Hilda Hewlett
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| Hilda Hewlett | |
|---|---|
| Born | 17 February 1864 London, England |
| Died | 21 August 1943 New Zealand |
| Occupation | Aviator and business entrepreneur |
| Spouse | Maurice Hewlett, married 3 January 1888–separated 1914 |
| Parents | Louisa Hopgood, George William Herbert |
| Children | Pia (Hewlett) Richards, Francis Hewlett |
Hilda Beatrice Hewlett (17 February 1864 – 21 August 1943) was the first British woman aviator to earn a pilot's licence. She was also a successful early aviation entrepreneur. She created and ran the first flying school in the United Kingdom. She also created and managed a successful aircraft manufacturing business which produced more than 800 aeroplanes and employed up to 700 people. She later emigrated to New Zealand.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Early life
Hilda Beatrice Hewlett was born in Vauxhall, London on 17 February 1864 to Louisa Herbert née Hopgood and George William Herbert. Her father was a Church of England vicar. Hilda was one of nine siblings.
As a young woman she attended the National Art Training School in South Kensington. She specialised in three skills which served her well in her later aviation engineering career: woodwork, metalwork, and needlework. Her art was good enough to be exhibited. When she was 19 she visited Egypt with her parents. At the age of 21 she spent a year training as a nurse at a hospital in Berlin. She was an early bicycle and motor car enthusiast and participated in automobile rallies.
She married Maurice Henry Hewlett on 3 January 1888 in St. Peter's Church, Vauxhall, where her father was the incumbent. The couple had two children, a daughter, Pia, and a son, Francis, but separated in 1914. Maurice Hewlett was unsympathetic to his wife's involvement in aviation and claimed, "Women will never be as successful in aviation as men. They have not the right kind of nerve."
[edit] Achievements in aviation
Hewlett attended her first aviation meeting at Blackpool in 1909. Later that year, after adopting the pseudonym "Grace Bird", she travelled to the airfield at Mourmelon-le-Grand, France, to study aeronautics. She met aviation engineer Gustave Blondeau and they became business partners. Hewlett returned to England with a Farman biplane, nicknamed the Blue Bird, and Blondeau and in the summer of 1910 they opened the first flying school in the United Kingdom at the disused Brooklands motor-racing circuit at Weybridge, Surrey. Many people gained their first experience of flying at Hewlett and Blondeau's school, including Thomas Sopwith. 13 pupils graduated from the school in the year and a half it operated and, with a remarkable safety record for the time, there were no accidents.
On 29 August 1911, at Brooklands, Hilda Hewlett became the first woman in the UK to earn a pilot's licence when she received certificate No.122 from the Royal Aero Club after completing the test in her biplane. Hewlett also taught aeronautics to her son, Francis, who earned his pilot's certificate on 14 November 1911. He went on to have a distinguished military aviation career in both the UK and New Zealand, making him the first military pilot taught to fly by his mother. He earned a Distinguished Service Order in 1915 and rose to the rank of Group Captain.
Hilda Hewlett participated in airshows and aviation competitions. On 11 September 1911 she flew her Farman biplane in an airshow at Chelson Meadow, Plymouth.[1] In 1912 Hewlett won a quick-start aviation competition.
Hewlett and Blondeau started an aircraft manufacturing business, Hewlett and Blondeau Limited, which was managed by Hewlett. They built Farman, Caudron and Hanriot aircraft under licence. The business began at Brooklands, moved to Clapham, London, and finally settled on a 10 acre site at Leagrave, Bedfordshire, in May 1914. By August 1914 the company had produced 10 different types of aircraft. During the First World War, Hewlett's company manufactured more than 800 military aircraft, a specialised 90hp engine which the British government considered vital to the war effort, and employed up to 700 people. After the war the business diversified into making farming equipment, but the factory had closed by the end of October 1920. The site wasn't sold until 1926.
[edit] Emigration to New Zealand
Hewlett had previously spent nine months touring New Zealand, Rarotonga, and the United States, but it wasn't until the factory site was sold in 1926 that she emigrated to Tauranga, New Zealand, with her daughter Pia Richards and Pia's family. Hilda stated, "The urge to escape from the three Cs, crowds, convention, and civilization, became strong." She enjoyed the outdoor life, especially camping and fishing. Her family gave her the nickname "Old Bird".
In June 1932 Hewlett was present at the inaugural meeting of the Tauranga Aero and Gliding Club. In July she was elected as the club's first president. In January 1939, at the opening of a new aerodrome in Tauranga, Frederick Jones, at that time New Zealand's Minister of Defence, named a nearby road after Hilda Hewlett and her son Francis, whom she taught to fly, in recognition of their services to aviation.
[edit] Death and afterwards
Hewlett died 21 August 1943 in Tauranga, New Zealand. Following a service on the railway wharf, she was buried at sea.
There is a road named after Hilda Hewlett and her son Francis, whom she taught to fly, near Tauranga aerodrome in New Zealand.
[edit] Works
[edit] Published non-fiction
[edit] Unpublished non-fiction
- Hewlett's autobiography remains unpublished. The manuscript is in the care of her family.
[edit] Notes
- ^ Moseley, Brian (2003-10-01). Early Flying. The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Brian Moseley. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
- ^ Full Record. British Library Integrated Catalogue. British Library. Retrieved on 2007-03-14.
[edit] External links
- Hilda Hewlett by Pat Irene Winton at the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography
- Photograph of Hilda Hewlett with her aeroplane
- Science Museum image of Hilda Hewlett and her signature
- A History of the Hewlett & Blondeau Company
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Hewlett, Hilda Beatrice |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Herbert, Hilda Beatrice |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Aviator and business entrepreneur |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 17 February 1864 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London, United Kingdom |
| DATE OF DEATH | 21 August 1943 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | New Zealand |
