Mary Eily de Putron
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July 8, 1914
Mary Eily de Putron | |
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| Born | Mary Eily de Putron July 8, 1914 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | February 9, 1982 (aged 67) Guernsey, Channel Islands |
| Other names | M. E. de Putron |
| Known for | Archaeology and stained glass artist |
Mary Eily de Putron (1914–1982) was an Irish and Guernsey stained glass artist and archaeologist who also served in the WAAF during World War II.
Putron was born to Annie Kate Shaw and Cyril de Putron at Bushy Park, Dublin on 8 July 1914. Her parents met while her father was stationed in Dublin as a captain in the Lancashire Fusiliers. He was originally from Guernsey. de Putron was their only child. They spent the early years of their marriage in Ireland and only moved to the Channel Islands when Colonel de Putron retired from the army. de Putron was educated in Ladies' College in St Peter Port until 1931.[1][2]
Archaeology
After school de Putron became an archaeological assistant and worked with Vera Collum on the Le Déhus dolmen and the Delancey Park excavations in Guernsey, Mortimer Wheeler and Tessa Verney at Verulamium, the Roman site in Hertfordshire. In 1933 she took a job as researcher at the National Museum in Dublin. She had first worked in Dublin on the Islandbridge dig where items were exposed during the building of the Irish National War Memorial Gardens there. At just 20 years old de Putron was elected member of the Archaeological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. She continued to work on digs in Ireland such as Poulawack Cairn, the stone cashel at Cahercommaun[3] and the crannogs in Offaly, Westmeath and County Meath with Joseph Raftery on the Harvard Archaeological Expedition.[4][5][6][7][8]
When not working on digs de Putron was illustrating artefacts at the museum, including working with the resident artist Eileen Barnes. With the Third Harvard University Archaeological Mission to Ireland coming to an end in October 1935, de Putron left to study archaeology at University College London. She graduated with a Diploma in June 1938. After that she worked for some time in England and Guernsey with Ralph Durand and Margaret Guido. She also worked closely with Dorothy Liddell and Christopher Hawkes. Liddell was unwell by then and requested that the work be completed by de Putron when she died. Despite the outbreak of war later the reports were completed and validated by later work.[1][4][5][6][7][8]
World War II
With the start of World War II in 1939 de Putron returned initially home and then went to England where she joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force in the Administrative and Special Duties Branch. Starting as an Aircraftwoman 1st Class she was promoted to Flight Officer by 1943 and was mentioned in dispatches in 1945. de Putron was entitled to the 1939–1945 Star medal as well as the War Medal 1939–1945. The outbreak of war ended de Putron's career in archaeology. By the time it ended her homeland had been occupied and her father and uncle had died.[1][9]
