Russell, Mary du Caurroy (1865–1937)

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Russell, Mary du Caurroy (1865–1937)

English aviator. Name variations: Duchess of Bedford. Born Mary Tribe, Sept 26, 1865, in England; died 1937; 2nd dau. of Walter Harry Tribe, archdeacon of Lahore; attended Cheltenham Ladies College; m. Lord Herbrand Arthur Russell (1858–1937), 1888, became 11th duke of Bedford, 1893.

Funded a cottage hospital in Woburn (1898), then founded the larger Woborn Hospital (1903), to accomodate the latest scientific advances in nursing and medicine (it would later be renamed Marylands); devoted herself to nursing, becoming surgeon's assistant (1917); took 1st flight (1926), age 61; made record flight to India and back (1929) and to the Cape and back (1930); opened the world's 1st All Women's Flying Meeting (1931); obtained pilot's "A" license (1933); was a member of the Society of Radiographers; at 71, took off on a solo flight to view the extensive flooding in the fens and was never seen again (Mar 22, 1937), though four struts from the wings of her plane washed ashore on the East Coast. Made DBE (1928).

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Russell, Mary du Caurroy (1865–1937)

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