14 AH march 2016
Lady Heath
IRELAND’S PIONEERING FEMALE
FLIER BATTLED CHAUVINISM TO
EARN HER PLACE IN THE SKY, BUT
HER ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE ALL
BUT FORGOTTEN TODAYBY LORA O’BRIENF
rom a very early age, aviation trailblazer Mary Heath
experienced the glare of publicity, though not the sort
anyone would envy. In 1897 neighbors discovered 1-year-
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of blood in her home in rural Ireland, next to her dead
mother, Kate Doolin. Sophie’s father, John Peirce-Evans, had
bludgeoned his wife to death with a stout stick.
“Jackie” Peirce-Evans was tried and found guilty, but
judged insane and locked up in an asylum. Meanwhile Sophie
went to live with her grandfather in Newcastle West. Though
the youngster showed early talent as an athlete, the two aunts
who raised her discouraged her “unladylike” interest in sports.
During her time at schools in County Cork, County Armagh
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excelling at both. She also distinguished herself academically,record for the high jump
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female javelin champion.
Sophie’s introduction
to aviation came in 1925,
when as a delegate to the
International Olympics
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to 1929, she was prob-
ably the most famous Irish
woman in the world. Already
established as a top athlete,
she had begun to focus her
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Amelia Earhart had been
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setting records since 1922,
but Sophie struggled against
prejudice and ignorance to
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Britain or Ireland to obtain
a commercial pilot’s license.stardom At the height
of her fame, Lady Heath
poses with a DH.60 Moth
at Stag Lane Aerodrome.becoming one of very few
women in her day to attend
the Royal College of Science
in Ireland, where she gained
a degree in science and spe-
cialized in agriculture.
World War I took Sophie
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where she served as a dis-
patch rider for two years.
After the war, now mar-
ried and known as Sophie
Mary Elliott-Lynn, she was
accepted at the university
in Aberdeen. She moved
again in 1922, this time to
London, where she helped
found the organization that
would become the Women’s
Amateur Athletic Association
in 1926. Thereafter she
served as the organization’s
joint secretary while cam-
paigning for the inclusion of
a full women’s program in
the Olympics. She remained
involved in competitive
athletics, setting a worldAVIATORS