langcliffe
Well-known member
This is a scan taken from the negative:
https://archives.bcra.org.uk/archive.php?level=image&collection=bsa&document=ES027&item=12&zoom=0
early female cavers
- Thread starter thehungrytroglobite
- Start date
https://archives.bcra.org.uk/archive.php?level=image&collection=bsa&document=ES027&item=12&zoom=0
Bob Leakey interview "also describes how Miss Adeline Montagu, after whom Montagu West Passage and Montagu East Passage in Lancaster Hole were named, helped finance the British Speleological Association."
Her mother married one of the sons of the 1st Viscount Halifax after her father passed away:
Her mother married one of the sons of the 1st Viscount Halifax after her father passed away:
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Adeline is also in S.A. Craven's "The BSA and Eli Simpson" article in Cave and Karst Science 28 (3) 2001 p.99-112.
Plus 'Simpson ran a dance band called "The Californians", whose banjo player was a Mrs Ellis', who was mentioned above, doing Little Hull Pot with her husband J.D. Ellis in 1922 (he is listed several more times than she is), and she was also at Cragdale.
Nellie Kirkham gets a mention too, and there is one of May Johnson's photos:
Plus 'Simpson ran a dance band called "The Californians", whose banjo player was a Mrs Ellis', who was mentioned above, doing Little Hull Pot with her husband J.D. Ellis in 1922 (he is listed several more times than she is), and she was also at Cragdale.
Nellie Kirkham gets a mention too, and there is one of May Johnson's photos:
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davel
Active member
Admittedly post 1940, but Underground Adventure (A. Gemmell and J.O. Myers, 1952) mentions Miss B.D. Binns at Hull Pot, Miss N. Kirkham at Simpson Pot and Mrs M. Lodges, Dr M.M. Sweeting and Miss K. Halstead at Disappointment Pot. Considering that many of these trips were exploratory in nature, it looks as if there was a significant female activity in the period following WWII. (I would imagine the names Nellie Kirkham and Dr Marjorie Sweeting will be familiar to many cavers.)
"Due to the ongoing war, there weren’t many fit young men around to assist him; accordingly, Bob [Leakey] enlisted some of the young girls who worked with him at the aircraft factory in Yeadon." (Link is about the discovery rather than the tragedy):
www.michaelmelvin.co.uk
Two of the more noteworthy entries during / post WW2 were -
From the first YRC link I posted:
"Chapel-le-Dale, Douk Cave. – 1943. Miss M. Lodge, solo, cleared the unpleasant right hand passage and got out through a narrow slit under the sheepfold wall."
In another one above (which featured Miss Lovett): "June, 1949. Mr. E. P. Fitton and Miss D. Mitchell" were descending North Yorkshire windypits, when they weren't full of "slaughter-house refuse".
Additional snippet in the Miss Booth story:
www.yrc.org.uk
The Mossdale Tragedy 1967
The Happy Wanderers Cave and Pothole Club Web Site.., The Mossdale Tragedy,The Mossdale Caverns Disaster,Bob Leakey's exploration,Previous Rescues in Mossdale Caverns, Mike Boon, The Black Keld Catchment Area, The Black Keld Connection, Bill Frakes, John Ogden, Dave Adamson, Geoff Boireau...
www.michaelmelvin.co.uk
Two of the more noteworthy entries during / post WW2 were -
From the first YRC link I posted:
"Chapel-le-Dale, Douk Cave. – 1943. Miss M. Lodge, solo, cleared the unpleasant right hand passage and got out through a narrow slit under the sheepfold wall."
In another one above (which featured Miss Lovett): "June, 1949. Mr. E. P. Fitton and Miss D. Mitchell" were descending North Yorkshire windypits, when they weren't full of "slaughter-house refuse".
Additional snippet in the Miss Booth story:
Chippings – The Yorkshire Ramblers' Club
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Would you count Mary Queen of Scots as an early caver? She visited Poole's Cavern in Derbyshire during time she was being held at Hardwick Hall and actually got to the end of the cave where you will find the Stal. boss named Mary Queen of Scots Pillar. Don't know the exact date but I'm sure it's recorded somewhere - but certainly 16th. century..
