GIRL TOWER; Scot starts work as the first woman Beefeater.Byline: By Sam Marsden THE first female Beefeater beefeater yeoman of the English royal guard, esp. at the Tower of London; slang for Englishman. [Br. Culture: Misc.] See : Britain beefeater popular name for a Yeoman of the Guard or Yeoman Warder of the Tower of London. [Br. Hist. made her debut in full uniform yesterday. Scot Moira Cameron Moira Cameron is a Yeoman Warder, also known as a Beefeater, at the Tower of London. On July 01, 2007, she became the first female to hold such a position in the 522 year history of the unit. had a mirror and lipgloss in her blue-and-red tunic's pockets as she stood guard at the Tower of London Tower of London, ancient fortress in London, England, just east of the City and on the north bank of the Thames, covering about 13 acres (5.3 hectares). Now used mainly as a museum, it was a royal residence in the Middle Ages. . The 42-year-old Army veteran has been training since July for her new job as a Yeoman yeoman (yō`mən), class in English society. The term has always been ill-defined, but generally it means a freeholder of a lower status than gentleman who cultivates his own land. Warder. She joked that she had no plans to grow a beard to fit in with her 34 male colleagues. Moira, from Lochgilphead, Argyll, said: "Certain people have this image of what a Beefeater looks like. "It needs to be with the beard, which obviously I'm not going to grow. People like to see a man with a beard." Other women have applied to be a Beefeater but Moira is the first in the Tower's 1000-year history. She had served the minimum of 22 years in the armed forces, including time in Cyprus and Northern Ireland. Her last post was as a warrant officer and chief clerk in the Adjutant ADJUTANT. A military officer, attached to every battalion of a regiment. It is his duty to superintend, under his superiors, all matters relating to the ordinary routine of discipline in the regiment. Generals Corps in The Royal Rifle Volunteers The Royal Rifle Volunteers is a former regiment of the British Territorial Army. It was, for most of its existence, the TA infantry in the counties of Hampshire, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and the Isle of Wight. . Now, she has responsibility for guarding the Crown and will give guided tours once she's completed her training. She has had to learn the 21 separate duties that make up the daily Ceremony of the Keys. Moira said many overseas tourists were desperate to have their photo taken with her during her training. But she admitted she had received some negative comments, saying: "I had one chap at the gate one day who said he was completely and utterly against me doing the job. "I said to him, 'I would like to thank you for dismissing my 22 years' service in Her Majesty's armed forces.'" As well as her salary of around pounds 20,000, she will have use of a subsidised apartment in the Tower. She will normally wear the dark blue "undress uniform", saving the pounds 3500 red-and-gold costume for special occasions. The Tower's Yeoman Warders date back to 1485 and their nickname Beefeaters Beefeaters, popular name for the Yeomen of the Guard and for the warders of the Tower of London. Both wear colorful uniforms modeled after those of the Elizabethan period. is thought to derive from the daily ration of meat they received. Chief Yeoman Warder John Keohane said the male Beefeaters had realised for some time that one day a woman would do the job. He said: "If you went back into the 1800s, life for ladies was very different. All that's happened is that life has moved on." CAPTION(S): PROUD: Moira at the Tower |
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