76 Facts About Victoria Drummond

Victoria Drummond finally circumvented Board of Trade prejudice by passing the chief engineer examination of Panama, a flag of convenience.

In 1946 and again in 1952, Victoria Drummond served as a supervising engineer on behalf of two shipping companies: overseeing the building of new ships.

Victoria Drummond was born on 14 October 1894 at Errol, Perthshire, Scotland.

Victoria Drummond's father was Captain Malcolm Drummond of Megginch, Groom in Waiting to Queen Victoria and Deputy Lieutenant of Perthshire.

Victoria Drummond had two sisters, Jean and Frances, and a younger brother, John Drummond, 15th Baron Strange.

Victoria Drummond was named Victoria for Queen Victoria, who was one of her godmothers.

One of Victoria Drummond's grandmothers turned wood and ivory and belonged to the Worshipful Company of Turners.

Victoria Drummond herself became a prizewinning model maker, making her own toys that were shown in exhibitions and won prizes in competitions.

Victoria Drummond used to visit the engineering works of Robert Morton and Sons in Errol, which built steam-powered and petrol-engined lorries and buses.

In 1915, Victoria Drummond turned 21, and her father encouraged her to choose her own career.

Victoria Drummond repeated her ambition to be a marine engineer.

Victoria Drummond took this as the right time to move on and resigned from the garage.

Victoria Drummond started as a pattern maker for metal casting, and in 1919 was promoted to the finishing shop.

Victoria Drummond joined the Women's Engineering Society and completed her apprenticeship in 1920 after which she was elected a graduate of the Institute of Marine Engineers.

Victoria Drummond stayed on at Caledon as a journeyman, later transferring to the drawing office.

In 1922, Caledon suffered a decline in orders and laid off many workers, including Victoria Drummond who left on 7 July.

When Caledon gave her notice in 1922, Victoria Drummond wrote to Wortley to take up his offer.

Victoria Drummond served on the ship until 1924, making four voyages to Australia and one to China.

Victoria Drummond was friends with the usual Second Engineer, Malcolm Quayle, who supported her career, was her escort for social events ashore and whom she called her "protector".

Quayle was married and had two children, and Victoria Drummond was emphatic that there was never any impropriety between them.

Victoria Drummond began to study for her Second Engineer's qualification and, in October 1926, she obtained her Second Engineer's Certificate becoming Britain's first certificated woman marine engineer.

Victoria Drummond served on the ship until 4 December 1928, completing one voyage to East Africa and four to India and Ceylon.

Aboard Mulbera Victoria Drummond was again accepted by nearly all the ship's company.

Victoria Drummond said Lamb often shouted at her, occasionally swore at her and thus wore her down.

Victoria Drummond privately nicknamed Lamb the Tiger Cat or just "The Tiger".

In port in Aden on 11 May 1928, Victoria Drummond received an air mail letter telling her that aboard her former ship Anchises on 13 April her friend Malcolm Quayle had died.

Frances worked as a commercial artist and she and Victoria Drummond developed a business, the Golden Fisheries, trading goldfish that they kept in their garden pond and in tanks in the house.

From October 1929, Victoria Drummond repeatedly sat the Board of Trade examination for Chief Engineer, but every time the examiners failed her.

From 1935, Frances and Victoria Drummond's business took them abroad to trade fairs in Leipzig, Prague and Vienna.

Victoria Drummond photographed Hitler in his motorcade and later described that time in Vienna as very tense, chaotic and dangerous.

In 1939, war seemed to grow inevitable so Victoria Drummond applied to return to sea as a Second Engineer.

Victoria Drummond then tried visiting the Royal Docks in the hope of finding a ship that would take her on.

Victoria Drummond was sceptical of signing a woman engineer until he saw her papers.

Victoria Drummond was built in 1907 and by 1940 was in poor condition.

Victoria Drummond mastered disciplinary problems among the engine room crew and then in drydock in Antwerp completed enough furnace and boiler repairs for Har Zion to pass its Lloyd's Certificate inspection.

Victoria Drummond joined her at Fowey in Cornwall where the ship loaded china clay for the USA.

Victoria Drummond was on watch and immediately ordered the fireman and greaser to join her on the starting platform ready in case they needed to escape.

Victoria Drummond ordered her fireman and greaser to open the fuel injectors and main steam throttle to increase speed and then get out of the engine room in case they needed to abandon ship.

Bonita had never before exceeded 9 knots but in 10 minutes Victoria Drummond somehow increased speed to 12.5 knots.

