{{short description|British train driver}} {{Use British English|date=November 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox person | name = Hannah Dadds | image = Hannah Dadds.png | alt = Women in traditional train driver's uniform boarding a white train | caption = Hannah Dadds, the first female train driver on the London Underground | birth_name = Hannah Maureen Elsie Head | birth_date = {{Birth date|1941|10|16|df=y}} | birth_place = Forest Gate, Newham | death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|11|26|1941|10|16|df=y}} | death_place = Rainham, London | other_names = | occupation = Train driver | years_active = 1969–1993 | known_for = | notable_works = }}
'''Hannah Maureen Elsie Dadds''' ({{nee}} Head,<ref name=LM/> 16 October 1941 – 26 November 2011)<ref name=20C>{{cite web| url= http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/dadds-hannah| title= Dadds, Hannah| publisher= 20th Century London| access-date= 13 November 2016| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20161113181435/http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/dadds-hannah| archive-date= 13 November 2016| url-status= dead}}</ref><ref name=ES>{{cite news| url= https://www.standard.co.uk/news/pioneering-first-female-tube-driver-dies-6375012.html| title= 'Pioneering': First female Tube driver dies| work=London Evening Standard| date=5 December 2011| access-date=13 November 2016}}</ref> was a British train driver known for being the first female train driver on the London Underground.
==Early life== Hannah Dadds (née Head)<ref name="LM"/> was from the Forest Gate area of Newham.<ref name=Newham>{{cite news| url=http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/features/history_making_hannah_dadds_from_forest_gate_dies_1_1153205| title=History-making Hannah Dadds from Forest Gate dies| last=Grainger| first=Colib| work=Newham Recorder| date=14 December 2011| access-date=13 November 2016| archive-date=10 December 2016| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161210015046/http://www.newhamrecorder.co.uk/news/features/history_making_hannah_dadds_from_forest_gate_dies_1_1153205| url-status=dead}}</ref> Her mother was a home help and her father worked in the furniture trade.<ref name="LM">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/sound-recordings/item/2004-17027|title=Sound recordings|website=www.ltmuseum.co.uk|access-date=2020-03-30}}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> After leaving school at 15, she worked as a shop assistant at the Co-op, and later in the Bryant and May match factory and the Kensitas cigarette factory.<ref name=20C/>
==London Underground career== In 1969, Dadds joined the London Underground, working as a 'railwoman' at Upton Park Underground station. She then worked as a ticket collector and in 1976 she became a train guard.<ref name="Pedroche"/> Train guards were also emergency drivers in case something happened to the driver or if there was an accident. While male guards could train further in order to become a driver, female guards could not. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 removed this barrier, and many women applied to become Tube train drivers. Dadds was one of the first to qualify for the programme.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Hannah Dadds: the first female Tube driver |url=https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/stories/people/hannah-dadds-first-female-tube-driver |access-date=2022-06-24 |website=London Transport Museum |language=en}}</ref>
In 1978, Dadds completed a seven-week training course to qualify as a train driver, and became a driver on the District line. In doing so, she became the first female train driver on the London Underground.<ref name="20C" /><ref name="ES" /><ref name="Newham" /><ref name="Spragg">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2aa_CAAAQBAJ&q=hannah+dadds| title=London Underground's Strangest Tales: Extraordinary but true stories| last=Spragg| first=Iain| publisher=Pavilion Books| date=January 2013| isbn=9781909396166| access-date=13 November 2016}}{{Dead link|date=July 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url= http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/night-tube-24-amazing-facts-about-londons-historic-underground-railway-1576156| title= Night Tube: 24 amazing facts about London's historic underground railway| work=International Business Times| date=18 August 2016| access-date=13 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20837356| title= Tube 150th anniversary: Families with the Underground in their blood| last=Majumdar| first=Debabani| work=BBC London News| date=7 January 2013| access-date=13 November 2016}}</ref> This was big news and newspapers and radio stations wanted to interview her after news of her appointment was leaked from head office. Instead of completing her training in the usual way, she was asked to stay off work for a few days to allow staff at 55 Broadway (London Transport's head office) time to organise a press conference.<ref name="LM" />
It has been suggested that Dadds could have been selected to drive the first Jubilee line train in 1979, but she could not drive it due to a foot injury.<ref name="20C" /><ref name="ES" />
Hannah's sister Edna also joined the London Underground. Edna also worked first as a guard and then became a driver. Hannah and Edna became the first all-female crew on the London Underground.<ref name="20C" /><ref name="Newham" /><ref name="Pedroche">{{cite book| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=AMc7AwAAQBAJ&q=hannah+dadds| title= Working the London Underground: From 1863 to 2013|last=Pedroche| first=Ben| publisher=The History Press| date=October 2013| isbn= 9780752497419| access-date=13 November 2016}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
While the Dadds sisters were able to work in previously male positions, the working culture remained masculinized. A male coworker described them as being "like men... They swore more than we did, they smoked more than we did and they gave a lot of lip to the management, more than we did."<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Murray |first1=Lesley |last2=Raisborough |first2=Jayne |last3=Monson |first3=Kate |date=2021-01-02 |title=Underground tales, overground lives: mobile work identities through to post-retirement |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23800127.2018.1493864 |journal=Applied Mobilities |language=en |volume=6 |issue=1 |pages=19–34 |doi=10.1080/23800127.2018.1493864 |s2cid=149515680 |issn=2380-0127}}</ref>
Dadds worked as a driver with the London Underground until she took early retirement in 1993, after which she moved to Spain.<ref name="20C" /><ref name="Newham" /> The London Transport Museum made an oral history recording with Dadds in 1993 in which she described her career.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://images.ltmuseum.co.uk/pdf/ik/DR0000zik.pdf|title=Summary of Oral history interview with Hannah Dadds, 1993|last=|first=|date=|website=London Transport Museum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016073335/https://images.ltmuseum.co.uk/pdf/ik/DR0000zik.pdf|archive-date=16 October 2021|access-date=|url-status=dead}}</ref>
In 2004, she was invited to a Queen's Women of Achievement lunch at Buckingham Palace; other women attending that year included Margaret Thatcher, JK Rowling, Kate Moss and Charlotte Church.<ref name="Newham" /><ref name="Spragg" /><ref>{{cite news| url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1456638/Accolade-for-ladies-who-lunch-at-the-Palace.html| title= Accolade for ladies who lunch at the Palace| last=Martin| first=Nicole| work=The Daily Telegraph| date=12 March 2004| access-date=14 November 2016}}</ref>
==Death and tributes== Dadds died after a long illness on 26 November 2011 in Rainham, London. Speaking after her death, Howard Collins, chief executive of London Underground, said: "Hannah Dadds changed the working life of women on the Tube and the way in which many people viewed Tube drivers" and that "She was an esteemed member of our workforce."<ref name=ES/>
A plaque was unveiled in her honour at Upton Park station on 31 May 2019.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://londonist.com/london/transport/plaque-unveiled-for-the-tube-s-first-female-driver-hannah-dadds|title=Plaque Unveiled For The Tube's First Female Driver, Hannah Dadds|date=2019-05-31|website=Londonist|language=en|access-date=2020-03-30}}</ref>
==See also== *Jill Viner, first female bus driver for London Transport
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dadds, Hannah}} Category:1941 births Category:2011 deaths Category:20th-century British women Category:History of the London Underground Category:People from Forest Gate Category:People associated with transport in London Category:Conductor (rail) Category:British train drivers