Beatrice (Tilly) Shilling OBE and other ladies

Only 3 ladies have won a Bemsee Gold Star, set out below are the details we have for them

Born 8th March 1909 in Hampshire, the same year Bemsee was born.  Beatrice showed her passion for speed at the age of fourteen when she bought herself a motorcycle, having made up her mind to become an engineer. After working for a small electrical engineering company in Devon, installing wiring and generators, she went on to study electrical engineering at Manchester University in 1929.

During the 1930s Beatrice regularly raced motorcycles around the Brooklands circuit and was awarded the Gold Star (1 of only 3 ladies to do so)  for lapping the circuit at 106mph on her Manx Norton – faster than any other woman on two wheels and subsequently making a huge impact in a male-dominated field. She was once described as a ‘Flaming Pathfinder of Womens' Lib’ and throughout her life fought against any suggestion that as a woman she might be inferior to her male colleagues. It is told that she refused to marry her husband to be, George Naylor, until he had lapped the Brooklands circuit at over 100mph, and won himself a Gold Star, which he did in 1938

In 1936 when jobs were obviously extremely difficult to come by, Beatrice was employed by the Royal Aircraft Establishment as a scientific officer, based in Farnborough. During WWII she worked on a number of projects, the most famous of which was known as Miss Shilling's Orifice – a small metal disc with a hole in the middle which was fitted into the Spitfire engine's carburettor which restricted fuel flow; thereby preventing flooding. This continued in use as a stop-gap until the introduction of the pressure carburettor in 1943. Beatrice continued working at the RAE until her retirement in 1969. She was awarded an OBE for her work during WWII and died on the 18th November 1990

Shown below are the year badges of Miss Shilling including her Gold Star, which are on display at Brooklands

Theresa Wallach

Another lady who was a trail blazer of her times was Miss Theresa Wallach, she won her Bemsee Gold Star at Brooklands in 1939 on the motorcycle in the picture a 350cc Norton. This was the last Gold Star awarded by the club before Brooklands closed. Theresa lead a full and very active life, she was a military dispatch rider, a racer, as well as engineer, mechanic, author, riding school instructor. She was also born the year Bemsee was formed and died in 1999 on her 90th Birthday. We encourage you to read her exploits at this Link

 

Florence Blenkrion

Born in 1905 she was the first  lady to win a Bemsee Gold Star in 1934 at the age of 29, Florence first started racing motorcycles at the age of 23 at Brooklands entering a ladies race organised by Lady Malcolm Campbell in 1928, her 2nd race wasn't until 1933 when she won a 3 lap handicap on the banked circuit. It was in 1934 that riding her 500 Grindlay Peerless she exceeded 100mph on the banked circuit to win her Bemsee Gold star.
It was the following year, having teamed up with Theresa Wallach that they went on to have amazing adventures, for women of their times, in the Southern Hemisphere. These adventures, which we recommend reading, have been documented on the Brooklands webpage  Here