Cheridah best biography on george
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Scope and Contents
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The magnificent woman in her flying machine
Find out about a female pioneer in the early days of flying, with Nick Thorne
The photo of the aviator and the elephant that started a search for more information
When we think of the early days of flight, the tendency is to recall those awe-inspiring men in their flimsy flying machines made of little more than wood and fabric. But it should be remembered that women were also flying pioneers.
A photograph of Mrs Cheridah de Beauvoir Stocks, in TheGenealogist's Image Archive, raised the question about who the first lady pilots on Britain were. The picture shows Mrs Stocks on her aeroplane, meeting Jumbo the Daily Mirror elephant-one of two elephants imported into Britain to publicise the newspaper. This intriguing picture of perhaps the first Jumbo on the runway, was the starting point for researchers at TheGenealogist to discover more about this intrepid young lady's identity.
Cheridah was born Cheridah Annie Ernst on 6 November
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b. 5 Aug1895, Bickley, Kent
Father: Robert Bruce Aitken, a solicitor (qualified 1885), mother Harriot(t) (Soames, d. 1963 aged 100). They married 12 Jun 1894.
Sister Kathleen Maud, b. 1897
Robert was an RAF 2nd Lieut 1917-18, and d. 21 Nov 1942 in Llandudno.
In the 1911 Census Robert and Harriot lived in Tunbridge Wells with their 4 servants; Grace, age 15, meanwhile was at boarding school - St Felix School, Clogle House, Reydon, Southwold.
Grace qualified as a masseuse (in Medical Gymnastics and Medical Electricity) and travelled to Quebec in 1926, New Zealand in 1927, and Hawaii and the USA for three weeks in 1928.
Her address bygd then was Masons Bridge Hall, Salfords, Horley, Surrey (which fryst vatten near Redhill Aerodrome).
'Flight' Magazine recorded the start of her aviation career in October 1929: "During this week, three new lady members commenced instruction; they were Miss M. M. Noakes and Miss M. J. M. Turner, of Maidstone, and Miss G. E. Aitken, of Horl