As well as the BSA records mentioned by langcliffe, this page has a link to RRCPC article about: "Kathleen Mabel Gilbert (née Bingham) was the Treasurer and Distribution Officer of the British Speleological Association, while John Clifford Gilbert was the BSA Chairman. They were both active cavers based in Derbyshire, and were involved in the original explorations of Lancaster Hole - indeed, Kath's Way is named after her as it was she that originally identified the strongly draughting blockage." & there are also a couple of photos in Montagu East!
archives.bcra.org.uk
There are many more pictures of her in this BSA album, including the one langcliffe alluded to:
archives.bcra.org.uk
BCRA Online Archive: The David Roberts Slide Collection
British Cave Research Association - online historical archive for UK speleology, caves, and caving: The David Roberts Slide Collection
BCRA Online Archive: The British Speleological Association Records
British Cave Research Association - online historical archive for UK speleology, caves, and caving: The British Speleological Association Records
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1582, but not proven - unsurprisingly it's mentioned several times in their advertising.
There are numerous legends and rumours surrounding Mary’s time in Buxton, such as her giving alms to a beggar by the well and openly admonishing Talbot for the beggar’s condition. It is also claimed that she visited Poole’s Cavern, and within the cavern you can see, carved into the rock, the name ‘Rowland Lockey’. Lockey was a portrait artist and painted Mary Queen of Scots. At the very least this shows that Poole’s Cavern was being accessed by those surrounding Mary. However, given that Mary’s mobility steadily decreased between her visits to Buxton and she was nearly immobile by the time of her execution two years after her final visit in 1584, if she were to have crawled through the small entrance into the cavern, it would have had to have been on one of her early visits, when she was more mobile. It was during her final visit in the summer of 1584 that on the window pane of Room 26, Mary inscribed : “Buxton, whose warm waters have made thy name famous, perchance I shall visit thee no more – Farewell.”
buxtoncrescentexperience.com
There are numerous legends and rumours surrounding Mary’s time in Buxton, such as her giving alms to a beggar by the well and openly admonishing Talbot for the beggar’s condition. It is also claimed that she visited Poole’s Cavern, and within the cavern you can see, carved into the rock, the name ‘Rowland Lockey’. Lockey was a portrait artist and painted Mary Queen of Scots. At the very least this shows that Poole’s Cavern was being accessed by those surrounding Mary. However, given that Mary’s mobility steadily decreased between her visits to Buxton and she was nearly immobile by the time of her execution two years after her final visit in 1584, if she were to have crawled through the small entrance into the cavern, it would have had to have been on one of her early visits, when she was more mobile. It was during her final visit in the summer of 1584 that on the window pane of Room 26, Mary inscribed : “Buxton, whose warm waters have made thy name famous, perchance I shall visit thee no more – Farewell.”
Mary Queen of Scots & The Old Hall Hotel » Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust
Of all the people who have visited Buxton in its storied past, it is Mary Queen of Scots who lives the longest in our collective memory.
buxtoncrescentexperience.com
I wonder if Miss B.D. Binns was related to Peter? - this mentions him staying with an unnamed aunt in Austwick:
archives.bcra.org.uk
Previous discussion about the photo:
ukcaving.com
Phil Hendy included a picture of Winifred Hooper (who was indeed Alison Moody's mother), as well as mentioning the ladies in goatchurch cavern c.1906, Queen Victoria in Peak Cavern around 1842 when she was still a princess, Mary Hazelton, Mossy Powell, and Sybil Bowden-Lyle of the BEC, as well as more recent practitioners:
issuu.com
Although the passage was blasted so that Victoria didn't have to lie down:
BCRA Online Archive
British Cave Research Association - Online Historical Archive: The Peter Binns collection
Twin Stalactites in Hensler's Series
Once upon a time, there was a pair of large stalactites in the passage between Hensler's Master Cave and the bottom pitch in Disappointment Pot. They were still there after the war, but subsequently disappeared (together with their smaller companions). The photograph below was taken the day...
