Mary Lacy (c. 1740 – 1801) was a British

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

shipwright Shipbuilding is the construction of ships and other floating vessels. It normally takes place in a specialized facility known as a shipyard. Shipbuilders, also called shipwrights, follow a specialized occupation that traces its roots to befor ...

and

memoirist A memoir (; , ) is any nonfiction narrative writing based in the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiog ...

. She was arguably the first woman to have been given an exam and a pension from the British

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as a shipwright.

Early life

Lacy was born in Wickham, Kent in 1740. She became a domestic servant, aged twelve. In 1759, aged nineteen, Lacy ran away from home dressed as a boy. Using the name William Chandler, Lacy worked as a servant for a ship's carpenter of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. William was her father's name and Chandler was her mother's maiden name. Lacy then studied as an apprentice to be a shipwright in 1763, going on to successfully complete the apprenticeship. In 1770, she took her exam as a shipwright, arguably the first woman to have done so. In 1771, however, she was forced to stop working because of her

rheumatism Rheumatism or rheumatic disorders are conditions causing chronic, often intermittent pain affecting the joints or connective tissue. Rheumatism does not designate any specific disorder, but covers at least 200 different conditions, including art ...

, and applied for a pension from the

under her legal name, Mary Lacy, which was granted. She published her memoirs ''The Female Shipwright'' in 1773. This was reprinted by the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the United ...

in 2008.

Later life

On 25 October 1772, at

St Mary Abbots St Mary Abbots is a church located on Kensington High Street and the corner of Kensington Church Street in London W8. The present church structure was built in 1872 to the designs of Sir George Gilbert Scott, who combined neo-Gothic and early- ...

, Kensington, Mary Lacy married Josias Slade, a shipwright, of

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

, Kent. That same year, Mary gave birth to her first child, Margaret Lacey Slade, who was baptized at St Nicholas, Deptford, Kent, on 29 August.digitized image from London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812 on Ancestry.co.uk Their other children were Josias Slade (1775–1777), Mary Slade (1777–1777), Josias Slade (1778–1781), Elizabeth Slade (1780–1780), and John Slade (born 1784). In 1775 Mary petitioned for her husband to be granted a servant because of his 16 years' service as a shipwright.index record ADM 106/1231/171 from The National Archives (UK) She had also applied unsuccessfully before Lord Sandwich for her husband to succeed Thomas Boyles, who lined the stuff for the Sawyers at the dockyard. Mary died in 1801 and was buried at

St Paul's, Deptford St Paul's, Deptford, is one of London's finest Baroque parish churches, cited as "one of the most moving C18 churches in London" in the ''Buildings of England'' series. It was designed by gentleman architect Thomas Archer and built between 171 ...

, Kent, on 3 May 1801. Her husband, Josias Slade, died in 1814 and was also buried at St Paul, Deptford, Kent, on 13 February 1814.index record from England, Select Deaths and Burials, 1538–1991 on Ancestry.co.uk In his will and codicil, he only mentions his son, John Slade, and daughter, Margaret, now wife of Joseph Warddigitized image from England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384–1858 on Ancestry.co.uk (Margaret Lacey Ward died the following year and was buried at St Paul, Deptford, Kent, on 23 April 1815). A chapter in Suzanne Stark's book ''Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail'' features Lacy's life in eighteenth century England.

Published works

References

The Lady Tars: The Autobiographies of Hannah Snell, Mary Lacy and Mary Anne Talbot
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lacy, Mary 1740s births 1801 deaths 18th-century sailors 18th-century English memoirists 18th-century English women writers 19th-century English people 19th-century English women Writers from the London Borough of Bexley English shipwrights British women memoirists Women carpenters British carpenters Female sailors British servants