Susan Mary Auld

Susan Mary Auld (1915–2002), born Susan Denham Christie in Tynemouth, was the first woman to graduate as a naval architect from Durham University.^[1] She studied under Sir Westcott Abell and went on to be a pioneering architect for the Royal Navy. She designed battleships for the Royal Navy and the floating vessels used to land Allied troops in France on D-Day in 1944.^[2][3] After the war she worked on commercial and cargo shipbuilding and was also a correspondent for The Shipyard magazine.^[4] Her grandfather was a founder of the company that later became the Swan Hunter Group of shipyards, and her father John was company chairman for many years.

References

1. http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/tyneside-shipbuilding-history-saved-dumpster-1404893
2. "Susan Auld" obituary from The Scotsman, Edinburgh newspaper, dated 16 March 2002 http://news.scotsman.com/obituaries/Susan-Auld.2310431.jp
3. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, New Lives and themes 2002 http://www.oup.com/oxforddnb/info/prelims/contents/06a/newlives/
4. http://www.feministtimes.com/review-inspirational-women-north-east/

• Anne Pimlott Baker (January 2006). "Auld , Susan Mary (1915–2002)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/76749. Retrieved 14 April 2009.