HISTORY
DOROTHY HOLWILL Dartmouth’s first female mayor
I
t took 613 years but when Dartmouth finally picked a female mayor, they didn’t make a bad choice. Dorothy “Dolly” Holwill was
a very fine mayor indeed: from ‘bamboozling’ the panel on What’s My Line? to helping Prince Philip get over a faux pas and even calmly dealing with being set on fire. she was always great to have around. Mrs Holwill is assured of a place in history, of course, but frankly she is deserving of that place. she became Mayor in 1954 –
ending 613 years of male domination since edward the Black Prince granted the town a royal Charter, allowing them to appoint their own mayors. For one breaking down the barriers of sexual oppression, she took to the role with calm, assured aplomb.
When the Duke of edinburgh and the Queen visited in July 1954, just three months after Dorothy had taken on the role of mayor from Harold Adams, there was a bit of a kerfuffle, which the new Mayoress
The Mayor Dolly Holwill inspects the BRNC Ship’s Company with Captian W G Crawford DSC
took in her stride. the Duke wanted to go out on
the town in Dartmouth for a ‘stag’ Party – one involving men only - and sent an invitation to the “Dartmouth Mayor” to join him on board the royal yacht Britannia. Did Dorothy worry? she could
have been forgiven for nerves, having
her first communication with the husband of the newly crowned monarch. But she replied in a gentle, almost motherly way, apologizing and suggesting a solution to the problem: invite her deputy instead. she actually ‘begged to be excused’ on account of being a woman. the Duke wrote back, said he did excuse her and agreed to invite the deputy instead. When none other than the Daily Mail asked her about it, our Dorothy simply replied: “If the Duke wants to have one of his stag parties, well, I think he deserves it. I would not dream of embarrassing him in any way.” the next year she continued her national fame by appearing on the country’s most popular television show: What’s My Line? Members of the public were
Dorothy Holwill first gave the Cadets of the Britannia Royal Naval College Freedom of the Borough in early 1956.
invited up in front of a celebrity panel and had to do a mime of what they did (either job or special skill) and then the panel had to ask
By Phil Scoble
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122 |
Page 123 |
Page 124 |
Page 125 |
Page 126 |
Page 127 |
Page 128 |
Page 129 |
Page 130 |
Page 131 |
Page 132