Ada May King

Place of birth: not known

Service: Railway Porter, TVR

Notes: Ada, a railway porter, possibly at Aberdare station, was sworn at and ‘struck on the chest’ by one Alfred Collins. He was attempting to avoid paying for a ticket (again).

Reference: WaW0372

Newspaper report

Report of the assault on Ada King. Aberdare Leader 5th May 1917.

Eva Jennie Fry (Savage)

Place of birth: Southampton

Service: Scientist, botanist, University College Aberys

Notes: Eva, whose father was an elementary school teacher, was a botany student at University College Aberystwyth, with a particular interest in mosses. She joined the Moss Exchange Club in 1915. She graduated with a first class BSc in 1916, and MSc in 1919, when she published her research findings. She was an Assistant Lecturer in the Botany department until she became a lecturer in Botany at Westfield College, University of London, in 1925.

Reference: WaW0462

Newspaper report

Report of Miss R E Jones’s appointment to Swansea Hospital.

Caroline Pearse Tremain

Place of birth: not known

Service: Lecturer, College warden, University College Aberystwyth, 1914 - 1919+

Notes: Caroline Pearse Tremain was warden of Alexandra Hall, the women’s hall of residence at University College Aberystwyth, throughout the War years. She trained at the Cambridge Training College for Women under Elizabeth Phillips Hughes [qv], receiving a diploma with distinction. After some years teaching, Caroline took a BA in English at Aberystwyth, graduating in 1898. She was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Education at Aberystwyth in 1899, and became warden of Alexandra Hall in 1914. At the Hall she promoted many fund-raising events, from lectures to exhibitions, and encouraged the girls to do war-work with the VAD or other organisations, and in raising money (nearly £200 was raised for War Loan Certificates in 1918, and ‘some enterprising students undertook stone-picking and weeding’ to raise funds for War Weapons Week. She also was a major organiser for the Summer Schools arranged at the College each year.

Reference: WaW0450

Alexandra Hall, University College Aberystwyth.

Caroline Pearse Tremain was Warden here throughout WWI.

Newspaper report

Report of Caroline’s appointment to the Department of Education. Cambrian News 2nd June 1899.

Newspaper report

Report of Caroline Pearse Tremain’s opening address at a sale in aid of the YWCA. Cambrian News 6th November 1914.

Newspaper report

Lecture on Combating Venereal Disease at Alexandra Hall. Caroline Pearse Tremain presided and over 400 women attended. Cambrian News 12 December 1919.

Mary Brebner

Place of birth: not known

Service: Lecturer, University College Aberystwyth, 1898 - 1919

Notes: Mary Brebner was a University College, Aberystwyth, graduate and subsequently trained at the Cambridge Training College for Women under Elizabeth Phillips Hughes [qv]. She then took an MA at London University in 1891. After working in London as well as Wales, and travelled on a scholarship. Her book The Method of Teaching Modern Languages in Germany is still in print, and she has been described as the most influential women in the teaching of modern foreign languages in Britain. In 1899 she was appointed Assistant Lecturer at Aberystwyth in modern languages and Latin. At the outbreak of war Dr Ethē, Professor of German at Aberystwyth since 1875, was in Germany and did not return. Mary was promoted to lecturer and ran the department for the whole of the war, including the 1918-19 session which was ‘considerably interrupted owing to influenza’. She then retired, replaced by a man, to live in Penmaenmawr, though she remained on the board of the University of Wales.

Reference: WaW0451

Newspaper report

Report of Mary Brebner’s MA at London University. South Wales Daily News 31st July 1893.

Newspaper report

Report of Mary Brebner's appointment to the University College. Welsh Gazette 5th October 1899

Book catalogue

Mary Brebner’s book on teaching modern foreign languages 1898.

University College Report

Report of the German department, 1919. Reports submitted to the Court of Governors / University College of Wales, Aberystwyth

Kathleen Edithe Carpenter (Zimmermann)

Place of birth: Lincolnshire

Service: Scientist Biologist Environmentalist., University College Aberystwyth

Death: 1970, Cheltenham, Cause not known

Notes: Born 1891 to a German father and English mother, Kathleen Carpenter (she changed her surname from Zimmermann at the outbreak of WWI) was awarded her BSc in 1910. She remained at Aberystwyth for research, and subsequently became an Assistant Lecturer in the Zoology Department. She gained her PhD there in 1925. Her seminal studies focused on the environmental impact of metal pollution on Cardiganshire streams. This gained her international renown, particularly in the United States where she worked at several leading universities. Kathleen Carpenter is regarded as ‘the mother of freshwater ecology’.

