible that she had been planning to attach them to the King’s horse. 

 Davison suffered a fractured skull and numerous internal injuries.  She died four days later in Epsom Cottage Hospital.  Her death was recorded by the coroner as ‘Due to Misadventure.’  She was the only suffragette to risk death for her cause.  Even though the rest of the WSPU and Suffragette movement didn’t always agree with her actions, they still gave her a spectacular funeral procession from Epsom to her memorial in Bloomsbury.  Her gravestone bears the WSPU slogan ‘Deeds not words.’  

Edith Cavell 1865 - 1915

Edith Cavell

“I realise that patriotism is not enough.  I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone.”

Edith Cavell was born in 1865 in Norwich, England.  Her father was a Vicar and she had been brought up with strong Anglican beliefs. 

            After she finished school, Edith went to work as a governess in a house in Brussels.  She later returned to England and trained as a nurse at the London Hospital between 1900 and 1905.  In 1907, she was made Matron of the newly established nursing school and became a pioneer of modern nursing in Britain.

“I can’t stop while there are lives to be saved.”

            After the outbreak of World War One, Edith Cavell returned to Brussels, where she went above and beyond the call of duty.  Along with several others, she managed to help over two hundred allied wounded soldiers to escape from German occupied Belgium.  They hid them, gave them false papers and helped them to escape over the border and into Britain.  Unfortunately, it was the thank you letters sent by these grateful soldiers that that helped to bring about her conviction.  The Germans were already suspicious of her activities, largely due to her outspoken nature.  She was then betrayed by a man who was later charged by the French as being a collaborator.

            In 1915, Edith Cavell was arrested by the Germans.  She was charged with aiding the escape of allied soldiers into a country that was at war with Germany.  This was enough to convict her of trying to cause harm to the German troops.  She was found guilty of treason and sentenced to death.

            During the early hours of 12^th October 1915, Edith Cavell was executed by firing squad.  Her body was buried immediately next to St. Gilles Prison.  After the war, she was then flown back to England for a memorial service at Westminster Abbey.  Edith’s final resting place is in her native Norwich.

            Edith Cavell was only one woman but in the short life that she lived, she managed to show more humanity and courage, than most people ever would. 

“My soul, as I believe, is safe, and I am glad to die for my country.”

Amy Johnson 1903 - 1941

Amy Johnson

Amy Johnson was a pioneering English Aviator (or Aviatrix).  She was originally introduced to flying as a hobby and gained her Pilots licence in 1929.  Amy Johnson was also the first British woman to hold a Ground Engineers licence.

            In 1930 she became the first woman to fly solo from England to Australia.  The aircraft she used, a Gypsy Moth named ‘Jason’, can still be seen on display in the Science Museum in London.  She was also awarded a CBE in recognition of her achievements.

            Amy Johnson and her co-pilot, Jack Humphreys, became the first people to fly from London to Moscow in one day in July 1931.  The flight had taken them about 21 hours.  From Moscow they continued across Siberia into Tokyo, setting a record time for flying from Britain to Japan.

            In 1932 she married Jim Mollison, who was to become her new co-pilot.  That same year she also set the record for solo flight from London to Cape Town.  Johnson and Mollison were both injured in 1933 when they crashed down in Conneticut, USA, after running out of fuel flying from South Wales to the United States.

            The couple took part in the MacRobertson Air Race from Britain to Australia in 1934.  After setting a record time from Britain to India, they were unfortunately forced to retire in Allahabad due to engine trouble.  Johnson’s last record breaking flight was from Britain to South Africa in 1936.  She overturned a glider in 1938 but was not seriously hurt.  It was however, the end of her marriage and she was divorced from Jim Mollison that same year.

            During the Second World War, the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA) was set up to transport Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft around the country.  Amy Johnson joined the ATA in 1940 and rose to the rank of First Officer.  It was on 5^th January 1941, whilst making a routine flight for the AXA, that Johnson went off course in bad weather and had to bail out of her aircraft.  Her plane crashed down in the Thames Estuary and so did Amy Johnson.  Despite the valiant efforts of one man, who tragically lost his own life trying to save her, Amy Johnson was drowned and her body never recovered.  She became the first member of the ATA to die in service.