To search our directory of workers at HM Factory Gretna either enter any name, place of birth or place of death in the search box or if you know what their job was from select from the drop-down menu.
Mabel Alice Dix
Member of the Women’s Police ServiceBiography
Information will be supplied through Research Project led by Nigel Crompton.
Full name of worker at H.M. Factory Gretna (and any other names they are known by): Mabel Alice Dix
Gender: Female
Date and Place of Birth: 3rd January 1883, Hawkesbury Upton, Gloucestershire
Date and Place of Death: 25 July 1961, Thornbury Hospital, Gloucestershire
Nationality: British
Childhood: She had 1 brother Henry James, 2 half sisters and 1 half brother.
Parents: Henry Charles and Alice Mary (nee Doyle). Alice died in November 1885. Henry remarried in 1895 to Annie (nee Shearman).
Parent’s occupations: N/K
Schools / universities attended and years of attendance: N/K
Occupation: Elementary School Teacher. After this she became a Housekeeper.
Place of residence at Gretna: Women’s Police Barracks No1, Gretna
Job title at Gretna: Member of the Women’s Police Force.
Marital status: Unmarried.
Children: None known.
Travels: In the 1921 census record she was in Canada.
Awards/recognitions: N/K
Trivia / any other information:
Mabel was born in January 1883, but soon after the birth of her brother Henry James, her mother died in 1885. Tragically her brother Henry James passed away during 1886 leaving Mabel with her father also named Henry living with her uncle James who was a Naval pensioner in the South Gloucestershire village of Hawkesbury Upton.
The 1901 census shows that Mabel was still living with her Uncle James but working as a National School Teacher. Her father had re-married. With his new wife, Annie Louise Shearman, he now had two children plus the children from Annie’s previous marriage. They were also living in Hawkesbury Upton.
By the time of the 1911 census, Mabel has moved to Chichester in Sussex being employed as an elementary school teacher by Sussex County Council.
Her name appears on an early roll of WPS members at Gretna from 1916 plus her signature is on the petition sent to Winston Churchill, the Minister of Munitions in late 1918. On both the valuation and electoral rolls, Mabel is shown as living in No1 Women’s Police Barracks.
After the war she travelled to Canada several times but had changed careers becoming a housekeeper. Mabel never married. She returned to South Gloucestershire and died on 25 July 1961 in Thornbury Hospital.
References
Blogs about the individual:
Websites about the individual: