Sylvia Lightoller's disability

[Charlene]

I read that Sylvia Lightoller had a club foot , what does his biography say about that? I also read that Her mother fell from a Horse while pregnant and It may has cause the club foot. It was slight or more severe?

 

[Dr Raymond J. RITCHIE]

Slyia LIGHTOLLER (Hawley-Wilson) was my maternal grandfather's cousin. My maternal grandmother taught her music and that is how she met my grandfather. I met her twice in the 1960s when I was a kid. She was an old bird as tough as nails and liked her whiskey and creme de menthe. Yes, she had a club foot and she also had a distorted hip from her mother falling off a horse going to her husband's goldmine (Hell's Hole). My father had been in the RAN and very much an old sailor. They compared notes about his experiences at the evacuation of Greece & Crete and her adventures on the Sundowner. Cannot remember whether she was with Herbert at Dunkirk or not but I do remember that she told dad that they spied on the German Navy before WWII during their boating "holidays". She had the knack of getting men to do things for her. When in Sydney she simply rang up HMAS Penguin, told them who she was and they would send a "nice young officer" to look after her. Dinner at Government House with the Governor? - no problem. I am sure she drank with young german officers between the wars and got them talking.

 

[Charlene]

Thank You. What an interesting lady!

 

[Doug Criner]

I think club foot is hereditary? I have not read that their children were affected.

 

[Aaron_2016]

Here is footage of Mrs. Lightoller attending the film premiere of 'A Night to Remember'.

 

[Kareen Healey]

You are right about club foot, Doug. Paul Lee had written some interesting things about Sylvia Lightoller in his book "The Indifferent Stranger" if you can get your hand on it. P. 168 gives the context, but the interesting one is p. 171 (ed. of 2012).