ukcaving.com
Phil Hendy included a picture of Winifred Hooper (who was indeed Alison Moody's mother), as well as mentioning the ladies in goatchurch cavern c.1906, Queen Victoria in Peak Cavern around 1842 when she was still a princess, Mary Hazelton, Mossy Powell, and Sybil Bowden-Lyle of the BEC, as well as more recent practitioners:
Caving Phil Hendy - Issuu
THEREhas been a long tradition that cavers look after their own and when an accident occurs underground we are foremost to the rescue. After all, we have the knowledge of caves and experience of caving techniques essential to a satisfactory outcome. That is not to say, of course, that other...
Peak Cavern - Explore Peak District
Peak Cavern is unique amongst Castleton’s many other show caves due to the fact that it has been altered minimally by human touch; besides one narrow area that was blasted to allow for easier access, the rest of the caves’ layout is of entirely natural formation. Peak Cavern has often cited as a...
www.explorepeakdistrict.co.uk
Winifred Hooper also part of survey team for:
Peter Harvey described an early visit to Pwll Swnd near the end of WW2 with John and Anne Parkes, & gives us Gwyn Tudor's first name:
Miss Coote appears in the next installment:
BCRA Bulletin 7 (Feb 1975) p.14 by Innes Foley Obituary - P.F.Foley [early explorer of Lost Johns], presumably mentions his wife...
On the 1906 Gaping Gill trip Mrs Barran was with her husband Alfred, who was president of the YRC, and Miss Slingsby was with her father, the latter being the famous mountaineer William Cecil (previous president). Alfred and Thomas Singleton Booth (who also became president later) had explored GG ten years earlier, whilst Miss Booth may or may not have been his daughter Linda (I wonder if Mrs Boyes was related to Peter Boyes of RRCPC?) The trip was detailed in "Further explorations in" GG link, but more info on the men can be found at:
www.yrc.org.uk
www.yrc.org.uk
www.yrc.org.uk
www.yrc.org.uk
TSB was 38 years old at time, but I don't know when his daughter was born, however his sons didn't join the club until 1924. His two brothers and youngest sister were already dead by 1906, and his remaining three sisters were 33 to 40, so no obvious candidate there. Miss Mary Booth was a member of the Ancient Monuments Society in 1957 at the Ben Rhydding address and lived there until her death in c.1980.
Peter Harvey described an early visit to Pwll Swnd near the end of WW2 with John and Anne Parkes, & gives us Gwyn Tudor's first name:
Miss Coote appears in the next installment:
BCRA Bulletin 7 (Feb 1975) p.14 by Innes Foley Obituary - P.F.Foley [early explorer of Lost Johns], presumably mentions his wife...
On the 1906 Gaping Gill trip Mrs Barran was with her husband Alfred, who was president of the YRC, and Miss Slingsby was with her father, the latter being the famous mountaineer William Cecil (previous president). Alfred and Thomas Singleton Booth (who also became president later) had explored GG ten years earlier, whilst Miss Booth may or may not have been his daughter Linda (I wonder if Mrs Boyes was related to Peter Boyes of RRCPC?) The trip was detailed in "Further explorations in" GG link, but more info on the men can be found at:
Gaping Ghyll Hole (Part 1) – The Yorkshire Ramblers' Club
Gaping Ghyll Hole (Part 2) – The Yorkshire Ramblers' Club
In Memoriam – The Yorkshire Ramblers' Club
In Memoriam – The Yorkshire Ramblers' Club
andybrooks
Active member
The Witch of Wookey might qualify as one of the earlier examples.
andybrooks
Active member
Mike Boon's "A Spider's Thread of Shining Silver" contains a bit of information on Bob Leakey's female accomplices. One is identified as "Jean Martin, one of Bob's climbing companions". She was the first person to enter Near Marathon, eventually exiting "with her lower attire somewhat lacking".
