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Annette Ashberry (1894-1990)

Early Life
Annette Ashberry was born as Hannah Annenberg in 1894 in Hackney, London. Her family were Russian immigrants, but after the outbreak of the First World War changed their name to the less German-sounding name Ashberry.

Career in Engineering
During the First World War Annette worked in a munitions factory at Park Royal, but because of her interest and knowledge of engineering she was recruited by British Thomson-Houston to work in their new Coventry plant dealing with magnetos.

At the end of the war, Annette and many other women workers were moved to Galloway factory in Tongland, Kirkudbright. To help women to succeed in engineering, the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) was created and in 1921 Annette began a Bachelor of Science (Engineering) degree at Loughborough Technical College. In 1922, she won a WES competition by designing an automatic dishwasher.

Atalanta Engineering Ltd
Annette was one of the eight women welcomed into their new female-only Atalanta Engineering Ltd factory in Loughborough. After installing power to their basic premises, the women produced hand scraped surface plates and oil burners. After facing problems securing payments from customers, they reduced staff to just Annette and one other woman, and moved premises to London in hope of establishing business contacts there. Annette gave a talk to the Incorporated Society of Engineers about Atalanta's products, and they exhibited at the British Industries Fair in 1929.