Elizabeth (Mildred) Shillington - Women's Legion "Motor Driver" and Aircraft Pilot!

Following my blog about the the three albums of Women’s Legion Motor Drivers’ experiences during and directly after World War One that belonged to Muriel English, I am now delving into the lives of some of the women who are named in the photos. There is some information on the Women's Legion in my previous post and also some links below.

 

There are 200 photographs in Muriel's album and happily some of the women are named. I spotted one item that was not the photo of a person but a digitised copy of a farewell programme to "Miss Shillington" dated 1919. She seems to have been highly regarded by her colleagues.Fortunately this is quite an unusual name and so I chose this for my first research!

 

 

Elizabeth Mildred Shillington was born in 1881 in Belfast, her father John Johnston Shillington being a very wealthy linen merchant and one of the founder members of the Ulster Defence Union. John died in 1898 and left the vast sum of £57,000. This explains why when I follow Elizabeth through census returns and electoral registers, she gives her occupation as "private means", lives in prestigious addresses and has several servants. She also made at least 3  transatlantic trips to Canada before the War - her mother's family were from Canada. Indeed in 1913 Elizabeth was living at one of the most prestigious addresses in the UK - Hanover Square in London.

 

 

   

 

When war was declared in 1914 Elizabeth joined up almost immediately. She firstly joined the French Red Cross but at some stage in 1916 joined the Women's Legion as a "Motor Driver". As we shall see from her post-war experiences, Elizabeth was very much ahead of her time when it came to driving (and indeed, in piloting planes!!) Her duties seem to have been regarding transport in hospitals in France, principally connected to kitchens. As we have seen, she served with the Red Cross and latterly the Women's Legion for five years.

 

 

 Outside Women's Legion Quarters.

 

 

Elizabeth's contribution to the war effort was recognised when she was awarded the MBE in 1919. I have also discovered that her medals came up for sale several years ago. She never married and had no children and so I suspect they were sold by distant family members.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elizabeth had a most intrepid life once she left the Women's Legion!  She continued to make  trips to Canada on transatlantic liners.She drove her own car at a time when very few single women could drive or had the money to buy their own car. We know this because there was a report in the local paper of a traffic offence (she pleaded ignorance and was fined 10s 6d ; I doubt the size of the fine troubled her greatly!)

 

 I discovered one more facet of this intrepid women's life - she owned and flew three aeroplanes!! She owned a Tiger Moth and had a pilot's licence. As can be seen from the newspaper cuttings, she was very much an adventuress at a time when women aged over 21 in the UK had only just been given the vote. I cannot think for one moment that there were many female pilots and - according to the article below - none that owned three planes!! And who was looking forward to taking some of her friends for a flight!

 

 Elizabeth was a member of the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Flying Club (they sound pretty progressive at a time when women were routinely barred from many clubs - and of course, many occupations). She died in 1930. As an illustration of  just how highly   regarded by members of the Flying Club she was  - they arranged a "fly past" at her funeral! What a sight that must  have been!

 

 Once again, I have discovered how a woman from a very wealthy background joined the war effort, served abroad and mixed and lived with women from different backgrounds and lived in less than luxurious conditions for years. Elizabeth lived a very comfortable life until her 30s when she clearly leapt at the chance of adventure - her adventurous nature continuing after the war with her increasing interest in motorised transport. Never marrying, she was surely the epitome of the "new woman" of the inter war years so often described by social historians.

 

 

https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/2024/august/muriel-the-ambulance-driver/

 

https://ntmountstewartconservationproject.wordpress.com/tag/womens-legion/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women%27s_Legion 

 

Ancestry.co.uk

British Newspaper Archives 

Stories from a photo album - or - Putting the Women back in the Women's Legion!

I recently discovered over 200 photographs in three albums of Women’s Legion Motor Drivers’ experiences during and directly after World War I. The albums - held in a Toronto Archive belonged to Muriel M. English, beginning when she was working in the British Red Cross Convoys from 1915-1918. They also include images of the The Royal Army Service Corps, the Voluntary Aid Detachment, and others.  Among the photographs are other ephemera, including Christmas cards, postcards, and a leave pass.

 

 

 “Taken at Boesinghe, in Raging heat.”

