Lilian Bader

Lilian Bader ( Bailey; 18 February 1918 – 14 March 2015 ) was one of the first mixed-race women to join the British armed forces.

Early life Lilian Bader was born at 19 Upper Stanhope Street in the Toxteth area of Liverpool to Marcus Bailey, a merchant seaman from Barbados who served in the First World War, and a British-born mother of Irish parentage. :176 Bader has explained that it was difficult to find employment 'because of her father's origins: "My casting out from the convent walls was delayed. I was half West Indian, and nobody, not even the priests, dare risk ridicule by employing me."' :79

Second World War In 1939, at the onset of the Second World War, Bader enlisted in the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) at Catterick Camp, Yorkshire. :218 Ultimately, they had two sons together, Geoffrey and Adrian. Bader studied for O-Levels and A-levels in evening classes in the 1960s, then studied at London University where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree. Following this she had a career as a teacher. In October 2020, Bader was commemorated by the publication of an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.