Kathleen Palmer: One woman’s fight for female representation at the Olympic Games

Former YM editor, Kathleen Palmer, utilised her journalistic skills to anonymously rally against the patriarchal nature of post-war sailing

For the first time in its history, the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris will achieve gender parity. For sailing, this means four women’s events, four men’s events and two mixed events – therefore equal chances for men and women to win medals. At the 1948 London Olympics it was a very different story. Female sailors were banned.

The writer of the ‘Racing World’ column in the August 1948 issue of Yachting Monthly expressed outrage under the title ‘Hell hath no fury’: ‘It seems a great pity that the International Olympic Committee should have reached a decision which was bound to cause dissatisfaction in the country which was holding the games, and in which an ever increasing number of women are taking to the sport.’

Particular sympathy was expressed for Mrs WL Pritchard, helmswoman of Rhythm who had already qualified for the final Olympic trials. Pegasus, also due to compete in the final trials had to withdraw, as the yacht was both owned by a woman and had a woman crew member. If either Rhythm or Pegasus had been selected, the women would have had to be replaced by one of the ‘Lords of Creation’.

A trailblazer for equality

‘Lords of Creation’ is not normal Yachting Monthly vernacular, and I’m as sure as I can be that it was written by the magazine’s associate editor, Kathleen Palmer. She had acted as editor during the war years. Then, when Maurice Griffiths (editor) and Norman Clackson (general manager) returned, she knew she had to relinquish her post. Instead, she volunteered to develop racing coverage, so that at least part of the magazine would remain her own. O

cean racing, off-shore racing, and racing ‘round the cans’ were all hugely popular in the immediate postwar years with 10-12 pages in each issue devoted to racing, as well as reports in club news. John Scott Hughes, yachting correspondent for The Times, had initially contributed the monthly ‘Racing World’ column.

When his initials disappear, it appears that the coverage had been taken in house and was written by Kathleen. In August 1948 she was in Torquay, fully accredited, covering the Olympic sailing events. Her nephew, Ian Palmer, has very kindly shared the scrap book she kept then. All her photos subsequently appeared on the pages of Yachting Monthly.

Kathleen attended the special opening event at Torre Abbey, where the IOC President, Swedish industrialist J Sigfrid Edström, attempted to claim that it was ‘not known’ whether Olympic rules permitted women to sail in the same events as men. He also claimed that no application to include women had been received by the IOC. A letter was published in YM, querying this version of events.

It provoked (as it was obviously meant to do) an immediate reaction from Peter Scott, chairman of the British YRA (Yacht Racing Association) Olympic Committee, who explained the sequence of events, which had culminated in Edström saying that he ‘could not permit’ women to be members of crews at the 1948 games.

Scott had fought against this and had been supported by the IYRU (International Yacht Racing Union) who pointed out that women had been taking part in the sailing events since 1900 – ‘permission’ had never been an issue.

A woman (Virginie Hériot) had won a gold medal in 1928. Scott himself had won bronze in the 1936 Kiel Olympics where there had been several female competitors. ‘My decision stands – if women participated in 1936, they did so without permission,’ Edström replied.

Among the various entry passes Kathleen carried with her though the Games was one that identified her as a ‘competitor’. I hope she clutched it firmly to her when in the vicinity of the IOC President.

Kathleen had not been born into a sailing family. She’d grown up in New Barnet and had joined Yacht Sales and Charters in 1927 as a shorthand secretary. When the editor, Maurice Griffiths, moved to YM, Kathleen moved with him. It was just a job. She didn’t even like boats.

In 1939 when Griffiths and Clackson, both members of the RNVSR, were called to war service, Kathleen moved everything out of London to her home in New Barnet, where she lived with her mother, and carried on, almost entirely on her own. She gave readers no hint of her identity or gender.

During the six years that she ran the magazine the only articles to which she added her initials (other than book reviews) were a series of articles on the WRNS, with images from Vogue photographer, Lee Miller. These were then published in book form with an introduction from Dame Vera Laughton Mathews, Director of the WRNS. Ian Palmer’s copy includes a letter from Dame Vera’s office to Kathleen, thanking her for her ‘outstanding editorial cooperation’.

