Daphne Pearson

Daphne Pearson GC was an English Womens Auxiliary Air Force NCO and later officer during World War II and one of only thirteen women recipients of the George Cross to date, the highest medal for gallantry not in the face of an enemy that can be awarded to a citizen of the United Kingdom.

Joan Daphne Mary Pearson was born at Christchurch, Dorset, near Bournemouth. When her father was appointed as vicar of a parish in St Helens, Isle of Wight, her family moved there, to a house facing France across the English Channel she later said that was the first time in her life she considered joining the Navy. She boarded at St Brandons School, Bristol, away from her parents who lived in the parishes her father looked after. After leaving school, she working as a photographer and photographic assistant, with her own studio before giving it up because of ill health. She then did a variety of jobs while learning to fly in her spare time.

Source: Wikipedia