Croydon's First Female Mayor
Some could argue that Croydon's female dignitaries owe their place in recent history to a kindly philanthropist, fondly remembered as the town's first female mayor.
Born in August 1895, Catherine Cowers Kettle served as a councillor for Upper Norwood, an alderman and magistrate and was elected as Croydon's first female mayor on 29th May 1961.
Valerie Gobie, 56, who lives in Scotland, discovered she was Mayor Kettle's third cousin while researching her family tree. She believes her appointment paved the way for other women to take up senior municipal positions.
She said: "It's common now to have female mayors, but there was a time when it was very unusual. She was a fantastic, lovely woman who worked very hard all her life, and dedicated a lot of her time to the community and other people.
"She was married but didn't have any children of her own. However, she adopted her nephew when his father died. I would've loved to have met her and feel proud to be related to her."
Another nephew, 87 year old Eric Grafton, from Hull, East Yorkshire, said: "She was my mother's sister. I remember her as a very kind person. She was extremely active and was quite a singer in her younger days."
One of the biggest events during Mayor Kettle's year in office was the air disaster in Norway which killed 34 boys and two teachers from Lanfranc Secondary Modern School, now the Archbishop Lanfranc School in Mitcham Road, Thornton Heath.
The aircraft carrying the 36 Craydonians and three aircrew crashed into the hills near Stavanger on 9th August 1961. Many of the group, heading for a holiday in the Norwegian highlands had never flown before, The incident united Croydon in grief and many looked to Mayor Kettle for comfort. She visited the scene of the crash in Norway and was pivotal in forging strong bonds between the people of Croydon and Stavanger.
Almost 300 mourners paid their respects to Mayor Kettle at her funeral at Croydon Parish Church in June 1963 and among the 75 floral tributes were two from Norwegians she met following the air disaster.
The then Bishop of Croydon, the Right Reverend J T Hughes, described her year in office as unique, not just as the first female mayor but for being the first to ask for a chaplain.
According to a local newspaper report on 7th June 1963. he said at her service: "I do not think this town could have been served better than she served it."
Of the Lanfranc air disaster, Rev Hughes added: "How glad I was that we had a woman speaking for us at that time and that woman was Mrs Kettle."