Beatrice Wellington (also known as Beatrice Gonzales) was a Quaker and teacher from Vancouver who worked for the British Committee for Refugees from Czechoslovakia (BCRC) in months leading up to the Second World War. She, alongside Sir Nicholas Winton, Doreen Warriner and Trevor Chadwick to name but a few were instrumental in the operation of the Kindertransport, which ran in the nine months immediately before World War II.

Wellington left Canada for Europe in the mid-1930s, working in Switzerland initially before making her way to Czechoslovakia in late 1938. Upon seeing the situation the continent was in, and specifically the dangers faced by the Jewish communities who lived there, Wellington decided to act. Wellington was able to obtain false papers – visas and permits predominately – which allowed people at risk to leave the country. She used her forceful personality and nature to pressure the relevant people and authorities to accelerate the process and was not afraid to criticize the bureaucratic process which causes the issuing of documents to be slow. Furthermore, she was said to have struck fear into the heart of the Head of the Gestapo in Prague, which helped her in her endeavours.

Wellington was arrested and interrogated in April 1939. Following this, she was actively encouraged by the British authorities to leave Prague – she did not heed this warning and stayed for a further 4 months to help the most desperate and dangerous cases: Czech political leaders and Jews.

The total number of people saved by the BCRC and later Czech Refugee Trust Fund is unknown, but at least 12,000 refugees found sanctuary in Great Britain (669 of those the unaccompanied children who made up the Kindertransport).

Wellington worked with the United Nations in Poland after World War II before returning to Canada due to ill health. She died in 1971 at the age of 63, having saved countless lives from the grips of fascism.

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