Edith Kent

Edith Lillie Kent (née Williams, formerly Carter; 24 November 1908 – 24 August 2012) was a British electrical welder from Plymouth, England, during World War II. She was known was the first woman in Great Britain to be given equal pay.

Early life Edith Lillie Williams was born in Plymouth, Devon, England on 24 November 1908, as the seventh child to Charles Henry Williams, a painter and decorator, and his wife, Charlotte Ellen (née Smith), a housewife. She had eight siblings, including Minna Ellen Algate.

Career Kent took a job as a welder at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth, Devon, in 1941, where she was paid £5 6s a week. She became the first woman to be employed at the dockyard. She had the advantage of being only tall, meaning that she was small enough to weld in places her male colleagues could not such as torpedo tubes.

Kent returned to work soon after she gave birth in 1942, however, leaving her daughter in the care of one of her five sisters. In 1943, she was given a pay rise, earning £6 6s. This was a higher wage than the average for a male manual worker, which was £5 8s 6d. who died at Meadowside St Francis Care Centre in Plympton on 13 May 2010, aged 106.

Kent was photographed at her home in Plymouth in November 2009, aged 101, by the photographer Anita Corbin. The portrait hangs in the "100 First Women" section of the Brighton Museum & Art Gallery in Brighton and Hove.

Death Kent died at her home in Plymouth on 24 August 2012. She was 103.

Legacy Kent's portrait was exhibited at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum in Devon in October 2022.