Sources: Catherine Duigan: https://thebiologist.rsb.org.uk/biologist-features/158-biologist/features/1968-who-was-kathleen-carpenter ++

Reference: WaW0465

Kathleen E Carpenter

Kathleen Carpenter in about 1910

Kathleen Carpenter and fellow students

Kathleen Carpenter (front, 2nd left) Aberystwyth's literature and debating society in 1910

Report

Zoology Department report listing departmental research

Kathleen Carpenter’s research

Kathleen E Carpenter: Life in Inland Waters. Macmillan 1928

Margaret K Turner

Service: Scientist, Chemistry demonstrator, University College Aberystwyth / Coleg Prifysgol A, 1915

Notes: Margaret was appointed Demonstrator in the Chemistry department of Aberystwyth University early in the war. She worked on the preparation of diethylamine, an inhibitor used in pharmaceuticals. At the end of this contract she wrote to the War Committee of the Institute of Chemistry ‘I can put all my time and energy at your service for the next 6 weeks, and am anxious to know whether the few helpers down here could not be allowed to contribute further to the needs of the country? I should be much obliged if you could inform me whether there is any other preparations we can make, as I, for one, am willing and eager to give up all ideas of holidays whilst there remains so much to be done’. We do not know if this offer was taken up.

Sources: Chemistry Was Their Life: Pioneer British Women Chemists 1880 – 1949. Marelene Rayner-Canham & Geoff Rayner-Canham Imperial College Press 2008

Reference: WaW0312

Lilian Winstanley

Place of birth: Manchester, suffragist

Service: Lecturer, University College Aberystwyth / Coleg Prifysgol A, 1898 - 1941

Death: 1960, Cause not known

Notes: Lilian Winstanley was an outstanding student at Owen’s College, Manchester, one of the constituent parts of Victoria University. She was a suffragist and keen cyclist as a student, graduating with a 1st class degree in 1897. In 1898 she moved to Aberystwyth with a companion, Marion Benson [d. 1900], to join the English Department of University College, Aberystwyth as an assistant lecturer. Lilian remained there until she retired as a senior lecturer in 1941. She maintained her interest in Suffrage (lecturing for example to the WSPU in Preston, Lancs, in 1908), was a member of the University Socialist Society and later the Liberal Party and wrote regularly for The Welsh Gazette and Welsh Outlook, including verse. She wrote and edited many academic books and at least one novel. She left her library to the University on her death in 1960.

Reference: WaW0454

Newspaper report

Report of the appointment of Lilian Winstanley. Cambrian News 23rd December 1898

Autograph

Lilian Winstanley’s autograph, 1901.

Death notice

Notice of the death of Marion Benson, Lilian Winstanley’s companion.

Newspaper report

Report of Lilian Winstanley’s talk to the WSPU in Preston. Welsh Gazette 16th January 1908.

Annotated page

Pages from the poem Adonais (by Shelley) annotated by Lilian Winstanley.

Poem

Poem ‘Land of Dante’, reflecting on the Austrian invasion of Italy. Welsh Outlook Vol 2 no 9 September 1915.

Book and book plate

Lilian Winstanley’s copy of Adonais, with her bequest plate.

Rose Crowther

Place of birth: Cardiff

Service: Nurse, VAD, 03/06/1916

Notes: Rose Crowther was associated with Roath Road Wesleyan Methodist Church, Cardiff. She joined the Red Cross in June 1916, but nothing is known of her service. Image and information courtesy of Glamorgan Archives (DWESA6).

Sources: https://archifaumorgannwg.wordpress.com/

Reference: WaW0112

Rose Crowther

Rose Crowther VAD

Red Cross record card

Red Cross record card for Rose Crowder.

Red Cross record card (reverse)

Red Cross record card (R) for Rose Crowther, showing where she worked.

Lottie Davies (married / priod Buley)

Service: Nurse, VAD

Notes: Her niece Mary Davies gives the following information: My aunt was a nurse in Caerphilly in WW1 and nursed a young cockney soldier wounded in the Somme. They ran off on his motorbike (to avoid my aunt marrying the son of the local furniture store according to my uncle) and were married for over 50 yrs. In between nursing she played the organ for the silent movies!

Reference: WaW0007

Lottie Davies VAD

Lottie Davies in VAD uniform c.1916

Lottie Davies

Lottie Davies c. 1916

Eva Martha Davies

Place of birth: Llantwit Major ?

Service: Nurse, VAD, Aug / Awst-1914 - 1918

Death: 1918-06-16, Newport, Septic poisoning contracted on duty. Gwenwyno septig a gafwyd tra ar ddyletswydd

Memorial: War memorial, Llantwit Major, Glamorgan

Notes: Worked at Newport Hospital. Eva’s photograph was collected by the Women’s Subcommittee of the Imperial War museum as part of its collection of women who died during the War. Two of Eva’s brothers were killed in France. Daughter of Mary Davies (WaW0172),

Reference: WaW0008

Llantwit Major War Memorial

Name of Eva Martha Davies, VAD, on Llantwit Major War Memorial

Newspaper report

Report of Funeral of Eva Martha Davies

Eva Martha Davies

Eva’s photograph was collected by the Women’s Subcommittee of the Imperial War museum as part of its collection of women who died during the War.