Sketch of a Lady
Driver - sketch by Jamie, from an original image that can be seen at: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/456763587179439747/
Note: In 1915 Wilma Russey
became the first woman to work as a taxi driver in New York and was an expert
garage mechanic.
A Miss Virtue of
London,
Whose morally
trait name,
Became very
valued
Within the city
of Leeds -
Where she once
resided.
Described then by
the papers
As the first
professional female
Motor driver in
the country,
For a firm of
grocers in Leeds,
On Boar Lane - who’s
male
Driver had gone
to the front.
The firm's
manager had seen
Usual various
male chauffeurs,
With an interest in
the position -
These men's
surprise, on seen
By the recruiter,
to be then told
That 'Kitchener
wants you.'
Young Miss Virtue
presented
Herself for the
post, eager
To liberate men
for the front
For the period of
the war -
To be interviewed
later for
The Electric Vehicle Parade.
Miss Virtue said
of the chance
Of doing a man's
job, was that
Motor driving was
not severest
Job she had had -
having roughed
It before,
spending 12 months
In Canada, working
on a farm.
In comparison, a
chauffeur's job
Was simple - Miss
V Suggested
Such a job to any
strong healthy
Girl - if not too
shy, she would
Get over the
novelty from boys,
Who cheekily cry
out in streets;
'There's a woman
driving!'
The firm's first experiment
Was deemed a
success -
Stating there has
been less
Time wasted on
errands.
While people of
Leeds have
Not been 'rude,'
householders
Were said to
prefer deliveries
By a woman than a
man.
Times of talking
to ladies
With flirting
between motor
Man and maid - a
motorman
Is off when
they're a woman!
The men at
garages are seen
As being
troubling - if they had
Been less so, she
would do
More cleaning -
then again she
Might do all her
own repairs.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Woman
Motor Driver. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 23 Mar. P.7. Col.4. Available at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11486293/Daily-Telegraph-March-23-1915.html
[Accessed: 23 March 2015].
Anon.,1915. Woman
Motor-Van Driver. Hawera
& Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, 8 June 1915, [online] 23 Mar. P.5. Available at:
http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=HNS19150608.2.34.21&cl=&srpos=0&e=-------10--1----0--&st=1
[Accessed: 23 March 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 23 March 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary
#worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
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