Introduction to Edith Elizabeth Gertrude ‘Bunny’ Parnell

Sixteen-year old Welsh girl, Edith ‘Bunny’ Parnell was the youngest person to be in the record books for a successful swim across the notoriously difficult Bristol Channel. Her success on 15 August 1929 emulated the achievement of 21 year old Kathleen Thomas, who had been the first person to swim the Bristol Channel, using the same route as Edith, on 5th September 1927. As local Penarth girls, Edith and Kathleen knew each other well and collaborated frequently to celebrate their sport and help others trying to swim the Bristol Channel. The photograph of these two young super ‘stars’ was taken in August 1929 at the St. Dunstan’s Aquatic Swimming Gala in Barry, where Edith had entertained the crowd by giving a display.[1]

Edith’s Family Roots in Glamorgan, Wales

Born in 1912, Edith was the daughter of Frederick Robert Parnell and his wife Edith (nee Lifely) who had married the year before at St. Dyfrig’s church in Cardiff. Baby Edith was baptised on 7 November 1912 at the Parish Church of St. John’s in Canton, Cardiff. In 1917, Edith’s early years coincided with family tragedy as her uncle, William Henry Parnell was killed during WW1 at the Somme (he is remembered on the Thiepval Memorial near the battlefield).

The family moved from Cardiff to nearby Penarth, living at 2 Harbour View which would have given the young Edith a ‘ringside view’ of attempts to swim the Bristol Channel in the 1920’s, including that first successful crossing by fellow Glamorgan swimmer Kathleen Thomas in 1927. Edith herself had been swimming since the age of nine, although compulsory swimming lessons were not introduced into Welsh schools until 1932, by which time Cardiff was reported as having a large proportion of swimmers, especially women, who ‘go to the seaside at every opportunity … and they do not merely dabble their feet in the water and give dramatic shrieks of terror when an unusually big wave throws its mass upon them. They face it squarely and dive beneath it, striking out strongly seawards’![23] Edith clearly had this formidable Welsh spirit, becoming a member of the Penarth Ladies’ Swimming Club and the Welsh Wanderers (an elite circle of water polo players and competitive swimmers).[12]

By the time of Kathleen Thomas’ first historic crossing of the Bristol Channel, Edith seems to have been eager to follow in Kathleen’s footsteps (or should that be swimming strokes?!?) However, Edith’s parents were perhaps not quite so keen for their daughter to undertake such a dangerous challenge: press coverage from the time tells us that ‘Miss Edith Parnell at one time expressed the desire to conquer the Bristol Channel, but, in deference to the wishes of her parents, she has postponed her venture; although she will probably make the effort next year.’ [2]

Edith’s Early Swimming Achievements

In spite of the reported ‘postponement’ on the Bristol Channel, Edith’s swimming was already head-line news. On 27 July 1928, Edith and fellow 15 year old pupil at Penarth County School, Dennis Tidball, were the first to successfully swim from Flatholm Island in the Bristol Channel to Penarth.

A distance of around five miles, the Flatholm/Penarth swim started at 7.15 a.m. in heavy rain; Edith and Dennis swam ‘together all the way, never being parted by more than a few yards … only pausing to eat chocolates and biscuits and drink a little beef tea’ [3]. This feed regime followed Kathleen Thomas’ example – we wonder if any of our modern swimmers sneak in the odd chocolate bar, or perhaps it is just their crews! The picture from the Western Mail on 28 July 1928 shows Edith receiving one of her feeds …. But just look at the man in the rowing boat! Would you fancy navigating across the Bristol Channel for over seven hours in this (and the sea looks calm here too)?!?

It may have been only five miles ‘as the crow flies’, but Edith and Dennis actually swam eleven miles over the course of four hours ten minutes [3], in what the press said was ‘a thrilling struggle … between the swimmers and the treacherous Bristol Channel currents’. [4] To add to the Channel monsters from the deep, Edith and Dennis were nearly run down by ‘a large steamer [which] bore down upon them in the fog. Its course was diverted just in time’ and to make conditions even worse, ‘the youngsters narrowly escaped being drawn into a whirlpool at Lavernock [although] a sudden thunderstorm also failed to deter the intrepid schoolchildren’. [4] After this mammoth battle and with it still raining heavily, Edith and Dennis ‘walked out on the Penarth Yacht Club slipway unaided, and were welcomed by a cheering crowd’.[3] This historic photograph of Edith and Dennis captured them emerging from the water near the end of their swim.[5]

