Driving ambition ahead of her time
Uni probes Dorothée’s connections with town
A search has geared up into the Paisley connections of an extraordinary woman.
Dorothée Pullinger, who was born in 1894 and died in 1986, is celebrated for her trailblazing work as a leader in engineering in the early 20th century.
This was at a time when such careers were not generally open to women, but at the age of just 22, the young Dorothée had already managed 7,000 women munitions workers during WW1 at Vickers, in Barrow in Furness, according to researchers at the University of the West of Scotland.
She later returned to Scotland to persuade Arrol-Johnston’s car makers that a car for women would be a great product in the new world of post-war Britain.
Her ideas for the changes needed to the typical car of that period resulted in the Galloway cars, which sold many thousands.
Dorothée also set up two very successful large industrial steam laundries, first in London and later in Guernsey, the UWS researchers say.
And in World War II she used her experience from the previous war to advise the Government and industry on how to recruit and manage female war workers.
And none of this would have come about but for her initial professional training in Paisley.
Professor Katarzyna Kosmala, Professor Katherine Kirk and Dr Nina Baker are involved in the UWS project to find out more about Dorothée.
Professor Kosmala said: “Dorothée’s father Thomas Pullinger had become managing director of the Arrol-Johnston factory in 1907, then situated in an industrial area off Underwood Road, directly below the Coats Observatory.
“There is nothing left of it now – and a modern housing estate occupies the exact site – but then there was a former Coats thread spinning works that was turned over to Arrol-Johnston when their first workshops burned down.
“Having been immersed in her father’s work as a car designer, Dorothée knew she wanted to be an engineer, but had to fight his conservative views of what a young lady should do.
“However, in 1909 she started her training in the drawing offices at Arrol-Johnston’s Underwood works, in the very heart of industrial Paisley. Later, she would also train in the different sections of the factory learning such skills as metal casting.”
The Pullinger family lived in the Ayrshire countryside, near Dalry.
Her grandmother, Marianne Pullinger, died while living at 54 High Street, Paisley, and was buried down the road at Woodside Cemetery.
Professor Kosmala added: “It seems at least probable that Dorothée may have lodged there too, keeping an eye on her frail granny while working only a short walk away in Underwood Road.
“The numbering of the High Street is different now, but we know that No 54 was on the site where the University of the West of Scotland now sits and where the project’s team would like to see a memorial plaque.”