Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. ...

Dame Mary Katherine Rosamund Colvin (25 October 1907 – 23 September 1988) was a director of the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurkha ...

Women's Royal Army Corps The Women's Royal Army Corps (WRAC; sometimes pronounced acronymically as , a term unpopular with its members) was the corps to which all women in the British Army belonged from 1949 to 1992, except medical, dental and veterinary officers and cha ...

(WRAC) and president of the

British Horse Society The British Horse Society (BHS) is a membership-based equine charity, with a stated vision of "a Society which provides a strong voice for horses and people and which spreads awareness through support, training and education". It currently has ...

Family

Colvin was born into a military family, one of four children and the only daughter of the

Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sou ...

veteran Lt. Col. Forrester Farnell Colvin (CBE, MC, DL; died 16 February 1936) and Isabella Katherine McClintock-Bunbury (28 December 1874 — 30 March 1963), who married on 26 July 1894. They lived at Morley House, Shermanbury Grange, Brighton Road, Shermanbury,

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an ...

. She was a cousin of

Michael Colvin Michael Keith Beale Colvin (27 September 1932 – 24 February 2000) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was first elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol North West in 1979. From 1983 onwards, he was the MP for Romsey ...

, a Conservative M.P.Bunbury family genealogy site
turtlebunbury.com; accessed 1 April 2016.

Career

Colvin travelled widely as a young woman, to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

. She joined the

First Aid Nursing Yeomanry The First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (Princess Royal's Volunteer Corps) (FANY (PRVC)) is a British independent all-female registered charity formed in 1907 and active in both nursing and intelligence work during the World Wars. Its members wear a mili ...

in 1938, transferring to the Auxiliary Territorial Service when World War II commenced. She spent most of the war as a driver, then commanded a Central Ordnance Depot

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...

(ATS) Group at

Weedon, Northamptonshire Weedon Bec, usually just Weedon, is a village and parish in West Northamptonshire, England. It is close to the source of the River Nene. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 2,706. Geography Weedon is around southeast of ...

(1943–44). Immediately after the end of hostilities with Germany, she was posted to

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

to help oversee its transition to democracy and build up the local council and basic services such as housing. After two years of throwing herself into this work, she was awarded an OBE, but had to return to Britain to be nearer to her ailing and elderly relatives. She supervised the transition of the ATS into the

(WRAC), including moving its officer training school to

Hindhead Hindhead is a village in Surrey, England. It is the highest village in Surrey, with buildings at between 185 and 253 metres above sea level. It is best known as the location of the Devil's Punch Bowl, a beauty spot and site of special scientifi ...

and bringing the training closer to that of male recruits. Female recruitment was low by 1954, so she was appointed to reverse the trend; designing a popular uniform for officers was part of her strategy. After more postings to Scotland and Eastern Command, in 1957 she was appointed WRAC director, still not yet 50, and two years later was elevated to

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

. In 1961, she went to Copenhagen as Britain's main delegate to the inaugural

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

meeting of the women's services; her international peers elected her their spokeswoman. That year she retired, after 23 years' service. She devoted much of the next 25 years to the

, working her way up from

dressage Dressage ( or ; a French term, most commonly translated to mean "training") is a form of horse riding performed in exhibition and competition, as well as an art sometimes pursued solely for the sake of mastery. As an equestrian sport defined by ...

judge to president. She hunted with the

Blackmore Vale The Blackmore Vale (; less commonly spelt ''Blackmoor'') is a vale, or wide valley, in north Dorset, and to a lesser extent south Somerset and southwest Wiltshire in southern England. Geography The vale is part of the Stour valley, part of th ...

and lent her indoor

riding school An equestrian facility is created and maintained for the purpose of accommodating, training or competing equids, especially horses. Based on their use, they may be known as a barn, stables, or riding hall and may include commercial operations descr ...

to the Rutland club (which did not have its own premises). She was

lady in waiting A lady-in-waiting or court lady is a female personal assistant at a court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was often a noblewoman but of lower rank than the woman to whom sh ...

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

, the

Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been se ...

, the Controller Commandant of the WRAC, and accompanied her to Canada in 1962.

Death

Colvin died on 23 September 1988, aged 80, in

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

. She never married. Her personal papers are at the National Archives, along with those of other British military women, such as Dame

Katharine Furse Dame Katharine Furse, ( Symonds; 23 November 1875 – 25 November 1952) was a British nursing and military administrator. She led the British Red Cross Voluntary Aid Detachment force during the First World War, and served as the inaugural Dire ...

, Dame

Rachel Crowdy Dame Rachel Eleanor Crowdy, Mrs Thornhill, DBE (3 March 1884, Paddington – 10 October 1964, Outwood, Surrey) was an English nurse and social reformer.Alice Prochaska‘Crowdy, Dame Rachel Eleanor (1884–1964)’ rev. ''Oxford Dictionary of Na ...

, and Brigadier Dame Mary Coulshed.

External links

National Archives (#1)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colvin, Mary 1907 births 1988 deaths Auxiliary Territorial Service officers British Army personnel of World War II British ladies-in-waiting British women in World War II Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Shermanbury People from Rutland Women's Royal Army Corps officers 20th-century English women 20th-century English people British equestrians