Gertrude, circa 1922 in her WSA sweater via Library of Congress
They said it couldn’t be done; that the deck, and the odds, were stacked against her, but Trudy Ederle listened only to her heart during her record-breaking swim across the English Channel. She was the first woman to accomplish this feat, and her record would hold for another 24 years, but there was a lot more to her life than one phenomenal swim.
Gertrude Caroline Ederle was born on October 23, 1905 in New York City. She was the the third daughter of Henry Ederle and Gertrude Anna Ederle. Both of Trudy’s parents (although her family seemed to call her “Gertie” few others did) were immigrants to the US. Pop Ederle came over at 16 and lived the actual dream: He opened a butcher shop on the upper west side of Manhattan, and made enough money to finance more and more relatives emigrating to the States. He made enough for family trips back to Germany, real estate and other investments, and a summer cottage on the New Jersey shore in a town named Highlands.
Trudy was slow to learn to swim (almost drowning might do that to a person) but once she did at age nine, she never looked back. An early childhood bout of measles had left her with impaired hearing that only got worse as the years went on, Trudy was at peace in the water and began to compete in an early women’s swim organization called the Women’s Swim Association.
Trudy competed with her sister, Meg circa 102- via Library of Congress
Competition led to victories and world records for Trudy, which led to the Olympics in 1924, and a disappointing showing eventually guided Trudy away from the pool and into the open water. While only five men had ever swum the English Channel in 1925, no woman had…and despite attempts by Trudy and other women, by the summer of 1926, a woman had yet to achieve this feat.
Trudy on her way to Europe for her first attempt to swim the English Channel, 1925 via Library of CongressWe wish we knew more about this photo other than it’s her first coach, Jabez Wolff, feeding her on a swim and it was taken in 1925 via Library of CongressIn her self-designed two-piece swimsuit and improved goggled, and greased up for the swim, another swimmer, Eileen Cannon wishes Trudy good-luck via Library of Congress
But on August 6, 1926, 20-year-old Trudy swam the American crawl from Cap Gris-Nex, France to Dover, England in 14 hours and 31 minutes (which beat the previously held record by almost two hours!) As part of her pre-swim preparation, she invented the two-piece bathing suit and improved swim goggle technology. She was a worldwide sensation!
When you make history AND huge strides for both women in general and women’s sports, you get a huge ticker-tape parade in your hometown. New York City, 1926 via Library of CongressTrudy in her hard-earned, red Buick roadster, 1926 via Library of Congress
While Trudy’s long, post-swim life eventually settled down to “normal,” she was content to work a variety of jobs and live a fairly quiet life in New York. Gertrude Ederle died on November 30, 2003, she was 98 years old.
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
By Glenn StoutBy Time Dahlberg with Mary Ederle Ward and Brenda Greeneby Lisa BierKid book by Sue Macy and Matt CollinsKid book by David Adler and Terry Widener
Web!
For more information about the General Slocum sinking disaster, start with this article from the New York Public Library (Content warning: there are graphic photos from the newspapers at the time in the article.)
For a bit of information on the science behind long-distance, open-water swimming, check out this article in Popular Science.
Gertrude’s New York Times obituary (unlike a lot of our subjects, it was in real-time, not as part of the Overlooked No More series.)
Queen of the Channel honors the woman who has swum the English Channel the most times. Gertrude is, naturally, first but check out the other five women to achieve this honor.
Moving Pictures!
Good movie, but not historically accurate but most “based on” movies are. Remember: they aren’t documentaries.
Emily dressed for court, circa 1894 by Charles-Émile-Auguste Carolus-Duran –she was more than “just” the bridge
Emily Roebling stepped in to facilitate the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge after her husband, its chief engineer, fell victim to a mysterious illness. Though her contributions were kept shadowed at the time, later generations have realized how critical she was to the project’s completion (and she did so much more afterward!)
We wrap up our two-part series on the life of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria! This is an epic tale of war (more than we’ve ever discussed) and family (also more than we’ve ever discussed!) We talk about the many steps she took as Maria Theresa reassembled the empire she had inherited and strategically laid the foundations of cultural reform that changed the course of history.
Destined from her cradle for a seat on the throne, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria had to fight both the prejudices of her age and some of the greatest warriors of the time to secure her empire. Her life was so large, it’s going to require two episodes! In this one, we begin with a little background on her family, you may have heard of them? The Habsburgs? They of a 700-year dynasty? There were a lot of wars, fluid country lines, alliances, and lands that extended across modern-day Europe that helped shape the world that Maria Theresa was born into, and we give you an outline of that history.
Gertrude Bell, a daughter of privilege took her enormous intelligence, unfathomable bravery, and an entire set of Wedgwood china into the uncharted parts of the Middle East, making maps, discoveries, and friends along the way. Her work helped pave the way for the establishment of the modern country of Iraq.
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell was born on July 14, 1868, in County Durham, England. She was the first child and only daughter of Sir Hugh Bell and Mary Shields Bell, and, after her mother passed away, was raised since childhood by her stepmother, Florence Olliffe Bell. Gertrude grew-up in a wealthy family of fairly progressive thinkers and was educated at Queens College and Oxford University (where they had only recently begun enrolling women and still didn’t give them actual degrees.)
She did follow some convention and, after being denied marrying the man she loved for the conventional reason of him not making enough money, she did her conventional debutant time doing traditional debutant activities. But, once she had aged out of “marriageable” and became “chaperone” age, her life really got going.
Gertrude traveled extensively for most of the rest of her life. And not all posh, typical travel (although she did travel with an entourage and glamping supplies) we’re talking about activities like mountain climbing and desert wandering in the Middle East. This was her favorite area to explore and live, made easier by being fluent in Arabic and not holding back from speaking her mind.
Her adventures were numerous, at times her numerous friendships were lifesaving, and her documentation of the people she met and the lands she loved aided in the establishment of modern-day Iraq and divvying up the freshly fallen Ottoman Empire, and guiding Great Britain through WW1.
Gertrude Bell, CBE: author, adventurer, archaeologist, museum creator, unofficial but effective diplomat, political advisor, and a woman who put (parts) of convention aside to live her life by her own rules died on July 12, 1926, at her home in Baghdad. She was 57 years old.
TIME TRAVEL WITH THE HISTORY CHICKS
Books!
By Janet Wallachby Liora LukitzBy H.V.F. WinstonBy Pat Yale
