Female "Firsts" on London's Transport Network 1863-1945
Who was the "first woman to...." is something we're often asked. Let us introduce you to some of our pioneering women whose "firsts" have paved the way for others
Metropolitan Railway staff register entry for Mrs A Clark (1863)TfL Corporate Archives
Charwomen and cleaners
The story of female employment at TfL begins with the independent railway companies we now know as lines on our network.
Mrs A Clark was employed at Bishops Road (Paddington Station) on 10 August 1863. This was just 7 months after the Metropolitan Railway, a world first, opened on 10 January 1863.
Staff Magazine Article about Careers of Lizzie and Marion Thomson (1893-1940)TfL Corporate Archives
Pre-WW1 Employment
Evidence of early female employment can be found within the pages of our staff magazines, including Lizzie Thomson who started work for London Tramways in 1893 checking conductors' waybills.
A waybill is a list, or audit, of passengers carried.
Article on the Retirement of Miss C Rivers (1936-01-12)TfL Corporate Archives
Ticketing
A year later, in 1894, Miss C Rivers began work in the ticket office of the London General Omnibus Company central buses unit. Here she is on retirement in 1936.
Miss Dott Carries on After 60 years (1973-11-02)TfL Corporate Archives
Similarly Maud Dott, seen here on her retirement in 1973, began her career at Effra Road ticket printing works in 1913.
A key milestone in the narrative of "women firsts" in employment is the First World War. Nearly 3,500 men signed up from across the railway companies, bus, trams and workshops in the first days of war, a number that eventually grows to 15,979 so pressure increases to fill this workforce vacuum with women.
First female booking clerk?
In a time of war the idea of recording the "first" woman to take on each specified role didn't occur. It's often a retrospective title, as is the case with Elsie Prosser.
And it's actually a story of multiple firsts - as the accolade goes to multiple women acting as booking clerks, clippies, brush hands, trimmers’ mates, and billposters.
Article to Mark Florence Parr, Conductor, Reaching 60 years of Age in Service (1952-08-01)TfL Corporate Archives
"Clippie" of Two World Wars
So to represent all of those women who stepped up to serve as bus conductors in place of their husbands, brothers, fathers and sons we’d like to introduce you to Florence Parr.
The newsworthiness of attaching “first” as a descriptor is taken up as part of the narrative during the Second World War. In many contemporary articles someone is identified as the "first" [insert job] at [insert location] including...
Article on the End of a Long Standing Partnership between Bus Driver and his Conductor (1949-12-01)TfL Corporate Archives
Lucy Emmanuel, Conductor at Merton Garage
Notice that Olive Green was First Female Trolleybus Conductor at Fulwell (1954-09-01)TfL Corporate Archives
Olive Green, Conductor at Fulwell Trolleybus Depot
Notice about the Career of Mrs Alice Lancaster (1957-09-01)TfL Corporate Archives
Alice Lancaster, Conductor at Chalk Farm
Notice about Minnie Mauclere, First Woman Conductor at Northfleet Garage (1968-05-01)TfL Corporate Archives
Minnie Mauclere, Conductor at Northfleet Garage, later Clerk in Commercial Advertising department
Article on the Retirement of Doris Oakes (1968-04-01)TfL Corporate Archives
and Doris Oakes, Conductor at Hackney Garage.
The Girl in the Spotlight (1974-06-01)TfL Corporate Archives
"Name London's first female bus driver"
You'd be forgiven for giving the answer Jill Viner to this quiz question.
Model Trainee Became LT's First Woman Bus Driver (1990-12-01)TfL Corporate Archives
Interviewed in 1990, Jill says that the biggest challenge she faced in June 1974 wasn't her driving test but having to face the world's press.
What the media chose to overlook in the interests of a good headline were the many women drivers you'll find in our Women in the Workforce in WWII story, including Dorothy McKenzie, Dolores Rennie and Daisy Kettle.
Article about Mrs Walbanke and her duties as Lengthman (1944-08)TfL Corporate Archives
Our first female length[wo]man of the Permanent Way gangs was Mrs Amy Walbanke, who was still working on the track when this article was published in August 1944.
Article with photographs of Emma Rose, Gloria Bailey and Marva Braham (2000-01-01)TfL Corporate Archives
Emma Rose, recruited in 1940 as an electrician, had to wait until January 2000 before receiving a "first" baptism.
By the end of the war there were over 16,500 women working in roles traditionally filled by men. 11,250 of the 18,000 bus and tram conductors, 950 of the 1,150 porters, 400 of the 1,100 booking clerks were women. Almost 3,000 were employed in the engineering departments.
A fitter works on an engine for a Handley Page "Halifax" bomber (1941-1945)TfL Corporate Archives
For an overview of the engineering contribution of our female workforce in the Second World War see our story Did you know we built planes?
Story compiled by TfL from information in records at the Transport for London Corporate Archives.
The Corporate Archives seeks to preserve and make accessible records, not to interpret them. A wider range of material is available for physical consultation.
