4. Betty was killed by an air raid the following year, aged 21, having, despite the danger, stayed in the area to assist some French refugees. She was given a military funeral and was one of a handful YMCA workers to be posthumously awarded the Croix de Guerre avec Palme by General Petain, for courage and devotion to duty. She is buried in Etaples War Cemetery, France. #WW1 #YMCA #womenatwar #history
2. At the age of 16, she travelled with her parents to London as part of a group from the local Belgium Refugee Fund, to bring back to Harrogate refugee families who had been camping out at Alexandra Palace.
In January 1916, one of Betty's aunts went to France to manage a YMCA Canteen in St Denis Hut, on the outskirts of Paris. Betty was keen to join her. #womenatwar #WW1 #YMCA #history
1. Continuing Women's History Month. Women who joined the YMCA Women's Auxiliary.
Bertha (Betty) Gavin Stevenson was born in 1896, York, Yorkshire. She was the daughter of Arthur Gavin Stevenson and Catherine Grace Wheeler.
Betty's parents were activists of the YMCA, and she became heavily involved, at a very young age. #womenatwar #WW1 #YMCA #history
#OnThisDay, 22 Jan 1944, Sonia Olschanezky is arrested by the Gestapo. She had run an Special Operations Executive guerrilla network near Paris after the leader was arrested. The British-based SOE supported the French Resistance to Nazi occupation.
She was killed at the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp six months after her arrest.
Women at War
Considered too old to be a war correspondent during World War I, photographer Horace Nicholls aimed his camera lens on the homefront capturing the many contributions of the women who took over the workforce - including the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC)
Women at War
Considered too old to be a war correspondent during World War I, photographer Horace Nicholls aimed his camera lens on the homefront capturing the many contributions of the women who took over the workforce - including the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC)
Women at War
Considered too old to be a war correspondent during World War I, photographer Horace Nicholls aimed his camera lens on the homefront capturing the many contributions of the women who took over the workforce - including the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC)
