The Female Lighthouse Keepers

Earlier this year, we provided access to our historical records for our friends at the Maritime Museum who were compiling research for an article about the role of women in lighthouse keeping over the centuries.

It’s a fascinating read and brings to light, forgive the pun, the story of three families who took care of the Plover Scar and Walney Lighthouses.

Here’s an excerpt:

“Most lighthouses in England and Wales are under the authority of Trinity House. By the end of the 1990s, all of their lighthouses were automated, but until then they were responsible for hiring full-time keepers. Over four centuries or so, the organisation never once appointed a woman as Principal Keeper of a lighthouse, although the contributions of the keepers’ wives were sometimes acknowledged with the title of Female Assistant Keeper.

Some areas of the country have their own Local Light Authorities, which seem to have been more flexible than Trinity House. In Chester, Mrs Cormes was appointed as keeper of the Point of Ayr lighthouse as early as 1791. Liverpool has had a number of female lighthouse keepers from 1797 onwards. Here in Morecambe Bay, the Local Light Authority is the Lancaster Port Commission. They own and maintain all the aids to navigation on the River Lune, including the lighthouses at the mouth of the river and on Walney Island. And while Beatrice Parkinson may not have been officially taken on as a lighthouse keeper by the Commission,* several other women were:

Before the Parkinsons took over in 1945, the pair of lights at the mouth of the Lune had been kept by Janet Raby, who was employed by the Lancaster Port Commission at a rate of £8 per month. She was assisted by her brother, Dick,* who lived in a separate cottage in Thurnham. They often shared the work by looking after one light each. Both of them also divided their time between working the lighthouses and fishing the Bay. They were the third and last generation of the Raby family to maintain the Lune lights – their grandfather Francis had been the first keeper, appointed in 1847 when the two lighthouses were constructed.

On the other side of the Bay, Fred Swarbrick became Assistant Keeper of Walney Lighthouse in the 1920s, and Principal Keeper in 1933. He had two daughters, Ella and Margaret (Peg), who both grew up around the lighthouse. By the 1940s Ella was employed by the Lancaster Port Commission as Assistant Keeper, working alongside first her father and then her husband Albert. Peg was paid a retainer to act as relief keeper during holidays or sickness, sometimes managing the lighthouse single-handed for weeks at a time. Besides the technical work of keeping the lights, Peg and Ella were responsible for maintaining the keepers’ cottages, the lighthouse tower and the surrounding area. The exposed position of the buildings made this a herculean task; between the 1940s and 1960s they had to repaint the outer walls of the entire lighthouse tower every other year.

Peg, now known by her married name of Braithwaite, took on the full-time job of Assistant Keeper after Ella’s death in 1967, and then became Principal Keeper in 1974 when Albert retired. A decade later she was awarded the British Empire Medal for her long and exceptional service. The Chairman of Lancaster Port Commission wrote her a glowing recommendation, including the fact that she ‘never expected or considered that she should have special treatment on account of being a woman. On the contrary, she felt herself to be a lighthouse keeper quite simply, and carried out her duties accordingly; although at times her courage was tested to the limit and never found wanting – one night she pushed the light round all night by hand when the mechanism failed.’”

You can read the full article here:

The Lighthouse Keepers

You can watch the Pathé news video about Beatrice Parkinson here:

You can listen to the Morecambe Bay Partnerships’ oral history interview with Bob Parkinson:

Soundcloud: Bob Parkinson

And you can watch a short film about Peg Braithwaite here: