Monica Maurice, who was known as the ‘Lady with the Lamp’, has been awarded a blue plaque to celebrate her contribution to safety in engineering.
The event took place on the 8th May, at the Wolf Safety Lamp company house on Saxon Road.
Maurice was a pioneer in safety for miners by designing and manufacturing flame-safety lamps that received international praise.
John Jackson, the son of Miss Maurice and ex-Managing Director of Wolf Safety Lamp, said:
“She was an amazing person as a mother, as a work colleague. We worked together for, must have been 25 years. We never fell out, we believed in the same values of business.”
When asked how it felt to have the plaque placed, he continued and said: “It’s there in concrete, as you might say. And records her achievements, the membership of all the institutions, the various successors that she had in business and in private life as well.
“And it is a memento for the future. It’s there forever, frankly. It is there forever.”
The Lady with the Lamp was the first woman, and for 40 years, the only female member of The Association of Mining Electrical Engineers and received an OBE in 1975 at Buckingham Palace for her outstanding contribution and dedication to safety in mining.
This came at a time when women were rarely recognised for their contributions.
Amy Jackson, the granddaughter of Miss Maurice, said: “It’s wonderful. It feels like a validation and recognition of her work.
“When you grow up and you see someone like that in your family who’s achieved those things, who’s your grandmother, you think as a woman, as a female, you can do anything as well.”
Miss Maurice attended Hamburg University to study German and Engineering in 1929, and in February 1930 started her career in the family business as a personal assistant.
In 1932, her father presented her with a handwritten letter, congratulating her and appointing Monica as the director of the company.
Alex Jackson is the grandson of Monica Maurice and has taken over the family business as the Managing Director.
He said: “We have been here since 1973, and I think people cycled past and walked past every day and don’t really think much of the building, but maybe they will stop for a while and have a look and think, who was this person?”
