Air Chief Commandant 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 The Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), whose members were referred to as WAAFs (), was the female auxiliary of the Royal Air Force during World War II. Established in 1939, WAAF numbers exceeded 180,000 at its peak strength in 1943, with over 2 ...

(1939–43).

Career

Jane Trefusis Forbes had been Chief Instructor,

Auxiliary Territorial Service The Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS; often pronounced as an acronym) was the women's branch of the British Army during the Second World War. It was formed on 9 September 1938, initially as a women's voluntary service, and existed until 1 Februa ...

School of Instruction in 1938. In 1936, Forbes,

Helen Gwynne-Vaughan Dame Helen Charlotte Isabella Gwynne-Vaughan, (née Fraser; 21 January 1879 – 26 August 1967) was a prominent English botanist and mycologist. During the First World War, she served in the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps and then as Commanda ...

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 World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

, 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 The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

(RCAF). She also toured India to investigate the possibility of employing women in the

South East Asia Command South East Asia Command (SEAC) was the body set up to be in overall charge of Allied operations in the South-East Asian Theatre during the Second World War. History Organisation The initial supreme commander of the theatre was General Sir A ...

. She retired in August 1944.

Honours

In January 1944, Trefusis Forbes was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (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

Holy Trinity Church - Perth Rd, Pitlochry, UK - August 2006

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 Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, where her father, the son of James David Forbes, eminent physicist, glaciologist, and principal of the University of St Andrews, was an engineer building the railroad from the coast to the interior.''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 Sir Robert Alexander Watson-Watt, 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 profile
oxforddnb.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 later

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Jane Trefusis 1899 births 1971 deaths Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Kensington People from Perth and Kinross British expatriates in Chile Female air force generals and air marshals Women's Auxiliary Air Force officers Royal Air Force air marshals of World War II Wives of knights