17 Facts About Gertrude Bacon

Gertrude Bacon was a British aeronautical pioneer.

Gertrude Bacon achieved a considerable number of "firsts" for women in aeronautics, as well as making contributions in the areas of astronomy and botany.

Gertrude Bacon was born in 1874, one of the three children of Gertrude and John Mackenzie Bacon.

Gertrude Bacon's father was an astronomer, aeronaut, and scientist who was a private tutor for University of Cambridge.

Gertrude Bacon became her father's scientific collaborator in both astronomy and aeronautics.

Gertrude Bacon was an original member of the British Astronomical Association attending the inaugural meeting in 1890, and a member of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

Gertrude Bacon took photographs at all three events, including motion pictures at Buxar.

Gertrude Bacon was the first woman in England to make a proper balloon ascent, in 1898, accompanied by her father.

Gertrude Bacon is credited as one of the first Englishwomen to fly in an airplane.

Gertrude Bacon flew with Douglas Graham Gilmour in a 'Big Bat' monoplane in 1910.

Gertrude Bacon accompanied pilot Herbert Stanley Adams in flights on Windermere in mid-1912.

Gertrude Bacon gave public lectures, with opportunities becoming more numerous after her father's death in 1904.

In 1901, Gertrude Bacon joined the Wild Flower Society, adding botany to her list of interests and achievements.

Gertrude Bacon visited the newly excavated tunnel of what became the underground Bakerloo Line in London in 1901.

Gertrude Bacon was involved with the handover of prisoners of war in the Netherlands in December 1915 and she was later awarded the British war medal.

In 1929, Gertrude Bacon married a fellow botanist and chemist, Thomas Jackson Foggitt.

Gertrude Bacon wrote a short story called "The Gorgon's Head", which appeared in December 1899 issue of The Strand Magazine.