Mary Teston Luis (Fernandes) Bell (1903 - 1979)

Born 3 Dec 1903 in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia

Ancestors

Wife of John Renison Bell OBE — married 9 Mar 1923 in Brighton, Victoria, Australia

Died 6 Feb 1979 at age 75 in Ulverstone, Tasmania, Australia

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Kenneth Evans [send private message]

Biography

Mary (Fernandes) Bell is Notable.

Mary 'Paddy' Bell was an Australian aviatrix and founding leader of the Women's Air Training Corps (WATC), a volunteer organisation that provided support to the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) during the Second World War. She later helped establish the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF), the first and largest women's wartime service in the country. Mary's incredible contribution to her country and to women has largely gone without due recognition.

Mary Fernandes

Mary (Fernandes) Bell was born in Tasmania, Australia

Mary Teston Luis Fernandes was born on 3rd December 1903 in Launceston, Tasmania, Australia. She was the only surviving child of English-born Rowland Fernandes and Tasmanian-born Emma Mahoney. Her maternal great-great grandparents were emancipated convicts, Jonathan Griffiths, a noted colonial shipbuilder, and Eleanor McDonald. Mary attended the Church of England (Anglican) Girls' Grammar School, Launceston, before completing her formal education at Lindula School (later known as St Margaret's Girls' School), Devonport. At fourteen she took a job with a Devonport solicitor. Mary was a serious-looking and ambitious girl, scarcely 153cm (five feet) tall and interested in flying from an early age. ^[1]

Mary met Gallipoli ANZAC veteran, John Bell in 1919, when she was just sixteen years of age. ^[1] John, then an Australian Flying Corps (AFC) pilot, and Mary married on 9th March 1923 in St Andrew's Church of England (Anglican Church), Brighton, Victoria. ^[2] With the family then living in Dandenong, Victoria, her father had passed away in 1920.

Whilst living in England from 1925, accompanying John as he attended RAF Staff College, Mary gained her Grade A private pilot's licence. They had a daughter, Joan, in March 1926 whilst living in Whitchurch, Hampshire. ^[3][4] Back home in 1928 Mary became the sixth Australian woman to be registered as an aviatrix. In 1929, she became the first woman to qualify as a ground engineer in Australia. ^[1]

Mary (Fernandes) Bell is a Military Veteran.
Served in the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force 1939-1945

In 1939 the little family moved to Brisbane, Queensland, where John took up an appointment as Queensland manager for Airlines of Australia Ltd (founded in 1931 as New England Airlines and absorbed by Australian National Airways (ANA) in 1942). With the threat of another global war increasing, Mary banded together some forty women at Archerfield aerodrome in Brisbane's south to assist with aviation maintenance tasks as the Women's National Emergency Legion Air Wing. On 17th July 1939, the name was changed to the Women's Air Training Corps (WATC) and Mary was elected as commander. War – the Second World War – was declared in September. By October 1940, more than 2,000 women across Australia had joined WATC as drivers, telegraphists and clerks. It was at this time that Mary lost her mother, aged 75 years. In 1941, WATC became the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) with Mary employed as Staff Officer (Administration), based at RAAF Headquarters, Melbourne. ^[5] The position of director was given to Clare Stevenson, as Mary was perceived by the Air Member for Personnel, Air Vice Marshal Henry Wrigley, to be a 'socialite'. The WAAAF was the first uniformed women's branch of the defence forces of Australia, pre-dating those of the Royal Australian Navy (WRANS) and Australian Army (AWAS). ^[1] The WAAAF grew to more than 18,000 members by 1944 and some 27,000 women had served by the end of the war. ^[6]

Mary was a farmer

Leaving military life behind at the end of the war the Bells took up farming, firstly in Victoria and then in Tasmania. ^[1]

Following six years of widowhood, Mary passed away, aged 75 years, on 6th February 1979 in Ulverstone, Tasmania. She is buried beside John in Mersey Vale Memorial Park in Spreyton. ^[1] She was survived by her daughter, Joan, and son-in-law, Alan Cook.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5} Wikipedia: Mary Bell; accessed 22 Feb 2020
2. ↑ Victoria Marriage Index #82/1923
3. ↑ The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.: 1848 - 1957) Sat 20 Mar 1926 Page 13 Family Notices; accessed 22 Feb 2020
4. ↑ UK FreeBMD Birth Index Jun qtr 1926, vol 2c, page 394
5. ↑ Department of Veterans' Affairs nominal roll: 350307 Flight Officer Mary Teston Luis Bell; accessed 22 Feb 2020
6. ↑ Wikivisually: Mary Bell; accessed 22 Feb 2020

See also

• Thomson, Joyce. 'Bell, Mary Teston Luis (1903–1979)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, published first in hardcopy 1993; accessed online 22 Feb 2020.
• Revolvy article: Mary Teston Luis Fernandes; accessed 22 Feb 2020.