Gillian Kluane Muirhead Tanner (13 March 1919 – 24 January 2016) was a British

firefighter A firefighter is a first responder and rescuer extensively trained in firefighting, primarily to extinguish hazardous fires that threaten life, property, and the environment as well as to rescue people and in some cases or jurisdictions also ...

. Tanner was the only female firefighter to be awarded the George Medal during the Second World War. Tanner was brought up in Gloucestershire but on 3 September 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War she drove to London determined to play some part in the war effort. As Tanner held a driving licence for heavy goods vehicles (HGV), she joined the Auxiliary Fire Service (AFS) and was assigned to Dockhead fire station in Bermondsey, south-east London. Tanner was given the duties of driving the petrol lorry and the canteen van, as she was the only driver at the station to have an HGV licence. The petrol lorry was not a tanker but carried petrol in containers from which other vehicles had to be refuelled by hand. In September 1940 the

bombing of London The Blitz was a German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom in 1940 and 1941, during the Second World War. The term was first used by the British press and originated from the term , the German word meaning 'lightning war'. The Germa ...

commenced and on 20 September the firefighters were dealing with numerous incidents. Tanner volunteered to go out in the petrol lorry during the blackout and an air raid to get to the docks to refuel the fire appliances. Avoiding bombs and bomb damage Tanner made it to the docks to deliver for the refuelling of the appliances. For this action Tanner was awarded the George Medal and the announcement of the award was made on 31 January 1941. The citation read: Following the award of the George Medal, Tanners portrait was painted by war artist,

Alfred Thomson Alfred Reginald Thomson (10 December 1894 – 27 October 1979) was an English artist and Olympic Gold Medalist, most notable for being an official War Artist to the Royal Air Force during World War Two. Biography Thomson was born in Ban ...

. Tanner remained with the AFS and its successor, the

National Fire Service The National Fire Service (NFS) was the single fire service created in Great Britain in 1941 during the Second World War; a separate National Fire Service (Northern Ireland) was created in 1942. The NFS was created in August 1941 by the amalga ...

(NFS), until after the end of the war. Post-war she continued to drive heavy lorries and also participated in rallying, driving in several major races during the 1950s. In August 2022 two new fireboats joined the

London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865, under the leadership of superintendent Eyre Massey Shaw. It has 5,992staff, in ...

, one named after Tanner, and the other after fellow Second World War firefighter

Harry Errington Harry Errington GC (20 August 1910 – 15 December 2004) was the only London firefighter to be awarded the George Cross during the Second World War. He was born in Westminster on 20 August 1910 to a family of Polish Jewish immigrants, previously ...

GC.

Personal life

Tanner was married twice. In 1945 she married Frank Armitage, an officer in the Durham Light Infantry. The divorced in the early 1950s and in 1954 she married John Wilton-Clark, remaining married to him until his death in 1995. Tanner died in January 1996.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanner, Gillian 1919 births 2016 deaths Recipients of the George Medal British firefighters Female rally drivers