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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
Evelyn Kirk
Service: Munitions worker
Notes: Nothing is known of Evelyn Kirk, who was awarded the MOBE for ‘devotion to duty in munitions factory Queensferry’ 10th June 1918. She may have been from County Durham.
Reference: WaW0202
Evelyn Kirk
Photograph of Evelyn Kirk collected by the Women’s Subcommittee of the Imperial War Museum.
E Kitson
Place of birth: Cardiff
Service: Munitions worker and rugby player
Notes: E Kitson captained Cardiff Ladies. She was a team mate of Lilian Rees [qv] and Maria Eley [qv] and probably a co-worker.
Sources: https://cardiffrugbymuseum.org/articles/earliest-photograph-women%E2%80%99s-team
Reference: WaW0398
Newspaper report
Advertisement for the match between Newport Ladies and Cardiff Ladies, December 1917
Press cutting
Cutting giving the score of the match between Newport Ladies and Cardiff Ladies, December 1917. Source not known.
not known / anhysbys Knott
Place of birth: Pontypridd
Service: Nurse, not known / anhysbys
Notes: Nothing is currently known of Nurse Knott, whose name appears on the Roll of Honour of St Matthews Church, Trallwn, Pontypridd.
Reference: WaW0140
Roll of Honour
Name of Nurse Knott on the Roll of Honour of St Matthews Church, Trallwn, Pontypridd. Courtesy Dr Gethin Matthews.
Mathilde Augusta Lilian Laloe
Place of birth: Carmarthen
Service: Administrator, SWH, 1916 - 1920
Notes: Lilian Laloe was the daughter of Auguste Felix Laloe, a teacher from France who became headmaster of the Queen Elixabeth Grammar School in 1874. She joined the Scottish Womens Hospitals as a cook, but was rapidly promoted to Adminstrator.
Sources: http://scottishwomenshospitals.co.uk/women/
Reference: WaW0086
Lilian Laloe (rear, second left).
Lilian Laloe (rear, second left) with Doctors from the Scottish Women's Hospital, Salonika, 1917?.
Lily Maud Leaver
Place of birth: Aberdare
Service: Munitions worker, Not known / anhysbys
Death: 1917/12/28, TNT poisoning / Gwenwyni gan TNT
Notes: Little is known of Lily Leaver, who was born in 1896. Her parents later lived at Abertridwr in Glamorganshire.
Reference: WaW0325
Lily Maud Leaver
Lily’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.
Mabel Sybil (May) Leslie (Burr)
Place of birth: Woodlesford near Leeds
Service: Scientist, Chemist, HM Factory Penrhyndeudraeth, 1915 - 1918
Death: 1937/07/03, Bardsey, Leeds, Cancer / canser
Notes: May Leslie was born 1887, the daughter of a miner. Her father was very interested in education and self-improvement, for himself and his children. May won scholarships to High School and to Leeds University, where she gained First Class Honours in Chemistry in 1908, followed by a three year scholarship to study with Marie Curie in Paris. In 1914 she obtained an assistant lecturer’s post at University College Bangor, and in 1915 was called on to start work in the Explosive Factory in Litherland. She was promoted to Chemist in Charge of a Laboratory, a very rare position for a woman, and then moved into the same role at H M Factory Penrhyndeudraeth, working on explosives. This job ended with the War, and she returned to academic life in England.
Sources: https://newwoodlesford.xyz/schools/may-sybil-leslie/ Devotion to Their Science: Pioneer Women of Radioactivity, Rayner-Canham Marelene and Geoffrey
Reference: WaW0438
Ada Doris Maud Lesser (Radcliffe)
Place of birth: Nova Scotia
Service: Worker, QMAAC
Death: 1918/12/04, Tidsworth Military Hospital, Wiltshire, Influenza / y ffliw
Memorial: Danygraig, Swansea, Glamorgan
Notes: Born c.1879, Ada moved with her parents to Swansea. She married Arthur Charles Lesser in December 1899. The inscription on her grave says she was 36 when she died, but she was probably older. Thanks to Diana Morgan
Reference: WaW0190
Gwen Lewis
Place of birth: Swansea
Service: Teacher
Notes: Gwen Lewis set sail from Tilbury for Gibraltar on 26th February 1916, to be married in Gibraltar. The following day, at about 10.30, the liner, SS Majola, struck a mine off Dover and sank with the loss of 155 lives. Gwen survived, but lost all her possessions including the travelling watch with which she had been presented on leaving Terrace-roads school. Her story was published at length in the South Wales Weekly Post and Llais Llafur.
Reference: WaW0265
Gwenllian Lewis
Place of birth: Treharris
Service: Nurse, TFNS, November/Tachwedd 1914 – Jul
Notes: Gwenllian Lewis seems to have been working as a private nurse in the Midlands before she was called up in 1914. She spent three years at the 5th Northern General Hospital in Leicester before going to France in 1917. She remained there until early 1919 when she returned to Leicester. Her annual appraisals all refer to her as a ‘good nurse’ who was kind to patients. Her only misdemeanour was losing her TFNS badge, and having to pay for a replacement.
Reference: WaW0426