Lilian Bader

Lilian Bader was born in Liverpool in 1918 to a British mother and a Barbadian father. Orphaned at a young age, she was raised in a convent, and as a young woman found racism made it consistently difficult to find work. When the Second World War began, she joined the Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) — only to be dismissed just seven weeks later once her father's heritage was discovered by her employers.

Undeterred, Bader joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) in 1941, becoming one of the first Black women to serve in the RAF. She trained as an instrument repairer, working on Airspeed Oxford light bombers, and was promoted to the rank of Corporal — a genuine achievement given the discrimination she had already faced trying simply to contribute to the war effort.

After the war, Bader believed she was denied both a British Empire Medal and a pay rise due to racism, but rather than let the slight define her, she built a new career as a teacher and raised a family. In later life, she became an active campaigner for the recognition of Black service personnel during the Second World War, and played a pivotal role in bringing wider public attention to the story of Mary Seacole, the pioneering Jamaican-British nurse of the Crimean War.