Hewlett, Hilda Beatrice née Herbert, 1864-1943 (Person)

Early Life: Hilda attended a branch of the National Art Training School, South Kensington. She spent time in Egypt with her parents when she was 19 and then at 21 trained as a nurse for a year at a hospital in Berlin. On 3 January 1888 Hilda Herbert married Maurice Henry Hewlett in her father's church, St Peter's, in Vauxhall.

Aviation:  Hilda attended the Farman School at Mourmelon in France and on 29 August 1911, at Brooklands, England, Hilda Hewlett became the first woman in the UK to earn a pilot's licence when she received certificate No.122 from the Royal Aero Club.

She was elected the inaugural president of the Tauranga Aero and Gliding Club. At the opening of the new Tauranga aerodrome in January 1939 the minister of defence, Frederick Jones, named an adjacent road after Hilda and her son in recognition of their services to aviation.

She died in Tauranga on 21 August 1943 and was buried at sea.