Barbara Jane Harrison
Encyclopedia
Barbara Jane Harrison, GC
(24 May 1945 – 8 April 1968), was a British
air stewardess. She is one of four women to have been awarded the George Cross
for heroism, and the only one of the four not to have served with the Special Operations Executive
in occupied France during the Second World War. She is the only woman to be awarded the medal for gallantry in peacetime.
, Yorkshire
to Lena and Alan Harrison. She was their second child, another daughter, Susan Elizabeth, having been born in 1941. Harrison attended Greystones School, Bradford. The family later moved to Scarborough, where Harrison attended Newby County Primary School. During the summer of 1955, Harrison's mother became seriously ill and the girls were sent to stay with an aunt for the holidays, during which time Harrison's mother died. Harrison passed her 11-plus and attended Scarborough Girls' High School. In 1961, her father moved to Doncaster
. Harrison stayed on at Scarborough to complete her O levels before joining her father in the summer of 1961. She then attended Doncaster High School until Easter 1962, when she got a job at Martins Bank
.
for a Swiss
farmer in the Canton of Neuchâtel
in order to improve her French
. Harrison later took another job as a nanny in San Francisco. It was while working in San Francisco that she applied for a job as an air stewardess with British Overseas Airways Corporation
(BOAC). She passed the interview and joined BOAC in May 1966, just after her twenty-first birthday. After completing her training, Harrison was assigned to work onboard BOAC's Boeing 707
fleet. Harrison moved to Emperor's Gate, Kensington
, London
where she shared a flat with other BOAC stewardesses. She purchased a Ford Anglia
car, which she used to drive to Heathrow for work. Harrison also joined Universal Aunts, which provided staff to do any number of odd jobs. One assignment was babysitting Jason Connery
.
On 8 April 1968, BOAC Flight 712
left Heathrow Airport, bound indirectly for Sydney
. Soon after take-off, the Boeing 707's number two engine caught fire and fell from the plane's port wing. The aircraft managed to land two-and-a-half minutes later, but fire continued to engulf the wing and spread to the fuselage
. Harrison and a steward inflated the escape chute at the aft of the plane but it became entangled and the steward had to climb down to free it for use and was unable to return.
Harrison stayed at her station and helped passengers to escape as fire consumed the plane, encouraging them to jump and in some cases simply pushing them out to safety. As the fire spread, escape from the rear of the aircraft became impossible and she led the remaining passengers to another exit. She refused to leave the plane to save herself and her body was found near that of a disabled pensioner, seated in one of the last rows. Her award was published in a supplement to the London Gazette
of 7 August 1968 (dated 8 August 1969). She is buried in Fulford
Cemetery in York
. Her posthumous award was for the gallantry she showed in helping passengers escape a burning aircraft in London.
awarded Harrison a posthumous George Cross (GC), the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime. Harrison's medal was accepted on her behalf by her father, Alan. Harrison is the youngest ever female recipient of the George Cross.
The citation for Barbara Jane Harrison's GC reads:-
The Barbara Jane Harrison, GC, Memorial Fund was set up in October 1969 with the aim of raising £
1,000 by October 1970. Almost £1,500 was raised which was used to buy a computer for the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
, London, for use by the muscular dystrophy
laboratories for research into the disease.
A plaque in memory of Harrison was unveiled on 23 October 1970. The Barbara Harrison Prize was established in 1968 by the Royal Air Force
Institute of Aviation Medicine
. It is awarded to the best student on a Diploma in Aviation Medicine course whose first language is not English
. The prize is now under the remit of the Department of Aviation Medicine at King's College, London.
Since 2010, the Barbara Harrison Memorial Prize is awarded to the student of the Diploma in Aviation Medicine Course "who has demonstrated commitment to others and determination to succeed through the course and in gaining the Diploma".
George Cross
The George Cross is the highest civil decoration of the United Kingdom, and also holds, or has held, that status in many of the other countries of the Commonwealth of Nations...
(24 May 1945 – 8 April 1968), was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
air stewardess. She is one of four women to have been awarded the George Cross
George Cross
The George Cross is the highest civil decoration of the United Kingdom, and also holds, or has held, that status in many of the other countries of the Commonwealth of Nations...
for heroism, and the only one of the four not to have served with the Special Operations Executive
Special Operations Executive
The Special Operations Executive was a World War II organisation of the United Kingdom. It was officially formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Minister of Economic Warfare Hugh Dalton on 22 July 1940, to conduct guerrilla warfare against the Axis powers and to instruct and aid local...
in occupied France during the Second World War. She is the only woman to be awarded the medal for gallantry in peacetime.
Early life
Harrison was born on 24 May 1945 at the family home in Kingsdale Crescent, BradfordBradford
Bradford lies at the heart of the City of Bradford, a metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, in Northern England. It is situated in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Leeds, and northwest of Wakefield. Bradford became a municipal borough in 1847, and received its charter as a city in 1897...
, Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
to Lena and Alan Harrison. She was their second child, another daughter, Susan Elizabeth, having been born in 1941. Harrison attended Greystones School, Bradford. The family later moved to Scarborough, where Harrison attended Newby County Primary School. During the summer of 1955, Harrison's mother became seriously ill and the girls were sent to stay with an aunt for the holidays, during which time Harrison's mother died. Harrison passed her 11-plus and attended Scarborough Girls' High School. In 1961, her father moved to Doncaster
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
. Harrison stayed on at Scarborough to complete her O levels before joining her father in the summer of 1961. She then attended Doncaster High School until Easter 1962, when she got a job at Martins Bank
Martins Bank
Martins Bank Limited was a Liverpool-based British finanical services company that was taken over by Barclays Bank in 1969. The company has its origins in the 16th century and was said to have been founded by Sir Thomas Gresham, who began trading in Lombard Street under the sign of a grasshopper...