The Flatholm/Penarth swim which ‘it is said, has never been achieved before’ [3] generated a great deal of public interest with reporters crowded onto the accompanying motor launch. As well as Edith and Dennis’ fathers accompanying them, the Welsh international swimmer Gus Taylor observed the swim which was piloted by Captain F. Williams. [3] But despite all this excitement and after the Bristol Channel had thrown up so many monsters to be ‘slayed’, it is no wonder that Edith’s parents were concerned about what their daughter might try next.[2]

The Bristol Channel Swim – 15 August 1929

Having tasted success at Flatholm/Penarth and despite those parental reservations, Edith was still dreaming about swimming the Bristol Channel from Penarth, her home town in Wales, to Weston-super-Mare, on the English side of the Channel. Kathleen Thomas had been credited with inspiring swimming ‘fever’ in 1928 when a number of ‘swimmers of some repute’ had tried to make a crossing (their stories of ‘splendid failure’ deserve a Chronicle edition all of their own, so watch out for future news!)[6] After the Flatholm/Penarth success both Edith and Dennis Tidball had their eye on breaking Kathleen Thomas’ time of 7 hours and 20 minutes, crossing the Bristol Channel but had agreed to make the attempt separately. Capt. Williams had also agreed to be their pilot once again for this new, even more daunting challenge. [7]

By July of 1929, the swimming frenzy had died down and not a single attempt had been made that year but the Western Mail tells us that Edith was ‘determined to show what the younger generation can do’. Although, it was thought that ‘much of her success will depend upon the conditions and her luck to catch suitable tides and currents.’ [6] Modern day swimmers will know all too well what it is like having your swimming ‘window’ and waiting anxiously to see if the Channel weather gods are going to smile on you!

Described as a ‘well-built girl’(!) Edith had had several weeks of ‘severe training’ (which included skipping and massage treatment), by Tom Mahoney, a well-known Welsh sporting veteran who, like Edith, lived in Penarth.[9,10] Nevertheless, Edith either had some reservations or was managing expectations, when she told the press ‘I shall make every effort to achieve success, but I do not hold too great hopes in my first attempt. If unsuccessful, I intend to try and try again until I am conqueror’. [8,9]

By the end of July 1929, Edith was ready for the big adventure but those weather gods were still not smiling, with the press saying ‘the present weather conditions are none too favourable’.[10] Despite this, around 100 people gathered on the beach to give her a send-off, but ‘heavy seas and a strong wind forced [her] to abandon her attempt to swim the Bristol Channel … She is naturally disappointed after her long training, but had she commenced she could not have gone any considerable distance’. [11] What would Edith and her pilot, Capt. Williams, have made of modern day weather forecasting? At the time of this planned attempt a century or so ago, the pilot ‘did not like the appearance of the sea’ while Edith’s father had gone out in a motor launch to Lavernock Point and reported back that ‘here the sea was particularly heavy and a strong wind prevailed’ with another pilot declaring that ‘to attempt to pass the Holme under the prevailing conditions was as much as the cutter itself could do’. [11] So, joint wisdom of these treacherous waters carried the day and Edith had to abort her attempt before it even started. The ‘swimming window’ was deferred to ‘about August 14 or, failing that, about September 13 [as] the tides on these particular dates are very favourable’.[11]

Finally, on 15 August,1929, the stars aligned and with exceptionally good weather, Edith entered the water in Penarth at 4.20 a.m. with a rousing send-off.[11] Edith settled down into a rhythm using the trudgeon stroke and covered the first mile in around half an hour, soon after reaching the Cardiff West Buoy in exactly the same time taken by the first conqueror of the Bristol Channel, Kathleen Thomas. The only niggle at this early stage was the uncomfortable goggles, which Edith soon abandoned.[12] And, if you are wondering what on earth the trudgeon stroke is, it combined freestyle arm movements with a sidestroke scissor kick that one John Trudgen had introduced in 1873 to competitive swimming and which made swimming much faster. The trudgeon or trudge stroke was replaced by the modern day front crawl – so now you know!

