Former Auxiliary Territorial Service (Provost) and Royal Ulster Constabulary George Cross

OBITUARIES

Former Auxiliary Territorial Service (Provost) and Royal Ulster Constabulary George Cross Sergeant Maud Musselwhite BEM (Gallantry).

Maud Musselwhite BEM who died on 10 June aged 92, has a special place in the history of policing in Northern Ireland. On 24 May 1957, just over six-months after the outbreak of an IRA campaign that was to last almost six-years, Sergeant Musselwhite became the first policewoman in the Province to be decorated for gallantry. However, before joining the Royal Ulster Constabulary, Maud Musselwhite had served in the ATS (Provost). Volunteering for the ATS in 1940 aged 19, she served in the Provost Branch in which she attained the rank of Sergeant. The nature of her wartime military service helped her gravitate towards the police in the post-war years and in January 1948, she entered the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) Depot at Enniskillen, becoming Policewoman ‘29’. At a time when promotion was relatively slow in a small force, with an even smaller Women’s Branch, Maud was promoted to sergeant by the mid-1950s and posted to Victoria police station in Londonderry. In December 1956, the IRA began a campaign of bombing and shooting – the so-called Operation Harvest – that was aimed mainly at border areas but also included targets in Londonderry, then a major naval base. The city’s electricity generating station was also close to the docks and was a target for the IRA. On the night of 24 May 1957, Sergeant Musselwhitewas on plain-clothes duty in the Queen’s Quay area of Londonderry Port, accompanied by Constable Alex Forsythe. Their task was to look out for anyone behaving suspiciously in the locality. At about 11.00pm they spotted three suspicious individuals approaching an electric rectifier. One of them was carrying a parcel. Sergeant Musselwhite alerted the nearby police headquarters while Forsythe followed the men, two of whom went behind the rectifier. The officers arrested the terrorists and defused the bomb they had been carrying. Leaving Constable Forsythe to guard the prisoners, Sergeant Musselwhite searched the area for any more suspicious individuals. As she rejoined her colleague, there was a ‘terrific explosion’ and all lights nearby went out. Sergeant Musselwhite continued her search until a patrol car arrived for the prisoners whose bomb had contained 15lbs of gelignite. Constable Forsythe was awarded the George Medal and Sergeant Musselwhite the British Empire Medal for gallantry. She thus became the first policewoman to be decorated for gallantry in Northern Ireland. In fact, she has the distinction of being the first policewoman in Ireland to be as decorated as the Garda Síochánain the Republic of Ireland had no female police officers until 1959. At a time when there were no permanent female staffat the RUC Depot, women sergeants were drafted to Enniskillen whenever a recruit squad of women was in training. Those who had the benefit of Sergeant Musselwhite’s instructional skills never forgot their mentor, not her beautiful singing voice as she entertained her protégées. Her reputation as an instructor was of the highest as was her willingness to assist and guide young officers. Maud served in the RUC GC until 1973, giving a quarter century of service to the force and the Province. Having lived in London for some years, she returned to spend her later years in Northern Ireland, close to her family and friends. A truly remarkable lady, Maud Musselwhite was born in Belfast on 16thJune 1921, and died on the 10thJune 2014. She was buried at Glendermott Parish Church, Londonderry.

[Note: The Regimental Secretary is most grateful to the renowned historian and author Richard Doherty for this obituary].