On this day, 01 September 1916, Lady Dorothie Feilding became the first woman to be awarded the Military Medal.

On this day, 01 September 1916, Lady Dorothie Feilding became the first woman to be awarded the Military Medal.


Lady Feilding served in Belgium as a driver for the Munro Ambulance Corps. She worked along other women as part of an all-volunteer unit in West Flanders transporting wounded men from front line positions between Nieuwpoort and Diksmuide to field hospitals in Veurne.

Being an ambulance driver in a war zone was dangerous work, not only did drivers have to negotiate their way through difficult terrain and every-changing routes, there was the ever-present danger from bullets, shells and gas. Field hospitals had to be constantly relocated because of the advancing German Army.

In being awarded the Military Medal, Royal Naval Commander H.C. Halahan said, “Lady Dorothie Feilding was thus frequently exposed to
risks which probably no other woman has undergone. She has always displayed a devotion to duty and contempt of danger which has been a source of admiration to all.”

In June 1917, she returned home to the UK. She married the following month, but did not return to a quiet life, instead started driving ambulances in London.

Lady Dorothie Feilding-Moore had five children. She died on the 24th of October 1935, aged only 46 of heart failure.  We will remember her. 

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