Name Muriel Thompson | ||
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Volunteer Experience #1 - Tawiah Muriel Thompson
Muriel Thompson (10 June 1875 - 3 March 1939) was a Scottish motor racer, suffragette and war-time ambulance driver. Thompson was the fifth of eight children, her father Cornelius Thompson was a shipowner and marine architect.
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Thompson was an avid motorist, winning, in 1908, the first ladies’ motor race held at Brooklands, the Ladies' Bracelet Handicap and also the Scratch Motor Car Race.
War service
During World War I Thompson became a driver for the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY), joining in January 1915. The role included a requirement to perform mechanical maintenance tasks on the vehicles. In 1916 she was second in command to Lilian Franklin on the first expedition in support of the British Army (the FANY had previously assisted the Belgians and the French).
Awards
On 29 March, 1915 she was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold II, by King Albert for evacuating wounded Belgian soldiers under fire, near Dixmude. Thompson was also awarded the Military Medal and the Croix de Guerre for courage under fire while moving injured during bombing raid in May 1918.