Brighton-born couple the railway signal fitter Robert Haslett and his wife Caroline lived on New Road,
Worth and had four surviving children Georgina, Robert, Rosalind and Caroline, the eldest.
At 15 Caroline was training to be a teacher, and according to her sister Rosalind, had become a suffragist by
18, despite her father’s objections. At a Suffragette dinner Caroline was delighted to find herself sitting next
to the renowned Mrs Emmeline Pankhurst, who upon hearing that Caroline hoped soon to become a fully
qualified engineer, said to her: “But surely that’s a very unsuitable occupation for a lady, isn’t it?” Somewhat
taken aback Caroline put Mrs Pankhurst in her place, telling her that doing a job in the right way was more
important than whether it was done by a man or a woman.
During WWI Caroline went to work as a clerk for Cochran Boiler Co. in Scotland, and got a basic
engineering training while she was there. In 1918 she joined the Women’s Engineering Society becoming
its first secretary and later its President and founder and editor of its journal The Woman Engineer. She
helped start an engineering firm for women in 1920, was the only woman to speak at the World Power
Conference in Berlin 1930 and for much of the decade was chair of the Home Safety Committee. in 1931
received a CBE for services to women. She championed the use of electrical appliances to ease womens’
domestic drudgery, becoming the first Director of The Electrical Association for Women. Numerous other
roles followed. During WWII she was the only safety expert, and woman, on the committee discussing
recommendations for electrical installations in post-war rebuilding. The concept of the Fused-3-Pin-Plugs
and Shuttered Socket-Outlets came out of these discussions, and was implemented in 1947. She was
awarded a DBE and in 1948 was on the board responsible for the nationalisation of the UK’s electricity
supply. In 1950 a new motor collier ship was named in her honour. Fittingly it was employed laying cross
channel power cables later on.
Caroline retired through ill health, and in 1957 she died at her sister’s Suffolk home – named ‘Worth’ after
the village where they were born. It is said that her body was cremated, unusually, by electrical heated
furnace at her request.
https://www.theengineer.co.uk/content/in-depth/late-great-engineers-caroline-haslett-a-life-electrifying