Identified as Jean Wright in "THE CAVERNS OF MOSSDALE SCAR by Mike Boon" which describes what happened:
www.michaelmelvin.co.uk
Previous link was "THE DISCOVERY OF MOSSDALE CAVERNS"
The Mossdale Tragedy 1967
The Happy Wanderers Cave and Pothole Club Web Site.., The Mossdale Tragedy,The Mossdale Caverns Disaster,Bob Leakey's exploration,Previous Rescues in Mossdale Caverns, Mike Boon, The Black Keld Catchment Area, The Black Keld Connection, Bill Frakes, John Ogden, Dave Adamson, Geoff Boireau...
www.michaelmelvin.co.uk
Peter Harvey writing about OFD:
"We had also been joined by a girl called Joan and a caver from Yorkshire, whose name I never knew. We all struggled into the small entrance; cave digs are notoriously only just big enough to get through. After about 20ft of crawling we were able to stand up, and in another 30ft or so we were on the edge of a lake nearly 20ft. long and at least 6ft. deep. Bill said it was traditional to top it up, so we did, that is all except Joan who was not blessed with the necessary external plumbing."
Gwyn Tudor also gets a brief mention:
Anne and John Parkes were there when climbing Maypole, and another time:
'At the bottom of the drop there was also a very tight passage which eventually finished near Idol Junction, first traversed by Lewis Railton and Peggy Hardwidge. It was with great difficulty that they succeeded in completing it, a feat which involved the removal of some of their outer garments and it is said that when they eventually emerged into the West Leg it was rumoured that they were wearing each other’s trousers. This passage is not visited very often and was named “Peggy’s Purgatory”.'
Don Coase and Peggy also found Starlight Chamber in the Rawl Series, and she was involved in another maypole climb, before:
"We managed to push Peggy Hardwidge into a hole in the floor. She did manage to get in a few feet and actually see water flowing, but the place was so tight that there was no hope of getting through into any reasonably sized passage." &
"The prospects in this area now looked very poor and so we transferred our attention to the right hand side of the choke. Soon after we started, we reached a window in the wall in which we could hear water. We pushed Peggy into the hole but the place was much too tight and also it gave the impression it was going down to a sump, so we pulled Peggy out and retired for a think."
Bit of a theme, continued below!
"We had visited Sinc y Giedd several times during the winter of 1946/47 and had examined a number of small holes in the vicinity of the sink but we never managed to find the hole Bill had found. We uncovered one small bedding plane which looked quite promising as it obviously got bigger inside. It was much too small for Ian or me, but we had two girls with us, Brenda and Phyllis. Brenda managed to squeeze through the nine inch space but Phyllis, who was complaining that her chest was too big, got no sympathy and was told, “Stuff them under your armpits and get in there”. Unfortunately there was only 100ft of bedding plane and nothing else, so we decided to dig at the main sink where Bill claimed he had some success."
It's not clear if this was Phyllis Millward, who later helped start digging out Hunters Hole along with her husband Leslie (who passed away not long after), and in 1951 she was mentioned in the Bristol Evening Post at the OFD rescue (they were also producing the Wessex journal at this time, whilst Winifred Hooper was Hon Sec of their London group. Phyllis subsequently married Peter Harvey in 1954):
"Among those who joined the Swansea
Valley rescuers was Mrs. Phyllis Miliward, of Bristol. Wearing an oilskin suit, she repeatedly made trips into the caves, emerging wet through."
"[The cottage was known as 'Penbont' and has since been demolished as a result of road realignment.] This was very convenient, being both close to the caves and the Gwyn Arms. We had fitted it up with about a dozen bunks and facilities for cooking. The girls were still accommodated at the Gwyn as Arthur Hill, the club secretary, thought that the local people in the valley would disapprove if they slept in the same building as the men. This was quite an inconvenience as we usually rose in the morning about 5am and this meant instead of just kicking them out of their bunks, somebody had to run to the Gwyn, a half a mile away, to throw stones at their window in order to get them up for breakfast. It seems a very early start in the morning after the night before but we could not afford to come to Wales very often because of the petrol situation. Although we always tried to drink the Gwyn dry every evening, it was only the wartime watery brew, which did not seem to do the damage that more modern beers seem to manage."
