Violet Blanche Douglas-Pennant was a British philanthropist and supporter of local government who served as the second commandant of the Women's Royal Air Force until her dismissal in August 1918.
18 Facts About Violet Douglas-Pennant
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Violet Douglas-Pennant agreed to spend a month "looking round" the camp, and was so unhappy that she repeatedly tried to resign.
3.
Violet Douglas-Pennant's proposal passed, and the committee began its work on 14 October 1918.
4.
Violet Douglas-Pennant was never again employed by the government, and spent the following decades attempting to clear her name before her death on 12 October 1945.
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Violet Douglas-Pennant was the sixth child of George Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn, and his first wife Penella Blanche, who died five days after Violet's birth.
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Violet Douglas-Pennant served as a governor of the University College of South Wales and a member of the Conservative and Unionist Women's Franchise Association.
7.
Violet Douglas-Pennant helped organise the Scottish Women's Hospital Unit, although she was not one of the 81 women sent to Russia to assist Serbian soldiers.
8.
Violet Douglas-Pennant had previously done work for Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps and the Women's Royal Naval Service; as such she was a natural choice for Commandant of the Women's Royal Air Force when it was formed in 1918.
9.
Violet Douglas-Pennant agreed to spend a month "looking round" the WRAF, and her experiences during that month led her to decline the appointment.
10.
Violet Douglas-Pennant found that although she was responsible for 14,000 WRAF members in 500 camps there were only 70 officers, and the existing training facilities were only managing to train 25 new officers every three weeks.
11.
Violet Douglas-Pennant's office was a small, dark room on the top floor of the Hotel Cecil next to a men's lavatory, and there was so little furniture that she was forced to keep her papers and files on the floor.
12.
Violet Douglas-Pennant was dismissed without prior warning on 28 August 1918 and replaced by Helen Gwynne-Vaughan.
13.
Violet Douglas-Pennant's dismissal was looked upon unfavourably by politicians and trade unionists, and Lord Ampthill, Jimmy Thomas and Mary Reid Macarthur wrote a letter to The Daily Telegraph complaining about Weir's conduct.
14.
Violet Douglas-Pennant claimed she had been dismissed in an attempt by several senior officers, including Colonel Bersey, the commander of the WRAF supplies unit, General Livingston, the deputy head of the personnel department, and Mrs Beatty, the Assistant Commandant of the WRAF, to cover up "rife immorality" in WRAF camps by getting rid of the only officer "too straight for them to work with".
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Violet Douglas-Pennant claimed that this immorality had been occurring particularly at a motor training camp called Hurst Park, where the camp commander Colonel Sam Janson had been discovered sleeping with one of the WRAF officers.
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Violet Douglas-Pennant was represented by Anthony Hawke KC and Stewart Bevan KC, while the Air Ministry was represented by the Attorney General, Lord Hewart, and Rigby Swift KC.
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Violet Douglas-Pennant was unable to produce any evidence of the "rife immorality" that she had accused several officers of, and after three weeks the committee dismissed all witnesses.
18.
The final report was produced in December 1919, and found that Violet Douglas-Pennant had been completely unable to substantiate her claims and was deserving "of the gravest censure".