Lilian Bader

Lilian Bader
Lilian Bader
Born	Lilian Bailey; 18 February 1918; Liverpool, England
Died	13 March 2015 (aged 97)
Education	BA University of London

Lilian Bader (18 February 1918 – 13 March 2015) was one of the first Black women to join the British armed forces.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]

Early life[]

Lilian Bader was born at 19 Stanhope Street in the Toxteth Park area of Liverpool to Marcus Bailey, a merchant seaman from Barbados who served in the First World War, and a British-born mother of Irish parentage.^[3]

In 1927, Bader and her two brothers were orphaned when their father died. At the age of 9 she was separated from her brothers and placed in a convent, where she remained until she was 20.^[5]^:176 Bader has explained that it was difficult to find employment 'because of her father's origins: "My casting out from the convent walls was delayed. I was half West Indian, and nobody, not even the priests, dare risk ridicule by employing me."'^[6]^:79

World War II[]

In 1939, at the onset of the Second World War, Bader enlisted in the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) at Catterick Camp, Yorkshire.^[1] She was dismissed after seven weeks when it was discovered that her father was not born in the United Kingdom.^[5]^:177 On 28 March 1941 she enlisted in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF),^[2] after she heard that the Royal Air Force (RAF) were taking citizens of West Indian descent.^[5]^:177 She trained in instrument repair, which was a trade newly opened to women.^[2] She then became a Leading Aircraft Woman and was eventually promoted to the rank of corporal.^[5]^:177

In 1943 she married Ramsay Bader, a tank driver who served in the 147th (Essex Yeomanry) Field Regiment, Royal Artillery.^[2] She was given compassionate discharge from her position in February 1944, when she became pregnant with her first son.^[2]^,^[7]^:218 Ultimately, they had two children together, Geoffrey and Adrian.^[5]^:177

Postwar life[]

After the war, Bader and her husband moved to Northamptonshire to raise their family.^[8] Bader studied for O-Levels and A-levels in evening classes in the 1960s, then studied at London University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree.^[2]^[9] Following this she would have a career as a teacher.^[7]^:218

Legacy[]

In 2018, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of women's right to vote, The Voice newspaper listed Bader – alongside Kathleen Wrasama, Olive Morris, Connie Mark, Fanny Eaton, Diane Abbott, Margaret Busby, and Mary Seacole – among eight Black women who have contributed to the development of Britain.^[10] In October 2020, Bader was commemorated by the publication of an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.^[9]

References[]

^ ^a ^b "Black History Month Firsts: Lilian Bader". Black History Month 2018. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f Stephen Bourne (6 April 2015). "Leading Aircraftwoman in the WAAF and one of the first black women to join the British Armed Forces". The Independent. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
^ ^a ^b Stephen Bourne (18 March 2015). "Obituary: War hero Lilian Bader (1918-2015)". voice-online.co.uk. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
^ "Lilian Bader". Bgfl.org. Retrieved 31 January 2016.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Costello, R. (2012). Black salt : seafarers of African descent on British ships. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 978-1-84631-767-5. OCLC 801365216.
^ Delap, Lucy. Knowing Their Place : Domestic Service in Twentieth Century Britain. Oxford. ISBN 978-0-19-957294-6. OCLC 697264316.
^ ^a ^b Bean, Dalea. Jamaican women and the world wars : on the front lines of hange. Cham, Switzerland. ISBN 978-3-319-68585-4. OCLC 1015215196.
^ "Historical figures". Northamptonshire Heritage. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ ^a ^b "Bader [née Bailey], Lilian Mary (1918–2015), Women's Auxiliary Air Force technician and teacher". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.110326. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
^ Leah Sinclair, "Suffrage 100: The Black Women Who Changed British History", The Voice, 6 February 2018.