Eileen Fenton
Eileen Fenton was born in Dewsbury in 1928. On 26th September 1950, she became the first woman to swim the English Channel. Fenton completed the swim as a competitor in the First Daily Mail Channel Race. There were 24 competitors in the race and less than half of these finished. She finished in a time of 15hrs 31mins, and received a winner's cheque of £1000. In 2019, she received an MBE in the Queen's Birthday honours for voluntary service to Long Distance and Competitive Swimming Coaching in Yorkshire and Great Britain.