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The youngest of six children of Edmund Batten Forbes (1847–1924), a civil engineer, and his wife, Charlotte Catherine Agnes (née Wauchope; died 1958), Katherine Jane Trefusis Forbes was born in Chile, where her father, the son of ''Dame Katherine Jane Trefusis Forbes''
at ''clan-forbes.org'', 28 October 2020. At one time engaged to a cousin who died mountaineering, she was unmarried until 1966, when she and
oxforddnb.com; accessed 3 April 2014.
Air Chief Commandant
Air vice-marshal (AVM) is a two-star air officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometimes u ...
Dame Katherine Jane Trefusis Forbes, Lady Watson-Watt, (21 March 1899 – 18 June 1971), known as Jane Trefusis Forbes, was a businesswoman and the first director of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (1939–43).
Career
Jane Trefusis Forbes had been Chief Instructor, Auxiliary Territorial Service School of Instruction in 1938. In 1936, Forbes, Helen Gwynne-Vaughan and Kitty Trenchard launched the Emergency Service, to train women and organise them to be prepared in case of war. There were probably fewer than 100 women in the organisation, which was not officially recognized. On 1 July 1939, three months before the beginning of the Second World War, she was appointed as Director of the WAAF in order "to advise the Air Member for Personnell icon questions concerning the WAAF". Trefusis Forbes inherited "The Observatory" in Pitlochry in 1936, upon the death of her uncle, the physicist George Forbes. Early in the war she is said to have allowed the house to be used as a place for senior militarily personnel to have a few days respite – Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery is thought to have been among the guests. By 1943 there were 175,000 women in the ranks of the WAAF. In October 1943, she toured Canada to assess the Women's Division of the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF). She also toured India to investigate the possibility of employing women in the South East Asia Command. She retired in August 1944.Honours
In January 1944, Trefusis Forbes was appointed aDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
(DBE). She had always been known by her second name, Jane, but on discovering that it would cost her a half crown to change her first name in order to become Dame Jane she decided that she would become Dame Katherine.
Personal life
The youngest of six children of Edmund Batten Forbes (1847–1924), a civil engineer, and his wife, Charlotte Catherine Agnes (née Wauchope; died 1958), Katherine Jane Trefusis Forbes was born in Chile, where her father, the son of James David Forbes
James David Forbes (1809–1868) was a Scottish physicist and glaciologist who worked extensively on the conduction of heat and seismology. Forbes was a resident of Edinburgh for most of his life, educated at its University and a professor ...
, eminent physicist, glaciologist, and principal of the University of St Andrews, was an engineer building the railroad from the coast to the interior.at ''clan-forbes.org'', 28 October 2020. At one time engaged to a cousin who died mountaineering, she was unmarried until 1966, when she and
Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt
Sir Robert Alexander Watson Watt (13 April 1892 – 5 December 1973) was a Scottish pioneer of radio direction finding and radar technology.
Watt began his career in radio physics with a job at the Met Office, where he began looking for accura ...
, who is credited with developing radar, married in London. They lived together in London in the winter, and at "The Observatory" (Trefusis Forbes' summer home in Pitlochry, Scotland) during the rest of the year. The couple met for the first time back during World War II when the WAAF was responsible for managing radar installations.Oxford DNB profileoxforddnb.com; accessed 3 April 2014.
Death
Lady Watson-Watt died in 1971 in London, aged 72, after suffering a second heart attack. Her husband died two years laterReferences