Anonymous accomplishments

Reading through YM from 1939-1945 shows Kathleen charting a very careful course between telling the truth (as far as she knew it) about the war at sea and the experience of yachtsmen (and women) who were away, fighting, while being aware of the feelings of their families and the difficulties of those who earned their livings in nautical trade.

She never lost sight of her main job, which was to produce a magazine which offered mental escape from wartime conditions and a reminder of the freedom and beauty of sailing – the way of life that people might feel they were fighting for. Her success passed unremarked. There would not be an officially acknowledged female editor of a sailing magazine until the end of the century.

When Maurice Griffiths returned, Kathleen’s name was at least added to the magazine’s letterhead, and she began to plan for her new role as its racing specialist. First, she had to learn to sail. It’s possible she may have had some tuition from ‘Peter Gerard’, Maurice Griffith’s first wife, who ran courses for female cadets on her yacht Juanita.

Kathleen also bought her own boat, Willow Wren, the first of YM’s 16ft sharpies, designed for the magazine by Jack Jones. They were recommended for river cruising, sea-sailing and camping out. (This may have meant they weren’t especially fast….).

Kathleen was photographed sailing Willow Wren in the sheltered waters near Broxbourne. She soon found this overly restricted so she moved the boat to the River Crouch and began competing in handicap races. She then decided to focus on class racing and moved on to Medway YC at Upnor where she bought a Snipe named Comet (no 7401) and raced with another lady member as her crew.

By now she was not just competing but winning. Her nephew, Ian, then 18, regularly joined her as crew. ‘She was very focussed and my problem was that another lady Snipe skipper always had young girl rangers as crew on her boat. So, on days of light winds, I was often chastised for chatting to these young girls as we sailed gently past. I could not really complain though as we became “the boat to beat” thanks to Kathleen’s skill and determination,’ he said.

Looking back at his aunt’s life, Ian also feels it was her attention to detail that made her exceptional – a great quality in an editor as well as a sailor. She remained with the magazine until Maurice Griffith’s retirement in 1967, when she also retired.

It’s possible to look through entire volumes of YM in those postwar years and not find a single article or a letter by a woman. There are none in 1948, except for Kathleen’s anonymous contributions. At the end of the year the magazine offered a list of 148 must-have books. Only one had a female author.

In 1951 Kathleen’s first book The Young Sailor was published, followed by Sailing Small Cruisers. Both books were modestly successful and reprinted several times. Why haven’t you heard of them? Because she wrote them under a male pseudonym, ‘Guy Pennant’, certain they would otherwise be ignored.

Five things about the London Olympics, 1948

A league of nations – Twenty-six nations entered the yachting events held at Torquay from 31 July – 14 August 1948.

War victims – The impact of WW2 was obvious when the attendance list was compared with the previous event at Kiel in 1936. Germany and Japan obviously weren’t there, Estonia was now behind the Iron Curtain, and Poland didn’t attend. Eire and Cuba were among those participating for the first time.

GB in ful effect – GB was represented in all five classes. The 6m Johan was skippered by experienced Scottish yachtsman James Howden Hume, with his son and a generally young team aboard. Ceres II, the Dragon entry, sailed by Ulsterman Eric Strain, had won the Dragon world championship the previous year, the first success for a Northern Irish boat, and was felt to be unlucky to only achieve 4th in the final medal table. There was disappointment too at the failure of Gem II in the Star class. Stewart Morris and David Bond won Britain’s single medal, taking gold in the Swallow class.

Danish success – Most people will remember the Games as the first success by Danish sailor Paul Elvstrøm, then aged 20.

Boats provided – This monotype dinghy event was unusual in that all 27 Fireflies had been provided by the host nation and the competitors drew lots for them. Elvstrøm had never sailed a Firefly before his arrival in England, but won convincingly in often difficult conditions. They would be the first of the four consecutive golds he would win taking part in the following eight Olympic Games. He was finally acclaimed Danish yachtsman of the century.

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