Victoria Drummond is about the most courageous woman I ever saw.

Victoria Drummond seems to be without fear or nerves, is very good at her job and has an uncanny power over engines, for which I once thanked God.

Aboard Bonita Victoria Drummond formed a close friendship with another married man, the First Mate Mr Warner.

In Norfolk, Victoria Drummond made friends with a Virginian woman, Mrs Julia Davies, who was engaged in charitable work collecting goods to send to Britain that were in short supply because of the War.

Whenever Victoria Drummond was on watch the ship managed to increase speed and regain her station.

Victoria Drummond replied firmly that numerous Chief and other engineers with whom she had served had lacked the nerve to cope while under enemy attack, and therefore the best service she could give was as a Chief Engineer at sea.

Accordingly, the "Victoria A Drummond Canteen" was opened in Westminster Bridge Road near Lambeth North tube station.

In February 1941, Warner and Victoria Drummond signed on as captain and second engineer of an old Panamanian steamship, Czikos.

The ship was in Lisbon so a skeleton crew including Warner and Victoria Drummond sailed out to join her on Yeoward Brothers' passenger liner Avoceta.

The ship discharged her explosive cargo in Manchester and Victoria Drummond returned to her sisters in Lambeth.

Victoria Drummond called Danae II "The worst ship I ever sailed in".

Victoria Drummond reported the mismanagement of Danae II to the MoWT and Ambrose, Davies and Matthews.

Again Victoria Drummond was beset by a hostile Second Engineer always being rude to her, giving her extra work and trying to prevent her from getting shore leave.

In July 1943 the ship visited Cape Town, where Victoria Drummond was able to go ashore and visit her friend Malcolm Quayle's grave outside the city.

Victoria Drummond did not seek another position at sea until January 1944.

On return to England in May 1944, Victoria Drummond signed onto Karabagh again as Fourth Engineer.

Victoria Drummond formed a friendship with Karabaghs Master, a man from Northern Ireland called Captain Charlton.

Victoria Drummond did not accept, and later explained that this was because both he and she had short tempers.

Victoria Drummond passed in May 1946 on her second attempt.

Victoria Drummond worked as a relief Second Engineer, serving for short periods on Cunard cargo ships until January 1947.

In February 1952, Victoria Drummond returned to supervising shipbuilding in Scotland.

Victoria Drummond spent a month on Markab as Second Engineer in October and November 1952, then returned to the ship as Chief Engineer in January 1953.

Victoria Drummond next spent another three years serving for short periods for various shipping companies.

Victoria Drummond returned home to Kennington Road until May 1958, when she began a two-month voyage as the engineer of an old motor yacht, My Adventuress, from Southampton to Istanbul.

Victoria Drummond spent her final three years at sea as a chief engineer with the Jebshun Shipping Company of Hong Kong.

Victoria Drummond provided steam to smother and contain the fire, but this depleted the ship's water supply which was needed to make steam to power the main engine.

Victoria Drummond served on her for 14 months, sailing via the Suez Canal to Japan and China, then via Durban to West Africa, back to Hong Kong, then to India, and back via Singapore and Chinese ports to Hong Kong, where she signed off in November 1961.

Victoria Drummond found Santa Granda to be in very poor condition: rusty, dirty and in poor repair.

Christmas was spent in Hong Kong, with Victoria Drummond arguing against Jebshun representatives who wanted to postpone many of the repairs essential to make the ship safe.

On 25 March 1962 Victoria Drummond advised that the ship was still in too poor a condition to pass its forthcoming Lloyd's inspection.

Victoria Drummond attended annual meetings of the Institute of Marine Engineers and wrote her life story.

Victoria Drummond recovered physically but her state of mind deteriorated and she was discharged to St George's Retreat, a church-run nursing home in Burgess Hill in East Sussex.

Victoria Drummond died there on Christmas Day 1978, and is buried at Megginch Castle beside her parents and sisters.

Victoria Drummond persevered with her career through hardship and some discrimination, doing the hard physical work of the engine room, managing the engine room crew and at times enduring prejudice and discrimination from some of her immediate superiors.

Victoria Drummond is commemorated by a Victoria Drummond Room at the IMarEST headquarters in London.

In 2013, Victoria Drummond was featured in an exhibition 'Women in Science' at the National Library of Scotland, which showcased the legacy of notable Scottish women scientists.

In 2018, Victoria Drummond was inducted into the Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame and the Royal Navy renamed a lecture theatre used to train marine and air engineers at HMS Sultan in Gosport the Victoria Drummond Theatre.