Gabrielle Borthwick
Honourable Gabrielle Borthwick | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 30 June 1866 |
| Died | 10 October 1952 Sussex |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Motorist and mechanic |
Gabrielle Borthwick (30 June 1866–10 October 1952), was a pioneering motorist and mechanic. She was one of the early wealthy women motorists to set up a garage and a school for teaching men and women to drive cars. She involved with an automobile club for women, Women’s Automobile and Sports Association which was associated with the Royal Automobile Club.[1][2]
Biography
Hon. Gabrielle Margaret Ariana Borthwick was born on 30 June 1866, eldest daughter to Alice Day and the 19th Lord Borthwick, Cunninghame Borthwick. She had been presented at court but had not married. Borthwick spent time in Florence where it was rumoured she had a lesbian affair. As a young woman Borthwick had been a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn, initiated in 1891. By 1914 Borthwick was involved with establishing Women's unions including Society of Women Motor Drivers, an idea which had come from the women's suffrage movement. During the First World War Borthwick provided training for men who needed to know how to drive and maintain cars as well as to women who could be drivers in various roles such as ambulance drivers in France and Serbia. Her garage was Borthwick's Ladies' Automobile Workshops in Brick Street which was an RAC agent into the 1920s.[3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][1]She died on the 10 October 1952 in Sussex.[11]
References and sources
- ^ a b "Post Magazine". The IET. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
- ^ "Post Magazine". The IET. Retrieved 2020-06-01.
- ^ Clarsen, G. (2008). Eat My Dust: Early Women Motorists. The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science. Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-4214-0514-8. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ "Demand for women drivers". The Times. 2015-12-10. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ "Motorists in naval uniform". The Times. 2016-01-18. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ Cockin, K. (2017). Edith Craig and the Theatres of Art. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 316. ISBN 978-1-4725-7063-5. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ "Miss Benest and Miss Griff – one woman, several names, many talents. Part 2 of a strange tale. – women engineers' history". women engineers' history – Histories of Women Working in Engineering and Construction in the UK. 2019-02-19. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ Dann, J. (2017). Maud Coleno’s Daughter: The Life of Dorothy Hartman, 1898-1957. Troubador Publishing Limited. p. 362. ISBN 978-1-78803-173-8. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ Doan, L.; Garrity, J. (2006). Sapphic Modernities: Sexuality, Women and National Culture. Palgrave Macmillan US. p. 57. ISBN 978-1-4039-8442-5. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ "Female trailblazers of the auto industry". confused.com. Retrieved 2020-05-31.
- ^ "The London Gazette" (PDF). 27 February 1953.