Susan Mary Auld (1915 - 2002)

Tynemouth born, Susan Mary Auld was the first woman to graduate as a naval architect from Armstrong College in Newcastle (at that time part of Durham University, and forerunner of what was later to become Newcastle University). She joined the design office of Swan, Hunter, and Wigham Richardson at the Neptune yard on Tyneside, at a time when few women worked in the shipbuilding industry. Susan went on to have a distinguished career as a pioneering architect in the Royal Navy and helped design the vessels that were used to land Allied troops on D-Day in France in 1944, during the Second World War.

On Trafalgar Day, Friday 21 October at 1.30pm, North Tyneside Council and heritage charity The Common Room unveiled a blue plaque to honour her life and achievements at 12 Northumberland Terrace in Tynemouth.