Getting back to the swim, all was going well until Edith came in sight of Woollies’ Buoy when a swell got up and, along with a strong cross current, she started to drift down-channel. This went on for two and three quarter hours with Edith making little headway and the doomsters beginning to doubt that she would ever come within close range of the Steep Holm. How many of you long-distance swimmers know that feeling of sighting land, only for the monsters below to push you sideways, down the coast? But the monsters that day had not reckoned on Edith’s positive attitude: she ‘heroically fought on, not in the least down-hearted, and aided shortly after nine a.m. by a change in the tide.’ Despite the choppy sea, Edith could now pick up pace and ‘throughout the whole of the swim Miss Parnell was always smiling and in the best of spirits. Never did she complain of any physics, trouble, and partook of several cups of tea, but no solid food’. [12]

About 1½ miles out from Weston-super-Mare, a speed boat laden with passengers came out to meet her and then hurriedly went back to shore to convey the news of her imminent arrival. The news quickly spread and ‘the pleasure steamers that frequently passed from Weston sounded their sirens while overtaking the girl, and passengers waved merrily.’[12] One wonders what Edith made of this cacophony of sound and buzz of excitement! By this time, Edith was ‘becoming exhausted [and] was being slowly borne towards Brean Down, but her course was eventually reversed and she landed on the rocks on St. Thomas’ Head. … the first to shake hands with Miss Parnell was Paolo Radmilovic, the Olympic and Welsh international swimmer.’ [12]

The Western Mail photograph from 16 August 1929 [12] shows a happy looking Edith coming ashore at the end of her swim, alongside a Mr. Deane, who swam with her on the last leg of her adventure. Back on terra firma, Edith said ‘I feel fine, and would not have given up for the world’ leading the official from the Welsh Amateur Swimming Association (WASA) to say that ‘he had not seen a more plucky swim.’[13] Edith was then brought to the Old Pier in Weston by motor launch; as she stepped onto the pier, several hundred people cheered her and the piermaster presented her with a bouquet of flowers.

After a brief rest at a hotel, with her parents, Edith returned across the Channel to Penarth on the Glen Usk pleasure steamer where ‘a wonderful welcome awaited. … The pier was decorated and hundreds of people had congregated, and they loudly cheered as the steamer came to a standstill. Aided by a police-constable and, seated on the shoulders of two men, Miss Parnell managed to make her way through … it was with great difficulty that Miss Parnell got to her car. Spectators swarmed around the car, demanding a speech, and Miss Parnell briefly thanked them’.[12] The photograph of Edith back in Penarth captures her being presented with a bouquet of roses by Mr. Harry Cole, the Piermaster while the story-line tells us that the group around her includes her parents and Mr. Lintern, the WASA official.[15] After this triumphant home-coming, Mr. Lintern told the press that ‘it is the finest swimming effort I have ever seen and is deserving of the highest award … which I shall endeavour to secure for her. The three hours’ battle off the Holms speaks for the girl’s vitality and courage’.[12]

Other tributes to Edith give us insights into gender expectations in the 1920’s. Mrs A. Pertwee, M.B.E. was chairman of Penarth Urban District Council, but despite her own success in a man’s world, she commented ‘that Miss Parnell had made an achievement which she thought was more than a woman could be expected to do. They were proud of Miss Kathleen Thomas when she got across, but when a child like Miss Parnell conquered the Channel words failed her’.[21]

As for Edith getting an award, in September 1929, Penarth Council considered ‘a suggestion that a tablet should be erected outside the public baths or in the Rock Gardens to commemorate the Bristol Channel swims of Miss Kathleen Thomas and Miss Edith Parnell [and] the surveyor … was instructed to prepare an estimate’.[16] However, although a tablet did eventually materialise to Kathleen, after many decades, there is not one for Edith, although she is on the Penarth Civic Society registry of notable local women. [17,24] Edith was, however, presented with a certificate from the Welsh Amateur Swimming Association![20] She was also presented ‘with a silver cake-stand’ by the Penarth Publicity Association with Edith thanking Penarth ‘residents for their wonderful welcome’.[21]

P.S. If you are wondering what happened to Dennis Tidball, Edith’s Flatholm/ Penarth co-swimmer, he made his own attempt on the Bristol Channel on 25 September 1928 but ‘was beaten by the cold when about a quarter of a mile off Steep Holm, after swimming eight miles’ [14]: for more about Dennis – who was eventually successful, you will have to read his own edition of the Bristol Channel Chronicle.

