"Mrs Willing starts channel swim", reverse of press photo

Label on Reverse of Photo 24398; “Mrs Willing Starts Channel Swim – Mrs Hilda Willing started her attempt to swim across the English Channel at noon yesterday September 3rd.” “Photo shows – A drink of ‘something warm’ in the water after starting”

Mrs Hilda Willing swam from Shakespeare Beach on the 3rd September 1920 but did not get to France, finishing 6-8 miles from France after 10 hours 35 minutes (reported as 7h 44m in the Across the Straits Booklet).

Hilda was a war widow. Her husband was killed in 1916 at the Battle of Jutland, on Board the H.M.S. Indefatigable. She taught over 2000 ladies to swim.