The Papers of Lorna Bird

Contains two scrapbooks created by Lorna Bird illustrating her lacrosse playing career from schoolgirl to England international in the 1920s and 1930s.

Lorna Green was born on 31 July 1907. She was educated at St. Albans High School for Girls where she began her lacrosse playing career as a member of the Southern Schools team in a match against the Northern Schools team in 1924 and again in 1925. Her first 'international' match was in April 1928 when she was invited to be part of an All England Ladies' Lacrosse team to travel to Ireland to play the recently formed (1926) Dublin Pioneers Ladies' Lacrosse Club. The visit was judged to be a success and subsequently established as the English Rovers Tour to Ireland with Lorna participating in the 1929 and 1930 tours.

Lorna was first selected to play for England in October 1930 and remained a member of the England team until 1936, and again from 1938 to 1939 and finally from 1946 to 1949; no international matches were played during the Second World War.

In 1934 Lorna was a member of the first lacrosse team from England to visit the United States of America on a five-week tour playing in exhibition matches, coaching and lecturing on the game of lacrosse.

Outside of international matches, Lorna also played lacrosse in club, county and territorial tournaments, representing Boxmoor Ladies Lacrosse Club, Hertfordshire and the East respectively.

Long after her playing career was over Lorna retained an active interest in the game of lacrosse and was elected an Honorary Life Member of the All England Women's Lacrosse Association in 1961.

Lorna married Henry E. S. Bird in the summer of 1936.

The 1924-1938 scrapbook was included in a donation to the University of Bedfordshire by Celia Brackenridge in May 2012 under Accession No. A2012/001, and the scrapbook for the 1934 Lacrosse Tour of the USA was included in a donation to the University of Bedfordshire by Carol Haydn-Evans on 23 May 2017 under Accession No. AWL2017/002.

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