Remembering 'The Spy Princess' Noor Inayat Khan

This week in a corner of Bloomsbury, the sculpture of Noor Inayat Khan - a woman who was a pioneer in many ways, was unveiled by Princess Anne. Also known as "Nora Baker" or "Madeleine", Noor was a real Indian Princess but also a talented musician, writer, and linguist.

As the great-great-great granddaughter of Tipu Sultan, the Muslim ruler who heroically held back the East India Company, Khan told her army bosses that she might very well fight the British in India. But on 19th November 1940, she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), and as an Aircraft woman 2nd Class, she was sent to be trained as a wireless operator. She became an anti-imperialist who spied for the British Empire, and was the first female radio operator sent into Nazi-occupied France in 1942 by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), Churchill’s secret organisation that sought to “set Europe ablaze”. She was armed with only a false passport and a pistol. But in Paris she ran a spy ring; a role so deadly she was given 6 weeks max to survive. When the Gestapo did catch her, they tortured her for ten months, but she didn't reveal a single piece of information. She was classified as "highly dangerous" and shackled in chains. She was eventually killed in Dachau Concentration Camp, her last words before the gunshot were "Liberté", a notion the pacifist-turned-war-heroine held deeply. She was only 30 years old. Noor was posthumously awarded the George Cross by Britain and France awarded her the Croix de Guerre.

Following a campaign to install a permanent memorial in her honour in London, the Vice Chancellor of the University of London gave permission for the bust to be installed in Gordon Square, near the house where Noor lived and from where she left on her last mission, unable to tell her mother she might never return. Campaigners spent years raising £60,000 for Noor’s statue, by London-based artist Karen Newman. After the unveiling, a bugler played the Last Post before a minute's silence was observed.

Khan was one of the 2.5 million Indians who formed the single-biggest volunteer army in The Second World War, who all deserve commemoration. The memorial in Gordon Square will be the first for an Asian woman in this country, it will stand for peace and religious harmony, the principles Noor Inayat Khan believed in. This Remembrance Sunday, take your minutes to reflect on brave stories such as these that might never be known, the unsung heroes, and of course all those who have given their lives in conflict.

Thank you for reading,

Katie

Lumberjills of The Women's Timber Corps

This post is dedicated to some often forgotten heroines of WW2 - The Women's Timber Corps, otherwise known as 'Lumberjills'. Those who watch Wartime Farm on BBC2 would have seen them attempting The Timber Corps work, and I hope this will encourage widespread knowledge of these brave women.

The Lumberjills were a unit of of The Women's Land Army along with The Land Girls, who are more often used as the iconic image of the Women's Home Front.

The Women’s Timber Service had actually been set up during WW1, but in April 1942 the Ministry of Supply inaugurated The Women’s Timber Corps in England. When supply grew, Scotland followed in May 1942, forming its own Women’s Timber Corps. This was a new unit with its own identity and uniform. In Scotland, girls and women were recruited from the age of 17, however, some were as young as 14. Their issued badge contained a fir tree instead of the bundle of wheat featured on The Land Girls uniform.

The Lumberjills were drafted in at the outbreak of War to ensure Britain had timber for it's roaring industry. Home-produced timber was crucial for aircraft and railway construction, ship-building, charcoal for explosives and gas mask filters, not to mention everyday uses such as packaging and coffins. Some were actually stationed in forest huts, others stayed with locals. The hours were long, and in all weathers. As servicemen were stationed nearby, they often met at dances and many moved to Canada after the war with their sweethearts.

They faced prejudice from the male forestry workers, as this was pure manual labour and they weren't expected to be tough enough. Needless to say, they proved them wrong. Their hands became calloused, they developed strong muscular arms and legs - not traits of a "real lady" at the time, but they relished the freedom and fresh air even if it did cause many aches and pains! I can imagine that many were unwilling or uncomfortable to return to indoor-domestic lives IF their husbands returned. For those who joined when young, or if widowed and having to start afresh, I believe it gave them a strong core confidence, and the toughness to go on alone. The Land Army broke all social stereotypes of women, and changed society for the better, even in the face of such worldwide trauma.

The Women’s Timber Corps was disbanded in August 1946, with each girl handing back her uniform and receiving a letter from Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, who was the patron of the WTC.

After The War, 8,700 women of The Timber Corps received no recognition, despite providing 60 per cent of the timber needed by the industry of the time. They finally gained a fitting memorial in 2007, when the Forestry Commission Scotland unveiled a powerful life size bronze sculpture by Malcolm Robertson. I thought this article gave an interesting account of the day:

For further reading regarding the memorial, visit The Women's Timber Corps Website.

Found via Dougie Coull Photography

A UNIQUE TRIBUTE TO BRITAIN'S LUMBERJILLS from WeeFlee Productions on Vimeo.

Veterans of The Women's Land Army and Timber Corps will be marching for the last time to the Cenotaph this year. I hope they will get a special remembrance this time, they deserve it.

I hope you enjoyed reading,

Katie

Book Review - 'Britannia's Daughters: Women of the British Empire' By Joanna Trollope

I've been meaning to start writing book reviews for a while, and inspired by blogger-pal LandGirl1980's great selection of reviews, I am starting this habit right now!

