Badge of a Dame Commander, Order of the British Empire, Dame Mary Tyrwhitt, 1949

An enamelled pale blue cross patonce surmounted by a crown with, on the obverse, a central gold disc bearing the crowned heads of King George VI and Queen Mary within a crimson ring, bearing the motto of the Order, 'For God and the Empire'. On the reverse, the royal cypher of King George VI. The badge is suspended from a rose pink ribbon with grey edges; the central grey stripe denotes membership of the military division of the order.

Dame Mary Joan Caroline Tyrwhitt (1903-1997) was born in Dublin in 1903. The daughter of an admiral, she rose to the rank of Brigadier in the British Army.

Tyrwhitt was the last Director of the Auxiliary Territorial Service, from 1946-1949, and the first Director of the Women's Royal Army Corps from 1949-1950. She was succeeded as Director of the WRAC by Dame Mary Coulshed. Brigadier Mary Tyrwhitt was awarded her DBE in 1949.