Lilian Saatweber: The amazing trailblazer in Manchester women’s sport who has now been recognised

A pioneering figure in Manchester sport has been recognised with her own blue plaque. Lillian Saatwaber was one of the first women in the city to take up golf, and she will be remembered as a pioneer of the sport. 

The golfer was paid celebrated during a ceremony on Thursday, May 23. The blue plaque was unveiled outside the UA92 in Stretford, near the site of one of the properties Lilian once lived in - all of which are now no longer standing. 

The ceremony involved Trafford Council, and was timed to take place on the 110th anniversary of Lillian’s death. Mary Hough (Former Lady Captain of Manchester Golf Club), Christine Beesley (former lady captain of Manchester Golf Club) and Ethel Dawson (President of Manchester & District Ladies Golf Association) were all at the unveiling ceremony.

Who was Lilian Saatweber?

Lilian Russell Saatweber was born in Stretford in 1864. She was one of the first women in Manchester to take up golf. 

In 1891, Trafford Golf Club opened and Lillian was there to open its new clubhouse. At the same time her husband Gustav was the captain. Shortly before the turn of the century, in 1899, Lillian became captain at Timperley Golf Club and also held a membership at Lytham St Anne’s Golf Club in Lancashire. 

The previous year, in 1898, Manchester Golf Club moved from Whalley Range to Trafford Park. In 1904 a committee of women who had an association with the club wrote to the captain and executives asking for more independence for women within the organisation. 

It took a year for the board to be convinced, but in 1905 the formation of Manchester Ladies’ Golf Club was given the green light. At its first AGM at Trafford Park Hall on March 17, Lillian was made captain and honorary secretary.  

Lilian held this position until her death in 1914. She is largely responsible for making the Ladies club a success and in 1912 she was made an honorary life member of Manchester Golf Club.

Cllr Cath Hynes, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Leisure, Arts, Culture and Heritage, gave a speech at the unveiling. She said: “Trafford is renowned for its sporting heritage and Lilian is a big part of that. It was a great honour to be able to pay tribute to an amazing trailblazer in women’s sport. Lilian was largely responsible for making the women’s part of Manchester Golf Club a success, so it is fantastic we are able to honour her in this way.

“Women have played such a massive role throughout Trafford’s history and our Local Studies’ Trailblazing Women of Trafford series is a great way of highlighting the important work they have done for our borough. There is still a fair way to go but hopefully we’re on course to unveiling more blue plaques paying tribute to the amazing women of Trafford.”