I have been recently disappointed by several books regarding women's history. Being such a wide-ranging and vibrant subject, I can't understand why some authors seem unable to produce any narrative! Instead they just rely on constant lists of names with no context on WHY we should care about these characters (I didn't want my first review to be a negative one, but expect an example soon!)

I am glad to say, 'Britannia's Daughters: Women of the British Empire' proved most-readable.
I'm not sure I agree with the reviews of "Gripping...unputdownable" but certainly a very lively approach to describing the women who signed up to escape in search of opportunities and adventures they couldn't have at home. I particularly enjoyed the inclusion of fun and lighthearted family photographs which help add gravitas to the women's choice to leave their home and family behind.

Map of the world showing the extent of the British Empire in 1886

I think the books strongest point is its broad-range of study regarding the social classes of the time. I think many imagine those who left to join "The Empire" enjoyed a life sipping a G&T whilst riding an elephant and brandishing a parasol. A dark truth we discover in the later chapters, is the deportation of women to the "uninhabited lands" of America, and eventually Australia in ships so cramped that a 6x6 foot space was deemed more than enough for four bodies. Their crime? Moral- Victorian England's worst nightmare...prostitution. Not something that would automatically spring to mind is it? They didn't send them to the "productive" lands of India (which already had a vast issue with prostitution) instead stuck to a typical "out of sight, out of mind" approach, shocking.

"Every woman is a nurse" is a fantastic chapter, describing to us the horrors of Victorian hospitals being no place for 'respectable' women (and rife with alcohol problems apparently) and the great change which followed when The Nightingale School of Nursing was set up. An important change swiftly followed around the empire, as finally women could be treated by their own gender, and stop being ashamed to discuss their situation or maladies. And for some of the doctors and nurses themselves who had lived previously sheltered and privileged lives, they now had to adapt to a whole new culture without the protection of their male family...and it would seem many relished this adventure! A particularly good quote from Dr Ellen Farrer, writing from India in 1891 describes the resolute self-sufficiency of each working day:

"Woman with dropsy arrived from Dadri on a camel. Cut orange peel for marmalade...went to see the postmaster's daughter, she has hysterics...Thirty five patients at dispensary...snake killed in Annie's bedroom"

My particular reason for picking up this book was because I hoped for stories about the female naturalists and plant-hunters who braved the jungles and highest mountains to bring back examples of previously unseen flora&fauna. I wasn't disappointed exactly, but I think a longer chapter could have been dedicated for Marianne North (who dedicated her life to painting plant specimens), Mary Kingsley (writer and explorer, particularly known for her work in Africa) and Margret Fountaine (Diarist and natural history illustrator). I think slightly too much detail was put into the darker/seeder side of women in the empire and not enough into the truly wild and colourful stories of the women explorers. There are some fantastic photographs of these women and their work at least, so it's best seen as a suitable introduction. I will be on the look-out for a more in depth study of these heroines soon!

 

Marianne North travelled the globe painting plants in their natural habitat

Marianne North - A Selection of Flowers from Mount Wellington, Tasmania (1880s)

So I would personally give "Britannia's Daughters" a 7/10. It's more of a lively-introduction than an in-depth history, and it did leave me with some questions. However, the chapters relating to the medical history was VERY informative, and has opened my eyes to the brutal truth surrounding womens missions abroad.

Thanks for reading!

Katie

Maureen Dunlop de Popp - A true heroine

 

I thought a post dedicated to the brave and beautiful as Maureen Dunlop de Popp, who sadly passed away last week at the age of 91 was appropriate. She was one of the 164 female members of the wartime Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA), of which one in ten pilots died doing their duty of transporting planes between factories and military airfields. The above photograph proved the dream of the Picture Post photographer, who put this image of her emerging from the cockpit of a Fairey Barracuda on the cover, 1944.

The ATA's work was gruelling, they flew the length and breadth of the UK in all weathers, at a time when the nature of flying was changing to become a vital part of the war effort. The women pilots had to cope with opposition and rudeness from men who had little faith in their abilities - or perhaps even misplaced chivalry. The female pilots weren't permitted to fly in combat, but Dunlop expressed her wish to have been involved in the fighting : "I thought it was the only fair thing. Why should only men be killed?"

Maureen flew 38 different types of aircraft during her time at the ATA, including the Spitfire, Mustang, Typhoon and the Wellington bomber. However, when asked her favourite, she immediately responded "The Mosquito". 

Maureen Dunlop began flying at the age of 15, when she joined the Aeroclub Argentino. Two years later she had obtained her pilot's licence. The example of her father's British military experience as a volunteer with the Royal Field Artillery in the First World War, together with an article in Flight magazine, inspired her to sail to England and offer her flying skills to the ATA.
She came through the war uninjured, but once had to make a forced landing with a faulty engine, and once was flying a Spitfire when a badly fitted cockpit cover blew off. After the war she qualified in England as an instructor and, returning to Argentina, flew for the Argentine Air Force and taught its pilots, as well as flying commercially.

Maureen is a true inspiration, but I think a widely unknown story. Perhaps reading about such bravery is a reminder that it was a national effort fighting in World Wars, and we should always be keen to learn, and remember their contributions.

If you would like to discover more, the "Spitfire Women of World War II" book by Giles Whittel can be found HERE 

Thanks for reading,

Katie