Edith’s Later Career and Personal Life

Edith’s associations with the Penarth Swimming Club [6] and Bristol Channel swimming continued well after her own crossing in 1929. We know from contemporary press reports that in August 1931 she helped pace another young girl, the sixteen year old Peggy Speers, in her attempt to swim from Swallow Point, in Weston-super-Mare to the Welsh side of the Channel. However, although the sea started off ‘as calm as a mill-pond’ a strong breeze sprang up and, although Peggy Speers ‘fought bravely against the currents … [she] soon had to be taken in an exhausted state aboard the tug accompanying her’. So, despite Edith’s first hand experience and support, the monsters of the Bristol Channel had thrown up yet another ‘severe ordeal’ and beaten the latest of its challengers.[7] As we reported earlier, there were quite a lot of these ‘splendid failures’ which need a Bristol Channel Chronicle all of their own – so watch out for future editions!

Edith also continued working with fellow school-mate Dennis Tidball with whom she had claimed the Flatholm/Penarth record in 1928. Tidball’s attempt on the Channel in September 1928 had seen him beaten by the cold. Several years later, in July 1933 Edith accompanied Dennis when he made a second attempt to cross the Bristol Channel. Like Peggy Speers above, Dennis was trying to cross from Weston-super-Mare to Penarth, this way round never having been achieved. Press coverage from Dennis’ 1928 attempt tells us that Edith was in the rowing boat with the pilot, Capt. Ira Jones, the Penarth Dockmaster. After Tidball’s accompanying swimmer had had to retire due to cramp, Edith went into the water herself to help with the pacing; unfortunately, ‘on account of severe cold and salt water blindness’ Dennis had to be assisted into the rowing boat. With only three more miles to swim and despite Edith’s practical support for her friend, ‘the plucky young swimmer’ had once again been defeated by those unrelenting Bristol Channel monsters.[8]

Like Kathleen Thomas before her, Edith was also in demand as a celebrity swimmer giving displays at events like the Frome Ladies Swimming Club shortly after her Channel crossing.[18] These galas were hugely popular: when Edith gave an exhibition at the Gnoll Pool in Neath (along with ‘the little Misses Flossie and Peggy Gould, the famous child swimmers’!) spectators, having paid 6d for adults and 3d for children, were advised to arrive early to make sure of their seats.[19] At this Neath Gala, Edith (described as ‘a typical healthy sun-tanned British girl’) was feted at a civic reception then ‘delighted the crowded audience at the Pool with her natural manner. She swam round the Pool several times in the trudge she used for the Bristol Channel swim.’[22] Edith’s charm seems clear as she told the crowd ‘I am not used to fresh water … nor to calm water she added laughingly … I am more at home in a really rough sea. But I think your Pool wonderfully attractive, for all that, it is so beautifully situated. I have thoroughly enjoyed my visit to Neath’.[22]

As well as being a trailblazer and celebrity in the swimming world, Edith also broke through the glass-ceiling in her professional life. In 1929, the year she swam the Bristol Channel, we know from press reports that Edith ‘keenly interests herself in journalism which profession she hopes to follow. She has already written and published a children’s story book’. [9] Having been ‘the story’ herself perhaps it was all this press attention that drew Edith towards this particular career.

Moving to London, Edith entered the world of Fleet Street journalism around 1931, becoming the first female reporter to join the Reuters News Agency. If we recall that women in the UK had only been successful in getting the vote in 1928, Edith’s career break-through was a stunning achievement. She is credited with editing a Sunday newspaper and doing publicity work for brands like Coty (the cosmetics firm) and Imperial Chemical Industries although further research would need to be done to verify all her professional achievements.

In 1936, Edith married Hugh Cudlipp, a journalist who would go on to be editor of the Daily Mirror in the 1950’s and ‘60’s and chairman of the Mirror Group in the 1960’s. Edith’s marriage would be short-lived as she died after child-birth on 13 November 1938; she was still only in her mid-twenties. The Penarth Women’s Trail records the death of both Edith and her baby. [10]

Edith’s Legacy

Edith Parnell is a pioneer in the early history of Bristol Channel swimming not simply because she was so young, but because she helped show what swimmers (and especially female swimmers) could achieve in a notoriously challenging stretch of water. Her story also reaches beyond any sporting hall of fame: the teenager celebrated for crossing the Bristol Channel became a young professional blazing a trail in the field of journalism, in what was then, very much a man’s world.

Historical Research

This article draws on unpublished historical and genealogical research by Yvonne Chapman. We believe that we have taken reasonable steps to ensure that we do not infringe any rights and usages as we develop this public access, not for profit project. We are grateful for advice from the National Library of Wales and the London School of Economics digital library about images out of copyright and now in the public domain. If you can contribute to this historical project; if you want to comment; or if you spot any errors, please contact us at Monster Swims. Meanwhile, happy reading and happy swimming!

