First Zeppelin Raid.

Thames Star, Volume LXV, Issue 19247, 31 October 1934, Page 3

First Zeppelin Raid.

WOMAN HANDLES MESSAGE. NOW TELEPHONE SUPERVISOR A BIG UNDERTAKING. The woman who, in 1916, handled the message that brought the news of the first Zeppelin raid over London, now, supervises the telephone calls of nearly 2000 guests daily, at a famous London hotel. She is Miss Edith Sanderson, who has been appointed supervisor of tho new telephone exchange at the Regent Palace Hotel, W. This exchange was necessitated by the enlargement of the hotel to accommodate over 200 additional guests, and the installation of telephones in every bedroom. It was while she was stationed at Immingham, on the East Coast, in 1916, that the terse message came over the telephone, “Zeppelins headed for the coast of England have crossed the German border.” Edith Sanderson, a girl of 17, calmly supervised the feverish activities of 40 girls, who were warning Britain that the Germans-had crossed the North Sea for their first aerial attack on London. . Earl Beatty himself presented Miss Sanderson with the 0.8. E. on behalf of the King. A daughter of a wireless warrant officer with 30 years’ service in the British Navy, Miss Sanderson inherited her father’s interest in the telephone, and is an expert in all branches of telephony. Over 30 miles of telephone cable, thousands of ingoing and outgoing calls, as well as the special teleprinter service which sends and receives hundreds of G.P.O. telegrams annually, will be in Miss Sanderson’s charge at the Regent Palace Hotel.