Susan Mary Auld

Susan Mary Auld (10 January 1915 – 9 March 2002), born Susan Denham Christie in Tynemouth, was the first woman to graduate as a naval architect from Durham University.

Family background and education Susan Auld came from a family of naval engineers. Her grandfather Charles John Denham Christie (1830–1905) was a founder of the company that later became the Swan Hunter Group of shipyards, and her father John Denham Christie (d. 1950) was company chairman for many years. Her mother was Mary Martin. In 1932 she began to study naval architecture under Sir Westcott Abell at Durham University and graduated with a BSc in 1936, the first English woman to be awarded a degree in naval architecture (but see Dorothy Rowntree). She was also the first woman to be admitted as a student member to the North East Coast Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders (October 1932),

Career Susan Denham Christie joined the design office of Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson at the Neptune yard on Tyneside, at a time when very few women were employed in the shipbuilding industry, and she went on to be a pioneering architect for the Royal Navy. During the Second World War Susan Denham Christie was involved in the design of the battleship HMS Anson, launched in 1940, and the aircraft carrier HMS Albion, launched in 1947 (the keel of which was laid down in 1944).

After the war Susan Denham Christie worked on commercial and cargo shipbuilding. She was a member of the team that designed the Leda, which ferried passengers between Tyneside and Norway.

Commemoration A blue plaque was unveiled to honour Susan Auld at 12 Northumberland Terrace in Tynemouth on 21 October 2022 by North Tyneside Council and heritage charity The Common Room.