Congratulations to former Glass Sellers Clerk Audrey Jean Smith, who received an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List in 2025, recognising her work supporting Women’s Royal Army Corps veterans.
Audrey joined the Glass Sellers in June 1999 and was clothed in Livery the following September. In June 2002, she became Assistant Clerk and, in December 2003, took on the role of Honorary Clerk, a post she held until March 2011. She was the twentieth person to hold the title since 1664 and the 23 Female Liveryman of the Company.
Audrey had a wonderful and successful military career working at the highest levels internationally, including in NATO headquarters in Brussels, where she was Colonel on the international staff and the first woman to be selected for this post. On leaving the army, she worked in human resources, was a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development, and was a council representative in the Institute and Chairman of the London Branch of the CIPD. At the same time, she became the charity administrator for the Pottery and Glass Trades Benevolent Fund. This established charity brought her into contact with the ceramics and glass industries. We were pleased that through these contacts, she chose to join our Livery. She brought the many skills she had honed during those military years.
Reunion of the Team at the Potters and Glass Trades Benevolent Fund
From driving trucks straight after her A-Levels, to near-misses with ballistics, keeping women safe from “nearby male barracks”, roles at NATO, and spearheading female admittance to Sandhurst, Audrey’s army career is quite a tale.
Audrey Smith didn’t initially plan on joining the army. She went to the University of Nottingham in 1957 to read economics and recalls being excited about eventually getting a job in that field. However, that all changed when she got there. Audrey said: “We went to the freshers fair. I got to the OTC (University Officers Training Corps) stand, and we chatted away. We returned to our halls of residence, and the female Sergeant Major kept appearing in and saying, you know, you must come and join the OTC. We were not keen on this. But eventually, after about a week, we were warn down.”
Soon after joining she was driving every single vehicle on offer, including an articulated lorry, as she had a driving licence.
Her enthusiasm meant that by the second year, she was asked if she wanted to go for a commission in the territorial army. Despite passing the board, there were no vacancies for a woman in the area, and she was sent to her local regiment, where she ended up in a WRAC battalion.
The Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC) was formed in 1949 following the disbanding of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS). The WRAC was the corps to which all women in the British Army belonged to up to 1992 when it was integrated. The WRAC association helps support veterans with their post-army life, including financial support.
Audrey’s career then went from strength to strength despite possibly being the only WRAC Officer who embarked on a regular career with no formal training.
Her job took her all over the UK, and the world. She was posted to Cyprus, Berlin, and Singapore, where she learned some important life skills.
After her tour, she was promoted to Major and posted to commandant of the newly opened Duchess of Kent Barracks in Aldershot.
Her time in the army was not only personally remarkable but also reflects the transformation in women’s roles. When she joined the WRAC, women didn’t even carry guns (something she soon tried to negotiate). Audrey played a pioneering role in moving things forward and was responsible for preparing the papers, which led to women first going to Sandhurst in 1984.
She was the fifth Officer to go to the Army Staff College, the second Officer to go to the Joint Services Staff College, and the second Officer to become a Lieutenant Colonel on the staff.
Her achievements alongside her colleagues were recognised when the WRAC was awarded Freedom of the Borough of Guildford.
After a long career spanning appointments to NATO and several more foreign trips, she retired, just a few months after the WRAC was disbanded. Audrey has lived on and off in Guildford for several decades.
A fitting recognition to a remarkable lady.
