Ann McMullan MBE (12 May 1923 – 9 March 2006), was Director of the Electrical Association for Women as well as an officer of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

Ann McMullan
Born
Ann Glendenning

12 May 1923
Newcastle upon Tyne
Died9 March 2006
Berkshire, England
NationalityBritish
Known forDirector of the Electrical Association for Women

Biography edit

Ann McMullan was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 12 May 1923 to Garth Glendenning and Madelaine Greener. Her grandparents were George Hammerton Glendenning and Alice Glendenning. As a result she was a cousin of Graham Laidler.[1][2]

Education edit

She got her education from Church High School before going on to Abbey College at Malvern Wells. She graduated from a course in domestic science before joining the WAAF during the Second World War.

Career edit

McMullan served as a Code and Cypher Officer at Fighter Command Headquarters. After the end of the war McMullan went to Germany to work with displaced persons for a local community organisation. She moved on to Hong Kong for a time before going to South Africa to work with the African Children's Feeding Scheme in Johannesburg.[3]

McMullan went on to get a diploma in Public Relations from the Communications, Advertising and Marketing foundation. Continuing to work in charities, McMullan was the head of education for the British Epilepsy Association which was founded in 1950.

On 1 March 1976 she became the director of the Electrical Association for Women. She was central to the association's involvement with the Nuclear industry in Britain.[4][3][5][6] They arranged the program Get into Lane (Learning about Nuclear Energy). She edited "Essential Electricity, A User's Guide" in 1983.[7] She wrote a biography of her cousin Graham Laidler, better known as the cartoonist Pont, which was published posthumously on Kindle in 2022.[8]

Personal life edit

McMullan also flew with the Thames Valley Gliding Club. She married Peter Greville Kay Williamson on 4 November 1944.[9] They had three daughters and one son. She later married Robert McMullan in 1955, and had two more sons. She was also awarded an MBE in 1985.[3][10]

She died in 2006 and is buried in Warkworth, Northumberland.[1]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Warkworth Cemetery Monumental Inscriptions". www.fusilier.co.uk.
  2. ^ "Ann Glendenning McMullan (1923-2006) - Find A..." www.findagrave.com.
  3. ^ a b c "The Woman Engineer Vol 12". www2.theiet.org. p. 19. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  4. ^ Pearson, L.F. (1981). The Organization of the Energy Industry. Palgrave Macmillan UK. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-349-04829-8. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  5. ^ Pursell, Carroll (1999). "Domesticating Modernity: The Electrical Association for Women, 1924-86". The British Journal for the History of Science. 32 (1): 47–67. doi:10.1017/S0007087498003483. JSTOR 4027969.
  6. ^ New Scientist. Reed Business Information. 24 November 1977. p. 499. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  7. ^ Haines, C.M.C.; Stevens, H.M. (2001). International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950. ABC-CLIO. p. 128. ISBN 978-1-57607-090-1. Retrieved 12 May 2020.
  8. ^ McMullan, Ann. McMullan, James; Bowden, Jane (eds.). Life and Letters of the Cartoonist PONT.
  9. ^ "Marriages". Newcastle Journal. 24 November 1944.
  10. ^ Borrie, Gordon (1988). "Truth in Trading". RSA Journal. 136 (5385): 656–666. JSTOR 41374664.