Beatrice Ethel Lithiby

Beatrice Ethel Lithiby OBE (4 December 1889 – 25 July 1966) was a British artist known as a painter and designer of stained glass and church furnishings. She served in both World War I and World War II in the British Army and in the former conflict also worked as a war artist for the Imperial War Museum.

Biography Early life Lithiby was born at Richmond, then in Surrey and now in London, the daughter of John Lithiby (1853-1936), a barrister, and Ethel Stewart née Smith (1860-1943). Lithiby studied at the Royal Academy Schools. As a student she was due to become engaged to a fellow student, Frank Skinner, when he returned from military service but he was killed in July 1916 on the Somme and Lithiby would mark the anniversary of his death each year with a notice in The Daily Telegraph. She then served with the Queen Mary's Army Auxiliary Corps (QMAAC) in France for eighteen months. She was promoted from deputy administrator (equivalent to lieutenant) to unit administrator (equivalent to captain) on 21 January 1918. In the 1919 King's Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division) (MBE) "for services rendered in connection with the War". She officially left the QMAAC on 5 December 1919.

In February 1919, she approached the Women's Work Committee of the Imperial War Museum with an offer to record the activities of the QMAAC members remaining in France before their units were disbanded and they returned home. She completed commissions for stained-glass windows and church furnishings both in Britain, in Japan and South Africa. By December 1943, she was a senior commander (equivalent to major) and held the temporary rank of chief commander (equivalent to lieutenant colonel). In the 1944 New Year Honours, her MBE was promoted to Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). on the 50th anniversary of the death of Frank Skinner. She never married.