Mary Lacy (c. 1740 – 1801) was a British sailor, shipwright, and memoirist. She was arguably the first woman to have been given an exam and a pension from the British Admiralty as a shipwright.
Early life Lacy was born in Wickham, Kent, in 1740. She became a domestic servant at the age of twelve. In 1759, aged nineteen, Lacy ran away from home dressed as a boy. Using the name William Chandler, Lacy worked as a servant for a ship's carpenter of the Royal Navy. William was her father's name, and Chandler was her mother's maiden name.
Lacy then studied as an apprentice to be a shipwright in 1763, going on to successfully complete the apprenticeship. In 1770, she took her exam as a shipwright, arguably the first woman to have done so. In 1771, however, she was forced to stop working because of her rheumatism and applied for a pension from the Admiralty under her legal name, Mary Lacy, which was granted. She published her memoirs, The Female Shipwright, in 1773. This was reprinted by the National Maritime Museum in 2008.
Later life On 25 October 1772, at St Mary Abbots, Kensington,Index record by West Middlesex Family History Society on FindMyPast.co.uk Mary Lacy married Josias Slade, a shipwright, of Deptford, Kent.digitized image from London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597–1921 on Ancestry.co.uk That same year, Mary gave birth to her first child,digitized image of General Evening Post (London, England), July 31, 1773 – August 3, 1773 from Seventeenth - Eighteenth Century Burney collection newspapers from Gale Cengage Learning Margaret Lacey Slade, who was baptized at St Nicholas, Deptford, Kent, on 29 August.digitized image from London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812 on Ancestry.co.uk Their other children were Josias Slade (1775–1777), Mary Slade (1777–1777), Josias Slade (1778–1781), Elizabeth Slade (1780–1780), and John Slade (born 1784).digitized images of baptisms and burials from London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538–1812 on Ancestry.co.uk
In 1775, Mary petitioned for her husband to be granted a servant because of his 16 years' service as a shipwright.index record ADM 106/1231/171 from The National Archives (UK) She had also applied unsuccessfully before Lord Sandwich for her husband to succeed Thomas Boyles, who lined the stuff for the Sawyers at the dockyard.
Mary died in 1801 and was buried at St Paul's, Deptford, Kent, on 3 May 1801.Genealogists' Magazine, Vol. 22, No. 11, September 1988, page 403 Her husband, Josias Slade, died in 1814 and was also buried at St Paul, Deptford, Kent, on 13 February 1814.index record from England, Select Deaths and Burials, 1538–1991 on Ancestry.co.uk In his will and codicil, he only mentions his son, John Slade, and daughter, Margaret, now wife of Joseph Warddigitized image from England & Wales, Prerogative Court of Canterbury Wills, 1384–1858 on Ancestry.co.uk (Margaret Lacey Ward died the following year and was buried at St Paul, Deptford, Kent, on 23 April 1815).
A chapter in Suzanne Stark's book Female Tars: Women Aboard Ship in the Age of Sail features Lacy's life in eighteenth-century England.
Published works
References
The Lady Tars: The Autobiographies of Hannah Snell, Mary Lacy and Mary Anne Talbot