Florence Tipler

Florence Tipler

1905 - 1986

Florence Tipler

Florence Tipler is best remembered as chairman of Bourne Urban District Council for the year 1962-63, one of only three women to hold the office during the 75 year history of the authority, the others being Mrs Caroline Galletly (1930-31) and Mrs Marjorie Clark (1971-72).

She considered this a particular distinction because she did not move to the town until 1938, and during her installation ceremony at the Town Hall in May 1962, she appropriately received the chain of office from Councillor Dr John Galletly, the retiring chairman and son of the council's first woman chairman, Mrs Caroline Galletly. Her enthusiasm for public work was summed up in her acceptance speech in which she dedicated herself to the town.

"This is a great honour that has been conferred on me", she said, " and I shall continue to serve Bourne and the council as faithfully as I have done in the past nine years."

In 1962, during her year in office, the urban council organised a civic reception for the international racing driver Graham Hill and the BRM team in Bourne to mark their success with the first all-British car to win the world championship. Councillor Tipler hosted the event at the Town Hall when Graham Hill, father of the present day Damon Hill, was presented with a silver salver for his achievement.

Florence Evelyn Smith was born at Shipley in Yorkshire on 4th June 1905 and after leaving school she took up nursing, moving to Bourne in 1938 to join the staff at Bourne Isolation Hospital in South Road. She is pictured right in her nursing uniform, a photograph taken around that period.

In 1940, she married Eric Tipler who worked for the council in the highways department, making and fitting road signs, and was also active with the St John Ambulance Brigade.

They lived in Queen’s Road and then Harrington Street but there were no children and he died on 21st April 1978.

Florence in nurse's uniform

Florence was first elected to the council in 1952, losing her seat three years later but regaining it in 1956. For many years, she served as a cadet officer with the junior section of the Red Cross and also as a voluntary ambulance attendant. She was a Methodist lay preacher and worked tirelessly as a sick visitor for the Methodist Sisterhood. She also sat as a justice of the peace on the local bench of magistrates and her other main interest was in the welfare of ex-servicemen and their families, serving as a member of the war pensions committee, then active in the area in the aftermath of the Second World War from 1939-45.

After retiring from public life, Mrs Tipler found it difficult to look after herself because of illness and in 1982, moved to Digby Court where she died in September 1986 at the age of 81. Bourne Urban Distinct Council paid tribute to her at their next meeting when the chairman, Councillor John Wright, told members: “She was very much for the welfare of this town. She did excellent work and always had the interests of the people at heart.” Councillor Marjorie Clark, who served on the council with her, added her tribute. She told members: “She was a very able speaker and a very good and caring councillor.”

Her contribution to the community was recognised by Bourne Town Council in the spring of 2004 when a street on the new housing development being built on the site of the former Bourne Hospital was named Tipler Court.

In October 2004, two of her relatives from Yorkshire drove to Bourne in their quest for information about Florence Tipler. Martyn Welborn, aged 42, who works in the chemicals industry, and his father Brian, aged 69, a retired manager of a transport company, made the round trip of almost 300 miles from their home at Bradford in West Yorkshire to spend the day in Bourne. Florence was sister to Brian’s mother and great aunt to Martyn but they had little information about her career and wished to know more about their remarkable relative.

“It was a sad discovery to find no headstone on her grave”, said Martyn, “But despite that, our trip was extremely rewarding. We found the people of Bourne very friendly and helpful. My dad spent a lot of his youth in Bourne during the school holidays when he stayed with Florence and the last time he saw her was six months before she died.

“We really had a great day, visiting the many places she would have known and talking to the people who remembered her with such affection. We called at the Town Hall where everyone was so helpful and then visited Digby Court where we had tea with residents and staff and spent an hour looking through several boxes of old photographs although we could not find one of Florence. We are grateful for knowing more about her and we will remember the people of Bourne and realise why she enjoyed her time here so much.”