Image references

Selected historical photographs have been AI enhanced for clarity. Original image sources are listed in the references below.

Sources

[1] Western Mail, 26 August 1929, p12

[2] Athletic News, 6 August 1928

[3] Wiltshire News, 3 August 1928, p4

[4] London Daily Chronicle, 28 July 1928

[5] Sunday Mirror, 29 July 1928

[6] Western Mail, 20 July 1929

[7] Western Mail, 31 July 1928, p4

[8] Women’s Archive Wales, ‘Welsh Women Who Made Waves‘ (includes a reproduced 1929 newspaper photograph):

https://www/womensarchivewales.org/en/getfile/documents/Projects/Women%20in%20Sport%20Wales/welsh-female-swimmers.pdf

[9] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 27 July 1929, p9

[10] Western Mail, 24 April 1929, p4

[11] Western Mail, 1 August 1929, p4

[12] Western Mail 16 August 1929, p5

[13] Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 17 August 1929, p19

[14] Western Mail, 13 September 1929, p6

[15] Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser, 17 August 1929, p1

[16] Western Mail, 4 September 1929, p10

[17] Penarth Civic Society registry of notable local women:

https://wwwpenarthsociety.org.uk

[18] Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer, 6 September 1929

[19] Neath Guardian, 6 September 1929, p6

[20] Western Mail, 17 September 1929, p12

[21] Western Mail, 17 August 1929, p6

[22] Neath Guardian, 13 September 1929, p5

[23] Western Mail, 17 August 1932, p5

[24] Vale of Glamorgan Council, Penarth Women’s Trail:

https://www.valeofglamorgan.gov.uk/Documents/Enjoying/Arts/Penarth-Women-Trail-English.pdf

Further Reading

Georgina Gittins, ‘History of Welsh Female Elite and Endurance Swimmers 1895-1951’, 2024:

https://www.womensarchiewales.org.getfile/documents/Presentations/Conference%202024/georgina-gittins-history-of-welsh-female-elite-and-endurance-swimmers-1895-to-1951.pdf

Women’s Archive Wales, ‘Swimmers of Penarth’, June 2021:

https://www.womensarchivewales.org/getfile/newsletters/2021/NEWSLETTER-June-2021.pdf

Bristol Channel Swimming Association, Penarth–Weston archive: https://www.bcswimmers.com/penarth-wsm

Bristol Channel Swimming Association, records: https://www.bcswimmers.com/records

Georgina Bartlett, “Historic Women of Penarth”, Penarth View (2018): https://penarthview.co.uk/historic-women-of-penarth/

British Pathé, “Schoolgirl swims Bristol Channel”, asset 134431: https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/134431/

Welsh Sports Hall of Fame, Kathleen Thomas feature (includes Edith Parnell): https://welsh-sports-hall-of-fame.wales/queen-of-the-bristol-channel-kathleen-thomas/

Catherine Jones, ‘Wonder Girls’ (a fictionalised account inspired by Edith Parnell and Kathleen Thomas)

Discrepancies in the Historical Record

Surviving accounts do not agree on every detail and we note the following discrepancies that we have identified:

Duration of the Bristol Channel swim: Bristol Channel Swimming Association or BCSA (founded 2021) gives 10 hours 15 minutes; the Welsh Sports Hall of Fame gives 10 hours 17 minutes: a press account, the Aberdeen Press and Journal from 16 August 1929 gives ten hours seventeen minutes and ten seconds – which is the figure we have used as it is contemporaneous

Route: the BCSA states that Edith did the ‘first reverse crossing’ which is contradicted elsewhere on the database. From other verified evidence, this is an error in the BCSA’s data

Pilot: Some sources refer to Capt. Fred Williams, others call him Charles Williams

Ranking/Order in the Database of BC Swimmers: The BCSA and Monster Swims databases have Edith Parnell as the second person to successfully swim the Bristol Channel. However, contemporary press reports tell us that Edward Temme swam from Penarth to Weston in July 1928, in a time of 6 hours 35 minutes, so, just over a year before Edith made her crossing. This warrants some extra research! See, for example, Weston-super-Mare Gazette, and General Advertiser 27 April 1929, p6 / Sheffield Independent, 16 August 1929, p1/ Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette, 17 August 1929, p19 / Western Mail, 16 August 1929, p5 and 13 September 1929, p6