Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen
{{Short description|American aviation pioneer}}
{{lead too short|date=February 2019}}
Image:Pancho group 1 500.jpg, Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen, Amelia Earhart.]]
Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen (January 1, 1878 – December 25, 1958) was the founder of the Jerusalem News, the first English-language newspaper in Jerusalem in 1919, and the Women's International Association of Aeronautics in 1929.{{cite news |date=December 26, 1958 |title=Mrs. Elizabeth Bancroft, Air Pioneer, Dies at 80— Former Mrs. McQueen Best Known as Founder of Women's Aeronautics Group |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-obituary-for-elizb/172137207/ |access-date=11 May 2025 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |page=I-4}}
Early life
Lippincott was born on New Year's Eve in 1878 in Salem County, New Jersey. Her parents were the Reverend Dr. Benjamin Crispin Lippincott, a Methodist minister and the first superintendent of public instruction in Washington Territory, and his second wife, Deborah Hand Diverty.US Census Bureau. Entry for B.C, Deborah, Benjamin, Jesse, and Elizabeth Lippicott. Salem, New Jersey (June 1880)
In 1900, Elizabeth married Ulysses Grant McQueen, a wealthy New York City inventor and manufacturer.{{cite web |title=Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen Papers |url=http://blogs.libraries.claremont.edu/sc/2012/08/elizabeth-lippincott-mcqueen-p.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121101152906/http://blogs.libraries.claremont.edu/sc/2012/08/elizabeth-lippincott-mcqueen-p.html |archive-date=2012-11-01 |access-date=2013-02-08 |publisher=Claremont Colleges}}
Palestine
During World War I, McQueen left her home and served in war relief work in Palestine under Field Marshal Allenby.{{Cite book |last=Pietsch |first=Tamson |title=Women's International Thought: A New History |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2021 |isbn=9781108859684 |editor-last=Owens |editor-first=Patricia |editor-last2=Rietzler |editor-first2=Katharina|chapter=Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen|pages=115-135|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/womens-international-thought-a-new-history/elizabeth-lippincott-mcqueen-thinking-international-peace-in-an-airminded-age/4DCE05A21BDB0B3A082EC228D0657537 |doi=10.1017/9781108859684.009}} McQueen subscribed to the belief that the English were one of the 12 tribes of Israel and the British conquest of Palestine in 1917, and the later British Mandate, heralded the Second Coming.{{Cite book |last=Pietsch |first=Tamson |title=The Floating University: Experience, Empire, and the Politics of Knowledge |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |year=2023 |pages=155 |language=en}}
McQueen returned to Palestine after the war on the Ryndam. She gave lectures to others on the ship.
In 1919, McQueen and William Denison McCrackan founded the Jerusalem News, the first English-language newspaper in Jerusalem. McCrackan died in 1923 and left most of his estate to McQueen.
Aviation
In 1920, McQueen her interest in aviation was apparently ignited when she witnessed seven airplanes "take the place of two British regiments of soldiers" in routing a large number of rebel Arab cavalry in the desert near Aden.
In September 1928, she organized the Women's Aeronautic Association of California. Similar organizations were soon founded in New York, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Canada, England, France, Germany, Australia, and New Zealand. In May 1929, these various groups were merged into the Women's International Association of Aeronautics (WIAA), and this organization became the principal focus of her activities for the rest of her life. McQueen was the founding member and the first vice-president of the WIAA.
In 1929, Mrs. McQueen and Lady Heath approached the Federation Aeronautique Internationale in Paris in order to have women's air records recognized. The federation agreed in early 1930. At the same time, in order to arouse greater interest in women's flying, Mrs. McQueen conceived the idea and was one of the principal organizers of the first Women's Air Derby from Santa Monica, California, to the 1929 National Air Races in Cleveland. This event would become known as the "Powder Puff Derby".
Personal life
In 1900, Elizabeth married Ulysses Grant McQueen. The couple lived in New York City until 1928, then moved to Beverly Hills, California. McQueen died in 1937 and Elizabeth married Dr. Irving Reed Bancroft,{{Cite news |date=28 December 1958 |title=Funeral notice for Elizabeth Lippincott McQueen |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/381275569 |url-access=subscription |access-date=10 May 2025 |work=The Los Angeles Times |pages=II-6}} a prominent retired Los Angeles physician, about 1955.
Elizabeth also had two brothers: Dr. Jesse R. Diverty Lippincott, a physician and Reverend Benjamin Crispin Lippincott Jr.
Death and legacy
McQueen died at her home in Hermosa Beach, California, on December 24, 1958, at the age of 80, after a long period of declining health. She was cremated and her ashes were buried at the Portal of Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation.{{Cite news |date=30 December 1958 |title=Elizabeth Bancroft (funeral services and inurnment) |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/381281270 |url-access=subscription |access-date=11 May 2025 |work=Los Angeles Times |pages=D-7}}
Her archive is at the University of Southern California, Doheny Memorial Library in the Rare Books & Manuscripts room.
References
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External links
- [http://www.earlyaviators.com/emcqueen.htm Early Aviators: McQueen]
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