This is the remarkable story of trailblazing scientist Aphra Wilson

3-4 minute read

By Guest Author | January 12, 2024

Before researching your very own female ancestors, discover the surprising story of Aphra Wilson, the motorbike-riding MBE who lived through both World Wars

During the second half of the 19th century, various occupations began opening up slowly to women - but it took the First World War to bring significant breakthroughs. With so many fighting-age men away at the front, women stepped into many roles traditionally regarded as the domain of men.

While they had worked in textile factories for decades, women were now making munitions, driving lorries, collecting tickets on omnibuses and trams and undertaking heavy labour on farms to keep the nation fed. Many of our female ancestors also joined the men on the front - serving with the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps or the Women's Royal Air Force.

Although these women's stories have often been written out of history, we've harnessed the power of our vast record collection to restore their rightful place in the history books.

Women's history isn't just about the famous names - it's also about your very own family. With Findmypast, it's now easier than ever to discover the stories of female ancestors who lived through World War 1 and beyond. Using census records, directories and other key genealogical records, we can tell the tales of years ago in more vivid detail than ever.

Whether you're an experienced genealogist or are just getting started, we all have a part to play in researching our female ancestry and preserving the stories of the women within our family tree.

Trace your female ancestors

From challenges to triumphs, discover their untold stories.

Read on to learn what Findmypast's expert genealogist Stephen Rigden discovered about the life of one such remarkable woman.

Who was Aphra Wilson?

Aphra Phyllis Wilson was born in 1895 in Cricklewood, North West London. She was the daughter of Dr George Morton Wilson, a native of Lowick in Northumberland, and Emma Eliza Wilson (née Finney).

Dr Wilson took the post of resident physician at the tuberculosis sanatorium at Pendyffryn Hall in the fashionable Victorian seaside resort of Penmaenmawr (the sanatorium is now a country club). Here he is with his family on the 1901 Census:

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On this record, you can see Aphra was aged 6 years old - we can imagine that the public service ethos and professional dedication of her father was impressed upon her as a young girl.

Dr Wilson died prematurely in 1910, aged only 43. At the time, Aphra was attending Queen Anne's Secondary School in Caversham. You can see her aged 16 on the 1911 Census below. Queen Anne's was described as a 'Ladies School'.

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Aphra then attended Chichester High School for Girls - you'll only find her admission records online at Findmypast. School records can provide wonderfully helpful clues for researching your past, including family addresses, exam results and reasons for absence. You can see Aphra's school records below.

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Aphra left school in July 1914. A month later, the Great War started and she joined the newly-formed Women's Volunteer Reserve and later the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps.

In the spring of 1918, the WAAC became Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps, under the patronage of King George V's queen consort. Aphra held the role of Assistant Administrator, as you can see from these QMAAC records on Findmypast:

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Apparently, she was also a motorcycle despatch rider on the Western Front in 1917. She clearly performed her duties with great courage, as she was awarded an MBE in the King's Birthday Honours List in 1919, aged just 24 years.

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Her award was published in the London Gazette in June 1919 (you'll see her mentioned at the end of the second column). Another 21 QMAAC women were also awarded MBEs at the time. You can find them listed here.

After the war, Wilson studied sciences and became an eminent plant pathologist, later becoming one of the first women on the board of directors of Boots the Chemist. Here she is on the 1939 Register, residing with her elderly mother in Radcliffe on Trent.

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According to the Register, Aphra, as civic-minded as ever, volunteered as an ARP (Air Raid Precautions) Warden during World War 2. Her duties would have included sounding air raid sirens, guiding the public to safety and issuing gas masks.

Aphra Wilson died in retirement in 1976, 12 days short of her 81st birthday.

Discover the heroic women within your family tree

With name changes (with women swapping their maiden name for their husband's name upon marriage) and the absence of women from many traditional family history records, tracing your female ancestors can certainly be tricky. But with Findmypast's help, you don't need to be a professional genealogist to make fascinating discoveries about your ancestry.

Head to our Help Hub, where we've put together research guides on tracing maiden names, using social history to trace female ancestors and so much more.

There are strong and amazing women in all of our family trees. Some, like Florence Nightingale, are famous for their pioneering ways. Others have stories yet to be discovered and shared. Did the women in your family make history? Find out when you start your genealogy research with Findmypast.