The Postcard
A postcard bearing no publisher's name. The card was printed in England.
The card was posted in Ilfracombe using a ½d. stamp on Friday the 31st. July 1908. It was sent to:
Master Lunn,
c/o Mr. Maunder,
Park Farm,
North Sydmonton,
Nr. Newbury,
Berks.
The pencilled message on the divided back of the card was as follows:
"Dear Artie,
Aunt Jenny and I are
down here for today.
Thanks for your letter,
and thank Mr. M.
Hope you are a good
boy.
Love to all,
Mama."
Dorothy Spicer
So what else happened on the day that the card was posted?
Well, the 31st. July 1908 marked the birth of Dorothy Norman Pearse, née Spicer. Dorothy was an English aviator, and the first woman to gain an advanced qualification in aeronautical engineering.
-- Dorothy Spicer - The Early Years
Dorothy Spicer was born in Hadley Wood, Middlesex, the only daughter of Hilda Mary Sisterson and stockbroker Norman Spicer.
She attended the Godolphin School in Salisbury, Wiltshire, and studied at University College, London.
-- Dorothy Spicer's Career
Spicer learned to fly in 1929 at the London Aeroplane Club at Stag Lane Aerodrome. Here she met Pauline Gower who was studying for her commercial pilot's licence, and who became her friend.
In 1931, they started a business together. Gower was licensed to carry passengers for 'hire or reward', and Spicer was qualified as a ground engineer and held an 'A' (private) pilot's licence.
They hired a plane and later bought a Gypsy Moth for the business, but struggled to make a living, so decided to join the Crimson Fleet air circus and later the British Hospitals' air pageant.
Spicer had joined the Women's Engineering Society (WES) in 1932 in their Aeronautical Section, and is described as Ground Engineer to Miss Gower.
The WES Journal The Woman Engineer for June 1933 records that:
"Spicer and Gower are touring the
country with a circus which is giving
air pageants in two hundred towns
this summer in aid of British
Hospitals'.
Spicer studied for the 'B' engineer's licence during this time, despite the fact that institutions offering advanced courses were restricted to men.
She persuaded the manufacturers of the Spartan plane she and Gower flew in the circus to allow her to undertake the necessary practical and theoretical training at their workshops, and earned her 'B' licence, becoming the first woman in the world to do so.
Dorothy also held a 'C' (ground engineer) licence, the second British woman to achieve this (her friend and fellow pilot Amy Johnson was the first), and became the first woman to achieve a 'D' licence in 1935.
Women were not usually allowed to study at such an advanced level, and it took Air Vice-Marshal A. E. Borton to persuade Sir Harold Snagge, chairman of the Napier engineering company, to make special arrangements.
The 'D' licence authorised her to inspect, pass out, and repair both engines and airframes, being qualified to build all aspects of an aircraft, airframe, and engine from scratch, and to approve the materials required for the work.
In a speech in 1937, Amy Johnson teased Dorothy: amidst much laughter she called upon Miss Spicer to admit or deny the report that she held every licence that it was possible to hold".
In September 1937, at the Women's Engineering Society conference, Spicer read a paper on the "Selection and Treatment of Steels for Aero-Engines".
In 1938 she accepted a position with the Air Registration Board in London, becoming the first woman in the British Empire to receive a technical appointment in civil aviation. The same year she and Pauline Gower jointly authored a book "Women with Wings", recounting their experiences flying together.
In late 1940, Dorothy took on flying work as an air observer and research assistant at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, Farnborough, and became involved in the development of a variety of new aircraft types and items of equipment.
-- Dorothy Spicer's Personal Life
On the 2nd. March 1938, Dorothy became engaged to Flight Lieutenant Richard Pearse. They married on the 26th. April 1938 at Holy Trinity Brompton, with Pauline Gower as chief bridesmaid. Their only child, Patricia Mary, was born at Farnham Common in Surrey in May 1939.
After the war, her husband Richard became South American representative of British Aviation Services in Rio de Janeiro. On the 23rd. December 1946, the couple caught a flight to Rio de Janeiro, but bad weather caused the plane to fly into a mountainside, killing all on board. Dorothy was 38 years of age when she died.
A memorial service for Dorothy and Richard Pearse was held at All Saints' Church, St John's Wood on the 8th. January 1947. Their daughter went on to be a racing driver under the name Pat Sonnenschein.
