ALLEN, Mary S.

£1,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Pioneer Policewoman. First edition, first impression, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "with every good wish, from Mary S. Allen", with an autograph note loosely inserted, "Hoping you will accept this - If in your part of the world I will certainly let you know. M. S. Allen". The Pioneer Policewoman was Mary Sophia Allen's (1878-1964) first published work and details her role as commandant of the Women's Auxiliary Service from 1920 onwards. The work is dedicated to her predecessor in the role, and sometime lover, Margaret Damer Dawson. The Women's Auxiliary Service was founded by Dawson in 1914 as the Women Police Volunteers, before becoming the Women's Police Service in 1915, and the Women's Auxiliary Service in 1920. The Women Police Volunteers was an independent organisation whose members were trained, uniformed, and prepared to work full time, and was fully funded by subscription and private donation. Allen joined the WPV in the role of Constable in Grantham, Lincolnshire, in November 1914. Allen's "zeal in discouraging companionship between local women and soldiers at the Grantham camp, so as to prevent prostitution, led to a split in the Women Police Volunteers and the resignation of Nina Boyle, one of its founders. Allen replaced Boyle as sub-commandant in February 1915. In May 1915 she was transferred to Hull, where she and her colleagues maintained order through several Zeppelin raids. After a period of service in Hull she re

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