Vera Laughton Mathews

DAME VERA LAUGHTON MATHEWS d1959. British military officer and administrator. She was the second Director of the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) serving from its reformation in 1939 until 1946. After her retirement from the WRNS, she was asked by the post-war Labour government to sit on a number of industry committees. She chaired the Domestic Coal Consumers' Council between 1947 and 1950. She was the first woman to work in the management of the gas industry, as a member of the South-Eastern Gas Board between 1949 and 1959