Brigadier Aubrey Glennie's niece Mary Hazelton is also mentioned.
Peter's reminiscences continue with pant Mawr pot then into the 1950s at tunnel cave and OFD2.
"We had also been joined by a girl called Joan and a caver from Yorkshire, whose name I never knew. We all struggled into the small entrance; cave digs are notoriously only just big enough to get through. After about 20ft of crawling we were able to stand up, and in another 30ft or so we were on the edge of a lake nearly 20ft. long and at least 6ft. deep. Bill said it was traditional to top it up, so we did, that is all except Joan who was not blessed with the necessary external plumbing."
Gwyn Tudor also gets a brief mention:
Anne and John Parkes were there when climbing Maypole, and another time:
'At the bottom of the drop there was also a very tight passage which eventually finished near Idol Junction, first traversed by Lewis Railton and Peggy Hardwidge. It was with great difficulty that they succeeded in completing it, a feat which involved the removal of some of their outer garments and it is said that when they eventually emerged into the West Leg it was rumoured that they were wearing each other’s trousers. This passage is not visited very often and was named “Peggy’s Purgatory”.'
Don Coase and Peggy also found Starlight Chamber in the Rawl Series, and she was involved in another maypole climb, before:
"We managed to push Peggy Hardwidge into a hole in the floor. She did manage to get in a few feet and actually see water flowing, but the place was so tight that there was no hope of getting through into any reasonably sized passage." &
"The prospects in this area now looked very poor and so we transferred our attention to the right hand side of the choke. Soon after we started, we reached a window in the wall in which we could hear water. We pushed Peggy into the hole but the place was much too tight and also it gave the impression it was going down to a sump, so we pulled Peggy out and retired for a think."
Bit of a theme, continued below!
"We had visited Sinc y Giedd several times during the winter of 1946/47 and had examined a number of small holes in the vicinity of the sink but we never managed to find the hole Bill had found. We uncovered one small bedding plane which looked quite promising as it obviously got bigger inside. It was much too small for Ian or me, but we had two girls with us, Brenda and Phyllis. Brenda managed to squeeze through the nine inch space but Phyllis, who was complaining that her chest was too big, got no sympathy and was told, “Stuff them under your armpits and get in there”. Unfortunately there was only 100ft of bedding plane and nothing else, so we decided to dig at the main sink where Bill claimed he had some success."
It's not clear if this was Phyllis Millward, who later helped start digging out Hunters Hole along with her husband Leslie (who passed away not long after), and in 1951 she was mentioned in the Bristol Evening Post at the OFD rescue (they were also producing the Wessex journal at this time, whilst Winifred Hooper was Hon Sec of their London group. Phyllis subsequently married Peter Harvey in 1954):
"Among those who joined the Swansea
Valley rescuers was Mrs. Phyllis Miliward, of Bristol. Wearing an oilskin suit, she repeatedly made trips into the caves, emerging wet through."
"[The cottage was known as 'Penbont' and has since been demolished as a result of road realignment.] This was very convenient, being both close to the caves and the Gwyn Arms. We had fitted it up with about a dozen bunks and facilities for cooking. The girls were still accommodated at the Gwyn as Arthur Hill, the club secretary, thought that the local people in the valley would disapprove if they slept in the same building as the men. This was quite an inconvenience as we usually rose in the morning about 5am and this meant instead of just kicking them out of their bunks, somebody had to run to the Gwyn, a half a mile away, to throw stones at their window in order to get them up for breakfast. It seems a very early start in the morning after the night before but we could not afford to come to Wales very often because of the petrol situation. Although we always tried to drink the Gwyn dry every evening, it was only the wartime watery brew, which did not seem to do the damage that more modern beers seem to manage."
Brigadier Aubrey Glennie's niece Mary Hazelton is also mentioned.
Peter's reminiscences continue with pant Mawr pot then into the 1950s at tunnel cave and OFD2.
