We’ve looked at Robbie’s Dancing Durber Relatives in Part 4 and their narrow escape from the Nazis in World War Two, now we’ll look at his slightly more distant relative, Hilda Norah Durber, a top class “Lady Footballer” in the 1920s, at a time when the Football Association were trying to put a stop Women’s football, banning women’s teams from FA-affiliated grounds in 1921, claiming it was “unsuitable for females.
Miner’s Daughter
Hilda was a Coal Miner’s daughter, born in the summer of 1902 at Audley, Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, in the heart of the Midlands Coal Mining Country. She was one of ten children, and life would have been hard at the turn of the 20th century for her Mother and Father in a small terraced house on a miner’s wage that had to support eleven people. Both her Father Amos, and her Mother Harriett were also from families with ten children.
her Father Amos had started working at the Pits from the age of eleven, and was the founder of the local Pit Rescue team and had a medal with four bars for the times he had gone in to rescue men trapped in the mines after explosions, and cave-ins, and floods had taken place in the North Staffordshire Collieries that were all too common at the time.
Hilda’s Brothers all followed their father underground into the pits, hewing coal for a living, whilst the girls helped out at home. And Hilda, for her part, was drawn to the beautiful game of football.
Early Career and Stoke Ladies FC
Hilda Durber was a key player for Stoke Ladies FC, a team founded and managed by Leonard (Len) Bridgett in 1921. Bridgett, a former footballer and director at Stoke City Football Club, had four daughters, and established the Ladies’ team to provide opportunities for women to play football, including his daughters who were in the team at various times. Under his leadership, Stoke Ladies became one of the most successful women’s teams in Europe.
Notable Matches and Incidents
Hilda’s tenure with Stoke Ladies included several high-profile matches. One particularly notable incident occurred in April 1921 during a match against the renowned Dick, Kerr Ladies Team.
The Dick, Kerr Ladies Team were originally formed by female workers at the Dick, Kerr & Co. munitions factory, who played charity matches to raise funds for injured servicemen during World War One. After the War, in 1920, they played the first international women’s football match against a French team, winning 2–0 in front of 25,000 spectators. And a match they played at Goodison Park in 1920 had drawn 53,000 fans. Despite the hostility from the FA they continued to play at home and abroad up until 1965.
They vied with Len Bridgett’s Stoke Ladies Team for the top place in Ladies’ Football at the time, so there was a massive rivalry between the two teams when they met at The Old Recreation Ground in Stoke-on-Trent, in front of a crowd of 13,000 spectators.
Punch-up on the Pitch!
During the match, both Hilda, a hard tackling defender was up against Lily Parr, a 5ft 10in Amazon, said to have “a kick like a mule” with a powerful shot that gained her almost a thousand goals during her career (pictured here). When the all powerful Lily Parr came up against the hard blocking defender Hilda Parr, fireworks were bound to happen, and they did, to the point where a fight broke out between the two of them, that got so bad that both were sent off for fighting. This gives an idea of how seriously competitive women’s football was at the time . Dick, Kerr Ladies Team won the match 2:0.
Triumph in the ELFA Challenge Cup
In response to the Football Association’s 1921 ban on women’s matches being played on affiliated grounds, the English Ladies Football Association (ELFA) was formed, with Len Bridgett serving as its first president . Stoke Ladies participated in the ELFA’s inaugural Challenge Cup in 1922. Hilda played a significant role in the team’s success, culminating in a 3–1 victory over Doncaster and Bentley Ladies in the final held on 24 June 1922 .
International Exposure and Legacy
Stoke Ladies also gained international experience by touring Barcelona in 1923, where they played and won matches against the French team Les Sportives de Paris . These international fixtures not only showcased the team’s talent but also contributed to the growing popularity of women’s football across Europe.
Hilda’s ferocious defending on the pitch contributed to the early development of women’s football in England. Her involvement with Stoke Ladies during a formative period for the sport reflects the determination and passion of women who played despite obstacles that the FA tried to put in front of them.
Life After Football
Hilda seems to have retired from Football in the later 1920s. There is little more heard of her until the 1930s when I found her in the 1935 official Roll of Practising Midwives, and it turned out that she had qualified on 27th May 1933 in her early thirties, it was a career she would make a vocation.
By 1939 Hilda was a District Nurse at Lichfield, and I also found her in the 1947/1948 Register. She received many commendations of thanks from the local Health Service for her work over the years.
In 1951 Hilda married a Henry Gibson, and we then find her going back to working as a Midwife, they lived in Botany bay Lichfield. Hilda died in 1970.
Summary
Today, Hilda Durber is largely forgotten, but she should be remembered as one of the trailblazing women who helped lay the foundation for the growth and acceptance of women’s football in the United Kingdom, and showed that women could play just as hard as the men. She should also be remembered for giving care to the community as both a Midwife and District Nurse.
Travelling Through Time to Trace Your Ancestors 