Sicele O'Brien
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Sicele O'Brien | |
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| Born | 1 April 1887 London, England |
| Died | 18 June 1931 (age 44) |
| Known for | Pioneering Irish pilot |
Sicele O'Brien (1 April 1887 – 18 June 1931) was one of Ireland's pioneering pilots. She was one of three women who raced and set records in Europe and Africa in the 1920s. She was the second woman in Britain or Ireland to get a commercial pilots licence. She was the first woman in Britain or Ireland to run an air taxi service.[1]
Born in London as Sicele Julia Mary Annette O'Brien to Sir Timothy Carew O'Brien, 3rd Baronet and Gundrede Annette Teresa de Trafford, daughter of Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 2nd Baronet of Lancashire. She had two brothers and seven sisters. Her father was an England and Ireland cricket captain and Deputy Lieutenant as well as Justice of the Peace for County Cork.
O'Brien grew up in Dublin, London and County Cork. One of the family homes, Lohort Castle, Mallow, was burned in 1921.[2] O'Brien was living there in the census in 1911.[3] O'Brien was initially well known as a hunter and tennis player.
World War One
O'Brien served as a First Aid Nursing Yeomanry driver in the Western theatre of war between May 1917 and April 1919 and received a British War Medal and Victory Medal.[4] Her father also served and her older brother Timothy was killed in action in Flanders in 1916.