A few famous names in this edition, not all of whom died in WW1 (although almost all mention caving exploits, including Harold Kentish, who has a bit of eastwater named after him), but of more relevance here [Frank] "Payne was married in 1891, and his married life was one of ideal happiness, for he found in his wife a comrade who shared his love for the mountains, and who bore him company in almost all his expeditions and adventures", "and his daughter Dorothy, who has inherited her father’s skill in climbing". Also "The fifth descent of Gaping Ghyll was made in August, 1904, by hand haulage over a pulley fixed at the end of Jib Tunnel." The famous climber Fred Botterill (whose obituary is also here) initiated this trip, where May Johnson made the first female descent (as described in 'Gaping Ghyll in 1904'). This Stobart wasn't the husband of Miss Bowden, as his initials were R.F.:
www.yrc.org.uk
Mrs Brown was with her husband W.V., who was part of the 2nd descent of Diccan, as mentioned in the same YRC link as Miss Pilley appears.
The 1911 GG party included Lilian Agnes Streatfield Welbank, although by then the mother of:
en.m.wikipedia.org
She was buried with her husband at Austwick (Robert has a plaque on the side):
In Memoriam – The Yorkshire Ramblers' Club
Mrs Brown was with her husband W.V., who was part of the 2nd descent of Diccan, as mentioned in the same YRC link as Miss Pilley appears.
The 1911 GG party included Lilian Agnes Streatfield Welbank, although by then the mother of:
Robert Wynne-Edwards - Wikipedia
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Looks like she was actually Lilian Agnes Streatfield, her father being the Rev Champion Welbank Streatfield:
Another of her sons, although he was only 5 at time of GG (Robert was the oldest at 14, their father, her husband, was then headmaster of Leeds Grammar School):
en.m.wikipedia.org
The other schoolboy was probably Eric Fricker who played cricket for Leeds Grammar School from 1912–1914 and for the school's Second XI in 1911 - as he was 2 months older than Robert. He was also commissioned near the start of the war (his 3 years elder brother Herbert Cecil had also been in the school team):
leedspalsvolunteerresearchers.wordpress.com
leedspalsvolunteerresearchers.wordpress.com
Another of her sons, although he was only 5 at time of GG (Robert was the oldest at 14, their father, her husband, was then headmaster of Leeds Grammar School):
V. C. Wynne-Edwards - Wikipedia
The other schoolboy was probably Eric Fricker who played cricket for Leeds Grammar School from 1912–1914 and for the school's Second XI in 1911 - as he was 2 months older than Robert. He was also commissioned near the start of the war (his 3 years elder brother Herbert Cecil had also been in the school team):
Arthur Bernard Hoggett – ‘Struck deaf and dumb’
Arthur Bernard Hoggett, Captain 17th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (2nd Leeds Pals) Arthur Bernard Hoggett was one of the initial batch of officers to join the 17th Battalion on its formation …
leedspalsvolunteerresearchers.wordpress.com
Eric Fricker MC – severely wounded but lived to 95
Eric Fricker MC, Lieutenant 17th Battalion, West Yorkshire Regiment (2nd Leeds Pals) Like many others Eric Fricker’s war was cut short by the serious injuries he received in 1916. His family …
leedspalsvolunteerresearchers.wordpress.com
Sybil Bowden-Lyle gets a couple of 1949 mentions in the Mendip rescues book, with this entry from Wookey Hole:
"On the actual day, however, things did not go right from the start. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing to the platform in the Sixth Chamber, Balcombe withdrew because he could not cope with his unaccustomed fins to an adequate degree of safety and Grosvenor cried off with face mask problems. Marriott had a light failure whilst on the platform, but this was put right by Coase. During this, Coase himself had created ‘plenty of splash’ and had been ‘a very comical sight’ to his recorder, Sybil Bowden-Lyle. He also lost a weight whilst sorting out Marriott’s lights."
