morning MC - there are indeed some remarkable stories still left to be told but the gaining of access to private archives is not always straightforward. Even within families there sometimes exists a peculiar reticence to share documents and photographs.

In the case of the de Havilland connection it was frustrating as I have barely any photos of that generation of Hills and Thomas's (apart from the one mentioned in the book and one or two yet to be identified). But there must have been plenty taken at the time. Louise's sister Gladys was a witness at the wedding and another sister Lottie was housekeeper for them for most of their lives. I have often wondered about the interactions between these two very different families - were they awkward or accepting of each other's social backgrounds? How was Louise accepted by the de Havillands? It had all the elements of a classic crossing of the classes love story.

Like Isabella Bird's relationship with Jim Nugent, it's the sub-plots that so often make social history so fascinating. I feel drawn to Louise Thomas / de Havilland's story for those reasons and hopefully one day will revisit her and Sir Geoffers to dig a little deeper.

Cheers, Col

Comment is about Lift-off for anthology inspired by trail-blazing women (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Colin - I can tell you that IB's "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains" provided the primary source for my script...
her extraordinary relationship with the scarred and feared
former scout/trapper "Mountain Jim" Nugent, the self-
appointed guardian of the idyllic Estes Park, a forerunner of the "dude ranch", where Isabella stayed while she
explored (with Jim, but mainly solo on horseback) the
surrounding Colorado country and its mountains.
Your deHavilland family connection is made of the same
extraordinary stuff - with a similar centrepiece of a
woman of fortitude and courage. You have every right
to tell of her and her own life's progress in times when
such things were rarely reported - or, if they were, kept
within the immediate circle of family, friends and relations. She would warrant a chapter in any volume
devoted to "Tales of Remarkable Women".

Comment is about Lift-off for anthology inspired by trail-blazing women (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

MC - I read your comment with interest having not long ago read Adventures in the Rocky Mountains by IB, the extracts version published as part of Penguin's Great Journeys series. What an amazing woman she was and a decent travel writer too. I'd love to read your screenplay.

This article brings to mind my great aunt Louise Thomas - sister in law to my great grandfather Alfred William Hill who I recently wrote about here on WoL. Her father worked as a railway tunnel miner as well and both the Hill and Thomas families lived in quite appalling shanty towns wherever the work took them up and down the country.

At the age of 2 in 1881 the Thomas family had moved to Portskewett in Monmouthshire next to the Severn Rail Tunnel workings. By 1901 she was in Newport working as a Board School Teacher. I reckon she must have seen an ad for a post as governess with the de Havilland family. After she started working for them she became friends with the younger children's older brother Geoffrey and they married in 1909.

As you probably know, Geoffrey became one of our earliest aviation pioneers and later founded the de Havilland aircraft company. In his autobiography 'Sky Fever' there is a charming photo of 'Louie' stitching the covering for his first aeroplane using a treadle Singer sewing machine. She must have shared a number of early flights with him as one is mentioned in the book when she and their 8 week old son were taken up. I have also unearthed possible stories of them flying to Wales to visit her Mother but I have not been able to verify this but it seems highly plausible.

She became Lady Louie when Geoffrey was knighted in 1944. They had 3 sons of which 2 died in plane crashes within 3 years of each other, one over the Thames Estuary on a test flight. It is said that she never recovered from these tragedies and passed away in 1949.

I made contact with her grand daughter a couple of years back but she claimed there were no family photos. I suspect this was not the case, but in fairness she had just given birth so maybe it was not the best time. I would love to write up her story one day as it is quite remarkable - from shanty navvy life to high flying Lady. I'm not aware of her being a writer though.

Thought you might be interested. Col

Comment is about Lift-off for anthology inspired by trail-blazing women (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman

Women forging their own path through life are nothing new.
I once wrote a screenplay of a journey by extraordinary writer/traveller and philanthropist from the latter half of
the 19th century UK: Isabella Lucy Bird - who thought
nothing of solo adventures in unexplored and uncertain
parts of the world. recording her experiences to become
something of an achieving celebrity irrespective of her sex.
In "pensionable age" she was on horseback exploring the
Atlas Mountains of Morocco...a woman far ahead of her own time and unhindered by its restrictions. Doubtless
there are others less well known who surmounted their
own personal obstacles in life beyond the social mores
and expectations of their time.

Comment is about Lift-off for anthology inspired by trail-blazing women (article)

Original item by Greg Freeman