Hilda Martindale OBE was a British civil servant and author. She, like her elder sister Louisa was educated at Brighton High School for Girls, Montpelier (part of the Girls Day Schools Trust GDST). She studied at Royal Holloway College and then Bedford College and at the beginning of the 20th century she travelled the world studying how children were treated in different societies.
In 1901 at the age of 26, she became one of Britain’s first female factory inspectors. In 1904 she and her mother attended the International Congress of Women in Berlin. In 1914 she became a Senior Lady Inspector and was awarded an OBE in 1918. In 1925 she became Deputy Chief Inspector of Factories and she was one of the first women to reach the higher levels of the Civil Service. She was a member of the Whitley Council Committee on the Women’s Question where she argued in favour of women’s right to choose whether or not to leave their jobs if they got married, as well as in favour of equal pay.
In retirement she wrote several books and set up the Hilda Martindale Trust at Bedford College which supported women training for professions where they were underrepresented.