& Belfry Bulletin:
"Members entering Stoke Lane are warned of loose boulders. A short time ago a party had a very narrow escape from serious accident when a boulder weighing in the neighbourhood of’ 24 cwt. fell from the pile on the slope from the stream to the Main Chamber. It hit Sybil Bowden-Lyle in the back but luckily had no very serious consequences. Hard luck Sybil it’s a good job that you’re tough."
So I haven't managed to find any further details for Phyllis Balcombe, Miss Capper, Mrs Boyes, Miss Stevenson, Miss Ingleby, Miss Lovett, nor most of those helping Bob Leakey. Neither Misses M Lodge or D Mitchell on this page too. I didn't try for the rest of 1911 and 1927 GG descenders, but those were more tourist trips by then. Mrs Williamson was with her husband, so probably H. mentioned here (the other entry doesn't definitely state that she went underground anyway):
www.yrc.org.uk
"On the actual day, however, things did not go right from the start. After a bit of to-ing and fro-ing to the platform in the Sixth Chamber, Balcombe withdrew because he could not cope with his unaccustomed fins to an adequate degree of safety and Grosvenor cried off with face mask problems. Marriott had a light failure whilst on the platform, but this was put right by Coase. During this, Coase himself had created ‘plenty of splash’ and had been ‘a very comical sight’ to his recorder, Sybil Bowden-Lyle. He also lost a weight whilst sorting out Marriott’s lights."
& Belfry Bulletin:
"Members entering Stoke Lane are warned of loose boulders. A short time ago a party had a very narrow escape from serious accident when a boulder weighing in the neighbourhood of’ 24 cwt. fell from the pile on the slope from the stream to the Main Chamber. It hit Sybil Bowden-Lyle in the back but luckily had no very serious consequences. Hard luck Sybil it’s a good job that you’re tough."
So I haven't managed to find any further details for Phyllis Balcombe, Miss Capper, Mrs Boyes, Miss Stevenson, Miss Ingleby, Miss Lovett, nor most of those helping Bob Leakey. Neither Misses M Lodge or D Mitchell on this page too. I didn't try for the rest of 1911 and 1927 GG descenders, but those were more tourist trips by then. Mrs Williamson was with her husband, so probably H. mentioned here (the other entry doesn't definitely state that she went underground anyway):
In Memoriam – The Yorkshire Ramblers' Club
Andy Walsh
Member
In 1932 in Lost Johns'Leck Fell ,Miss Lyle Martin Just beat by inches her sister Mrs Kennedy to Groundsheet Junction to be the first woman to get to the Lost Johns' Master cave.(page 206 cave science vol 2 article by E Simpson July 1950 in this she is recorded as the Late miss Lyle --hence probably Lyle cavern named after her- found in 1932)
1926 -1927 Mrs Foley with others i/c her husband Capt Foley explored Cathedral , Dome + Centipede Lost Johns'Master Cave found only in 1928. Lyle Cavern found by E Simpson in 1933) .
On a separate tact-- Lost Johns' sump was not found until much later by Bob Leaky and Ken Peace stripping off completely to go tho the long low airspace duck .Bob Leaky also did this with his first date with a girl to open up Simpsons Pot (she later became his wife).
Sid
Active member
A great photo of Winifred with Alison
www.mcra.org.uk
Win Hooper & Alison | MCRA Photo Gallery
Godstone 1956 - Godstone 1956 Win Hooper & Alison.jpg
www.mcra.org.uk
Presumably Miss M. Lodge (douk cave) was same as davel's Mrs M. Lodges (disappointment pot)?
1933 "Lyle Cavern (named after Lyle Martin, the first women to reach Groundsheet Junction) was discovered in Lost Johns." Mossy Powell and Mabel Binks also named:
cravenpotholeclub.org
The first post in CPC series includes May Johnson (confusingly clicking previous brings you more up to date!)
1933 "Lyle Cavern (named after Lyle Martin, the first women to reach Groundsheet Junction) was discovered in Lost Johns." Mossy Powell and Mabel Binks also named:
1930 to 1939
Craven Pothole Club - Caving and Potholing in the Yorkshire Dales and beyond
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