 

This is a truly remarkable - and free to access - archive that has been digitised and presented on Flckr (see first link at the end of the blog).  She was born in 1881 in Cambridgeshire and until the War, did not have an occupation. When I looked a bit closer at Muriel's life, I discovered that it had already been extensively researched in a really interesting blog (see below) and so I decided, that as there are some named women (alas usually only a surname!) in the albums I'd have a go at researching them and bringing their stories to life.. Before I carry on - here are a few photos of Muriel aka, and helpfully named, as  self" in the album!

 

  

 

“Self & Sid: Deasy.”

No-one knows why the ambulance is called "Deasy"! 

 

 

Muriel was invited to a Buckingham Palace Garden Party in 1919.

 

 

She married Arthur Parker in 1924 I was lucky enough to find a photo of

their wedding at Bath Abbey

  

Arthur died in 1940 and Muriel survived him by 33 years. She married late in life -when she was 44 but was one of thousands of women who found their vocation and a fulfilling life during the War years - indeed she was active from 1914 to 1919. A long way from remaining a Rector's daughter in Cambridgeshire.

 

There are 200 photos on Flickr and a really excellent account of her life and particularly her War Service in the aforementioned blog - I highly recommend a browse! 

  

My next blogs will be about some of the women pictured in the photo album - as you can see, an intrepid bunch!

 

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomasfisherlibrary/albums/72157703315352932/with/40111069373

 

https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/2024/august/muriel-the-ambulance-driver/

 

Emily Widdowson A Lifetime of Service

 

 

I'm researching some nurses named in a  wonderful photograph album belonging to Mary Muscat, a nurse in Malta. Emily Widdowson is the third nurse I researched who served in Malta and had a nursing career scanning decades. This is her story.

 

 

 Cottonera Hospital

 

Emily was born on the 13th March 1881 in Lichfield Staffordshire. Her father Jesse was a mining engineer. Her grandfather had been a miner in Staffordshire. In 1901 when she was 20, Emily was a ladies maid in a very large house in Lichfield. However, just 4 years later she had begun training to be a nurse. She was a probationer from 1905 - 1908 at the Walsall Union Infirmary. It is surprising how many women made the transition from domestic service into nursing at this time. 

 

 

 

 

After qualifying, Emily moved to the Walsall Victoria Nursing Institution where she remained for over 7 years. She had just moved to a position in the District School Inspectorate when she decided to apply to serve in the Queen Alexandra Imperial Nursing Service. She joined in June 1915. She was to remain there for two years.

 

  

 

 

 

Emily embarked for Malta in June 1915. Her nursing records are quite sparse - not unusual if a nurse has had a fairly settled placement. We do have a photo of her in August 1916, talking to one of the RAMC officers. She left in July 1917. 

 

 Emily talking to an RAMC Captain

 

Unfortunately, due to an illness picked up during her nursing,Emily embarked for England and  went before a medical board in Lichfield Military Hospital. She was given two months' sick leave due to "debility from service in the tropics". Sadly she was deemed permanently unfit for service abroad and in December 1917 joined the Military Hospital in York for home duty. She remained in the QAIMNS until April 1919. The reference that she was given said she was an "average nurse" but was very kind to patients. However her "moral qualifications are very good"! Good to know!

 

In 1921 Emily was living with her sister Mabel (a teacher of the deaf) and her occupation is "Sick nurse: Infant Welfare  : visiting the sick". In 1939 she notes her occupation as "Medical Nurse: Retired"

 

There is a letter in her records which states she has asked financial support.  I do not know if it was granted. Such a sad ending to her service both to the country and the community for 20 years

 

 

 

 Letter advising of Emily's application for financial assistance

 

I have not been able to find a definite date of death for Emily - she was still alive in 1939 so lived to be at least 60. Neither Emily, nor her sister Mabel married. Mabel also served the community as a teacher of "the deaf" for over 20 years. Two brothers did very well for themselves - one became a hotel manager and another the Director and Department Buyer of Home Furnishings. Both had servants. 

 

Emily, her sisters and brothers had come a long way from the mining community of their grandfather. The brothers were too old to be conscripted and so took no part in the War.  However, the fact that Emily had to apply for financial support after serving her country shows how hard it was for many women to remain independent after years of service. Their stories need to be acknowledged and shared. 

 

Thank you Emily (and Mabel!) for your service to your country and community.  

 

http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/articles/Walsall/health.htm

https://revoltsnow.wordpress.com/2015/10/19/the-workhouse/

 

  http://agiusww1.com/mary-muscat-2/

 https://www.maltaramc.com/articles/contents/greatwar.html

 

Ancestry.co.uk

 

The National Archives Nursing records https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/