# Edith Mary Douglas

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{{short description|British engineer, shipyard director}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Edith Mary Douglas
| image              = Edith_Mary_Douglas.png
| caption            = 
| birth_name         = Edith Mary Dale
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1877|11|13|df=y}}
| birth_place        = [Kanpur](/source/Kanpur), [British Raj](/source/British_Raj)
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1962|11|30|1877|11|13|df=y}}
| death_place        = [United Kingdom](/source/United_Kingdom)
| death_cause        = 
| other_names        = 
| known_for          = 
| education          = 
| employer           = 
| occupation         = 
| title              = 
| spouse             = [Major Clifford Hugh Douglas](/source/C._H._Douglas)
| partner            = 
| children           = 1
| parents            = George Desborough Dale
| footnotes          = 
}}
'''Edith Mary Douglas''' (née '''Dale''') (13 November 1877 – 30 November 1962) was a British engineer, shipyard director and the first woman to fly in an experimental bomber aircraft.

==Early life and marriage==
'''Edith Mary Dale''' was born in [Kanpur](/source/Kanpur), India.<ref name=":3" /> Her father was George Desborough Dale, and he worked in the [Indian Civil Service](/source/Indian_Civil_Service). Douglas was sent home to school in England.<ref name=":3" />

She married [Major Clifford Hugh Douglas](/source/C._H._Douglas) in 1915. She was his second wife and they had one daughter.<ref name=":4">{{Cite ODNB|title=Douglas, Clifford Hugh (1879–1952), economic theorist|url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32872|year = 2004|language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32872|access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref> Douglas was often referred to as Mrs C. H. Douglas, using the convention of adopting the husband's full name.<ref name=":0" />

== Entry into engineering circles ==
Through her husband Edith Douglas learned about engineering and finance. Her husband was one of the founders of the [Social Credit](/source/Social_Credit) movement during the 1920s.<ref name=":4" />

He was Assistant Superintendent of the [Royal Aircraft Factory Farnborough](/source/Royal_Aircraft_Establishment) during the [First World War](/source/First_World_War). Douglas worked with her husband and got involved with the technical aspect of his work. As a result, Douglas was the first woman to fly in experimental bomber aircraft. She attended the 1926 World Engineering Conference in [Tokyo](/source/Tokyo) and travelled around the world twice, and was considered a great raconteur about her travels.<ref name=":0" />

She became co-director of the Swanwick Shipyard (Hamble River Yacht & Engineering Co.) The shipyard worked on craft powered by sail, steam or motor, generated its own electricity and pumped its own water, and had a slipway for boats up to 250 tons.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=The Woman Engineer Vol 3|url=https://www2.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_3a.html|last=|first=|date=|website=www2.theiet.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011233015/http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_3a.html |archive-date=2016-10-11 |access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref> During the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War) the company provided construction for small craft for the Admiralty.<ref name=":3" />

Douglas was actively involved in establishing women's organisations.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

== Women's Engineering Society ==
She became a member of the [Women's Engineering Society](/source/Women's_Engineering_Society) in 1932,<ref name=":2" /> was elected vice president to celebrated pilot [Amy Johnson](/source/Amy_Johnson) when she held the presidential role, often stepping in when Johnson was unavailable.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=The Woman Engineer Vol 4|url=https://www2.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_4a.html|last=|first=|date=|website=www2.theiet.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011232549/http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_4a.html |archive-date=2016-10-11 |access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref> Edith Douglas became president of the society in 1938. She was succeeded in the role by [Caroline Haslett](/source/Caroline_Haslett) and her vice president was electrical engineer [Gertrude Entwisle](/source/Gertrude_Lilian_Entwisle).<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Woman Engineer Vol 5|url=https://www2.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_5.html|last=|first=|date=|website=www2.theiet.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170819190841/http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_5.html |archive-date=2017-08-19 |access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref> A 1937 article stated that the soon to be WES president “Mrs. Douglas… starts work most days round about 8 a.m. in Southampton ship-building yard which belongs to the company of which she a director. In a blue flannel suit and old yachting cap, this handsome, dark-eyed woman directs gangs of men and organises the business of the yard”. She told the interviewer that “more women should go in for planning yachts. Even though yachts do float, they are potential homes and as such should be planned from the woman’s point of view.”<ref>{{Cite web|title=Shepton Mallet Journal|url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001625/19370910/084/0006|last=|first=|date=10 September 1937|via=[British Newspaper Archive](/source/British_Newspaper_Archive)|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref>

Edith Douglas was a successful competitive sailor and yachtsman and won many prizes in regattas, owning a [sloop](/source/sloop) named 'Enid'.<ref name=":0" /> She loved playing sport, particularly tennis and golf, and had a great sense of humour. After the end of the war, she retired and moved to Scotland.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|title=The Woman Engineer Vol 9|url=https://www2.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_9.html|last=|first=|date=|website=www2.theiet.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201040829/http://www.theiet.org/resources/library/archives/research/wes/WES_Vol_9.html |archive-date=2017-12-01 |access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref>

Edith Mary Douglas died on 30 November 1962.<ref name=":1" /><ref name="Trove">{{cite web | title=LONDON, September 13. - News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954) - 19 Oct 1935 | website=Trove | date=1935-10-19 | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129302337 | access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref><ref name="Womens Engineering Society 2014">{{cite web | title=Presidents Past & Present | website=Women's Engineering Society | date=2014-05-23 | url=https://www.wes.org.uk/content/history/presidents-past-present | access-date=2020-05-16 | archive-date=23 September 2017 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170923083424/http://www.wes.org.uk/content/history/presidents-past-present | url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=":3">{{cite web |title=Shipyard manager |url=https://www.magnificentwomen.co.uk/uploads/4/0/3/7/40379829/wes_presidents_biographies__deceased_.pdf |website=magnificent women}}</ref><ref name="Feiner Kuiper Ott Sap 2005 p. 40">{{cite book | last1=Feiner | first1=S. | last2=Kuiper | first2=E. | last3=Ott | first3=N. | last4=Sap | first4=J. | last5=Tzannatos | first5=Z. | title=Out of the Margin: Feminist Perspectives on Economics | publisher=Taylor & Francis | year=2005 | isbn=978-1-134-80076-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yY35VBAabioC&pg=PA40 | access-date=2020-05-16 | page=40}}</ref><ref name="Trove 1935">{{cite web | title=DIRECT FROM LONDON - LONDON, Sept. 26. WOMEN ENGINEERS HOLD CONFERENCE - The Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946) - 19 Oct 1935 | website=Trove | date=1935-10-19 | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article141764279 | access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref><ref name="Trove1935">{{cite web | title=WOMEN OF THE ENGINEERS NS WORKSHOPS - One a Director of a Shipyard—Another a Locomotive Expert - LONDON, September 28. - The Mercury (Hobart, Tas. : 1860 - 1954) - 16 Oct 1935 | website=Trove | date=1935-10-16 | url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30059218 | access-date=2020-05-16}}</ref>

==References and sources==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, Edith Mary}}
Category:1877 births
Category:1963 deaths
Category:People from Kanpur
Category:British women engineers
Category:20th-century British women engineers
Category:Presidents of the Women's Engineering Society
Category:Women's Engineering Society
Category:British people in British India

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Edith Mary Douglas](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Mary_Douglas) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edith_Mary_Douglas?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.