Woman of the Day motoring journalist and driving instructor Aileen Graham-Jones, (1889-1974) of Co. Armagh, the first woman in the UK to qualify for a Royal Automobile Certificate and Emmeline Pankhurst’s first lady chauffeuse. When her father died, Aileen’s newly widowed mother moved her children from Northern Ireland to Richmond. Mum had her own ideas about women’s inequality. As head of the household during the 1911 census, she firmly wrote “Unenfranchised” in the “Infirmity” column for every female member of the household, including her three servants. (I quite like the sound of Mum). Aileen’s interest in motoring led her to enrol for a motor mechanics course at a local motor works which caused conniptions, but when the men realised she was serious about learning, they decided to help her. “I emerged with a fair understanding of how a combustion engine worked.” Driving lessons followed and Aileen became the first woman to qualify for a Royal Automobile Certificate. The next hurdle was finding a job as a driver. At that time, the Morning Post (now the Daily Telegraph) was the most popular paper in Britain. Aileen took a chance and placed this ad in its Classified Ads section: “Lady chauffeuse, RAC certificate and running repairs. What offers?” She received three replies. The first was from a doctor in Bristol who wanted her to drive him to his home visits in the mornings, take his lady wife to her many social events in the afternoons and walk the dog in the evenings. The second was from a Guards officer who had always fancied the idea of a lady chauffeuse and “offered to meet me in a hotel in the Kings Road to ‘discuss the proposition’.” (Oh yes, even in those days, creeps abounded). The third was by far the best. Emmeline’s secretary wanted someone “to drive the great lady of the militant suffrage movement for five months on a campaign throughout England, Wales and Scotland. That appealed to me greatly.” Aileen took the job. “My family were livid. They thought I was going straight into the dark arms of Hell - to be going to that dreadful woman, as her chauffeur. It was an awful blow, but I thought it was the most wonderful job. At a pound a week, it was wealth.” When she reported for duty, she found “an enormous car [a donated Wolsesley] placed at our disposal…Five women, baggage and much literature…Of course we were swathed in motoring veils and swamped in dust…” and they set off in April 1911. She described the shocking state of the roads, the very hot weather, plus “garages were not plentiful”. “I learned early on in the tour that Mrs P must be got on time to her meeting so there were some harrowing moments. She was always deeply concentrated [on her work] and so in the event of any puncture, I would have to jack her up, as well as the car!” Going over the Kirkstone Pass in Cumbria was a challenge. It was an unmade single track road which Aileen had to navigate very slowly. “Even in first gear, I do not use the brakes for fear of overheating…Overheating results in fire..It was a very hazardous journey.” Cattle gates were an obstacle. She did not dare stop, so a suffragette would jump off the car, open the gates, close the cattle gates, and jump back onto the running board “all in a long skirt…It was an unforgettable experience.” After her five month tour of the country, Aileen started her own motor school and was keen to teach other women the basic rudiments of motor mechanics and how to drive. Business was good. A Miss Carver became her business partner and she advertised in Votes for Women ‘The modern girl is admirably suited for the life, and as a chauffeur should receive a salary of 30 shillings to £2 a week – the same, of course, as that paid to a man.” When WW1 broke out, Aileen joined the Voluntary Aid Detachment and served for eighteen months, took a year off to marry an Army doctor, and rejoined the VAD in April 1916 when she was put in charge of the first all-women ambulance unit at a hospital in northern France - 13 women drivers - and was mentioned in despatches. Of Emmeline, she said, “Life is dedicated to her cause and we all gave our best.”