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Autograph request
Postcard sent by Bray to Hilda Booth on 1st November 1929 asking for her autograph.
HILDA Booth was a remarkable woman, known to nearly everybody who lived in Worthing between the first and second world wars.
There were diverse reasons for her local fame. Not only was she the first woman to drive a car in Worthing, but she was also the town’s first woman motorcyclist.
She fought a lengthy and very public battle with members of Worthing town council over their refusal to give her a licence to become a taxi driver. “NOT an appropriate occupation for a woman,” declared Worthing town councillors when Hilda Booth first applied for a taxi licence.
They completely ignored the experience she had gained as an Army driver during World War One, for which she had gained an impeccable record. She lost the initial skirmish, but her tenacity eventually won the fight to become Worthing’s first w oman taxi driver.
If that weren’t enough to get her recognised as one of the town’s most colourful characters in the so-called “roaring” twenties, Hilda Booth went on to run a riding stable and a string of ponies on the seafront.
Source: http://www.feestspada.com/worthing_history/history_pages/html/unsuitable_job.html