.
Career
Harrison remained at Martins Bank until 1964, when she decided that she wanted a change of career. She took a job as a nannyNanny
A nanny, childminder or child care provider, is an individual who provides care for one or more children in a family as a service...
for a Swiss
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
farmer in the Canton of Neuchâtel
Canton of Neuchâtel
Neuchâtel is a canton of French speaking western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782 of which 39,654 were foreigners. The capital is Neuchâtel.-History:...
in order to improve her French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
. Harrison later took another job as a nanny in San Francisco. It was while working in San Francisco that she applied for a job as an air stewardess with British Overseas Airways Corporation
British Overseas Airways Corporation
The British Overseas Airways Corporation was the British state airline from 1939 until 1946 and the long-haul British state airline from 1946 to 1974. The company started life with a merger between Imperial Airways Ltd. and British Airways Ltd...
(BOAC). She passed the interview and joined BOAC in May 1966, just after her twenty-first birthday. After completing her training, Harrison was assigned to work onboard BOAC's Boeing 707
Boeing 707
The Boeing 707 is a four-engine narrow-body commercial passenger jet airliner developed by Boeing in the early 1950s. Its name is most commonly pronounced as "Seven Oh Seven". The first airline to operate the 707 was Pan American World Airways, inaugurating the type's first commercial flight on...
fleet. Harrison moved to Emperor's Gate, Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where she shared a flat with other BOAC stewardesses. She purchased a Ford Anglia
Ford Anglia
The 1949 model, code E494A, was a makeover of the previous model with a rather more 1940s style front-end, including the sloped, twin-lobed radiator grille. Again it was a very spartan vehicle and in 1948 was Britain's lowest priced four wheel car....
car, which she used to drive to Heathrow for work. Harrison also joined Universal Aunts, which provided staff to do any number of odd jobs. One assignment was babysitting Jason Connery
Jason Connery
Jason Joseph Connery is an English actor.-Early life:Connery grew up in London. He attended Millfield School, a co-educational independent school in Somerset, England, and later at the independent Gordonstoun School in Scotland. He was later accepted into the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School...
.
On 8 April 1968, BOAC Flight 712
BOAC Flight 712
BOAC Flight 712 for Monday 8 April 1968 was a British Overseas Airways Corporation service operated by a Boeing 707-465 from London Heathrow Airport bound for Sydney via Kloten, Zürich and Singapore, which suffered an engine failure at takeoff that quickly led to a major fire. The engine fell...
left Heathrow Airport, bound indirectly for Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. Soon after take-off, the Boeing 707's number two engine caught fire and fell from the plane's port wing. The aircraft managed to land two-and-a-half minutes later, but fire continued to engulf the wing and spread to the fuselage
Fuselage
The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section that holds crew and passengers or cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage which in turn is used as a floating hull...
. Harrison and a steward inflated the escape chute at the aft of the plane but it became entangled and the steward had to climb down to free it for use and was unable to return.
Harrison stayed at her station and helped passengers to escape as fire consumed the plane, encouraging them to jump and in some cases simply pushing them out to safety. As the fire spread, escape from the rear of the aircraft became impossible and she led the remaining passengers to another exit. She refused to leave the plane to save herself and her body was found near that of a disabled pensioner, seated in one of the last rows. Her award was published in a supplement to the London Gazette
London Gazette
The London Gazette is one of the official journals of record of the British government, and the most important among such official journals in the United Kingdom, in which certain statutory notices are required to be published...
of 7 August 1968 (dated 8 August 1969). She is buried in Fulford
Fulford
Fulford is a historic village and civil parish on the outskirts of York, England. Situated to the south of the city, on the east bank of the River Ouse, it was the site of the 11th century Battle of Fulford...
Cemetery in York
York
York is a walled city, situated at the confluence of the Rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. The city has a rich heritage and has provided the backdrop to major political events throughout much of its two millennia of existence...
. Her posthumous award was for the gallantry she showed in helping passengers escape a burning aircraft in London.
George Cross
The QueenElizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...
awarded Harrison a posthumous George Cross (GC), the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime. Harrison's medal was accepted on her behalf by her father, Alan. Harrison is the youngest ever female recipient of the George Cross.
The citation for Barbara Jane Harrison's GC reads:-
Memorials
Pound sterling
The pound sterling , commonly called the pound, is the official currency of the United Kingdom, its Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and Tristan da Cunha. It is subdivided into 100 pence...
1,000 by October 1970. Almost £1,500 was raised which was used to buy a computer for the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery
The National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery is a neurological hospital in London, United Kingdom and part of the University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust...
, London, for use by the muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy
Muscular dystrophy is a group of muscle diseases that weaken the musculoskeletal system and hamper locomotion. Muscular dystrophies are characterized by progressive skeletal muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins, and the death of muscle cells and tissue.In the 1860s, descriptions of boys who...
laboratories for research into the disease.
A plaque in memory of Harrison was unveiled on 23 October 1970. The Barbara Harrison Prize was established in 1968 by the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Institute of Aviation Medicine
RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine
The Royal Air Force Institute of Aviation Medicine was a British Royal Air Force aviation medicine research unit between 1945 and 1994.- Early days :The RAF Institute of Aviation Medicine was opened on 30 April 1945 by the Princess Royal...
. It is awarded to the best student on a Diploma in Aviation Medicine course whose first language is not English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. The prize is now under the remit of the Department of Aviation Medicine at King's College, London.
Since 2010, the Barbara Harrison Memorial Prize is awarded to the student of the Diploma in Aviation Medicine Course "who has demonstrated commitment to others and determination to succeed through the course and in gaining the Diploma".