Gladys Catherine Parry Wilde

My mother was born in the year 1900.  Her father was Chief Librarian of the Liverpool library, and was sufficiently prominent that when he died there was a ceremony and  obituary in the newspapers.  I have a copy of it.

There is a formal photograph of my mother, in her late teens, with very long hair tied loosely in the back and cascading over one shoulder.  Women were supposed to grow their hair long at that time, and her father would not let her cut it as long as she lived at home.

Women at that time were not supposed to have careers, but marry and be taken care of by their husbands.  She wanted a career, and "Thoroughly Modern Millie-ish" took a secretarial course, whether with the blessings of her father or not I never learned.  She was a formidable speller, knew Greg and Pitman shorthand, and could type a 60 words a minute.  She loved to travel, and in her twenties went to work for the Cunard, White Star Lines.  Perhaps through her father's influence, she was able to land the enviable position of "Lizzy Mint" on the Mauretania.  She was the only female crew member, and as the Captain's personal secretary, sat at his table every evening, and met all the important people who travelled first class across the Atlantic. Charlie Chaplin was one she used to talk about.

She travelled between London and New York for about two years in this capacity.   She would tell marvelous 'sea stories', one of being 'hove to' in mid-Atlantic in a terrible storm.  I do not think there is a word for the present tense of 'hove to' but it means the ship must stop all forward movement and head into the teeth of the gale.  Sea anchors are streamed out to hold it from taking the waves on the side, 'abeam' in sailors' jargon, and everyone takes to their berths.   She would dramatically describe how her ship, on this occasion, took a 'green one' down the stack.

"Mummy, what is a green one?"

She explained that the seas were so enormous that they rose higher than the highest part of the ship, the smoke stacks, and flooded one of the engine rooms. I was enthralled.

My mother did not suffer from seasickness and used to tell how she was sometimes the only woman showing up for dinner dances when the weather was rough.  She had her pick of dance partners.

She loved beautiful clothes, and with her salary, could afford them.  She would shop in New York, then would appear in London, wearing clothes that were six months ahead of British fashionistas.

She had at least two offers of marriage, but she had met my father several years before and was carrying the torch for him, and was in no hurry to settle down. He reappeared in 1932 and this time she was not going to let him get away. He proposed, offered an exotic life in Japan, and she immediately said 'yes'.

Her father, somewhat alarmed, gave her as a wedding present return passage from Japan, an expensive present, and a gold soverign 'in case she should ever be in need.'  She never used it and I have the coin to this day.