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 Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) Officers
1939-1945

 

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Note. In naval circles it is custom to refer to the commander of a vessel as Captain. The Navy List bears the phrase "in command". Strictly out of practical considerations CO (Commanding Officer) is used here on this site.
Some abbreviations: Dir = Director, Supt. = Superintendent,C/O = Chief Officer, 1/O = First Officer, 2/O = Second Officer, 3/O = Third Officer. More explanation & other abbreviations can be found at the help page. 


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Mackenzie, D.M.
to
Mocatta, M.M.

M
Mackenzie,
Dorothy Mary
 (Mrs.)
D.M. Mackenzie		 ?
-
C/O
 		28.10.1940
       
Maclean,
Euphemia Annie
 (Miss)
E.A. Maclean		 ?
-
C/O
 		26.08.1943
       
Macnair-Smith,
Marguerite Ruth
 (Miss)
M.R.M. Smith
Daughter (with four siblings) of Col. James Macnair-Smith (1881-1966), and Christine Dorothea Trevelyan von Ferro, of Downderry, Cornwall.
Married (11.05.1944, RC Cathedral, Mombasa, Kenya) Frederick Bishop, of the Colonial Service, second son of Mr & Mrs R. Bishop, of London SW17.		 08.03.1918
-
?
Petty Officer Wren ?
3/O 09.02.1941
2/O 05.03.1942, seniority 29.01.1942
A/1/O 17.09.1943 (reld > 07.1945, < 10.1945)
Education: Convent of the Sacred Heart, Malta, and Notre Dame High School, Plymouth.
? - (06.)1941 HMS Cochrane II (supply & accounting base for tenders, Rosyth)
(08.)1941 - (10.)1941 HMS Clio (RN base, Barrow in Furness)
(12.)1941 - 07.1942 HMS Drake (RN base, Devonport)
25.07.1942 - (08.)1943 HMS Tana (RN base, Kilindini, Kenya)
04.08.1943 - 01.1944 HMS Highflyer (RN base, Trincomalee, Ceylon)
19.01.1944 - (06.)1944 HMS Braganza (RN base, Bombay, India)
20.08.1944 - (01.)1945 HMS Tana (RN base, Kilindini, Kenya)
(04.1945) - (07.1945) no appointment listed
Malcolm,
Margaret Jane Venetia
 (Miss)
M.J.V. Malcolm (Photo courtesy of Mr Nick Holt)
Daughter of Sir Michael Albert James Malcolm, 10th Bt (1898-1976), and Geraldine Margot Digby (1898-1965).
Married (01.06.1945, Holy Trinity, Brompton, Kensington district, London) then Lt. (later Lt.Cdr.) Christopher Robert Vesey Holt, CVO, VRD (17.10.1915 - 11.11.1997), elder son (with one brother & two sisters) of V.Adm. Reginald Vesey Holt, CB, DSO, MVO, RN, and Evelyn Constance Day; one son, one daughter.		 11.01.1923
-
01.08.2021
Wren 09.06.1941
Petty Officer Wren 01.11.1943
A/3/O 11.06.1944 (reld 05.11.1945)
3/O 1945?, seniority 11.06.1944 (reld 05.11.1945)
09.06.1941     joined WRNS
06?.1941 - 05.1944 served as a plotting rating at Rosyth
05.1944 - 06.1944 Officer Training Course (OTC) Framewood Manor, Stoke Poges, Berkshire
06.1944 - 07.1944 HMS Lynx (RN base, Dover)
27.07.1944 - 02.1945 HMS Forward (RN base, Newhaven)
02.1945 - 03.1945 HMS Proserpine (RN base, Scapa Flow, Orkneys)
25.03.1945 - 09?.1945 HMS Victory III  (accounting section, Wantage, Berkshire) (for service at Fort Southwick, Portsmouth)
Malschinger,
Marie Benita (née Henson)
 (Mrs.)
M.B. Malschinger (Photo courtesy of Mr Michael Dempster)
Married Lt.Cdr. Brian Eugene Malschinger, RNVR.
 29.07.1901
Islington, Greater London, Middlesex
-
04.1995
North Cotswolds, Gloucestershire
3/O
 		22.10.1940
2/O
 		29.03.1941
1/O
 		26.06.1941
A/C/O
 		03.04.1942
C/O
13.11.1943, seniority 03.04.1942 (reld < 04.1946)
(02.1941)
 		 
 		 
 		HMS Beaver (RN base, Hull)
(12.1941)
 		 
 		 
 		HMS Vulture (RN Air Station, St Merryn)
03.04.1942
 		-
 		11.10.1943
 		in charge of WRNS, Dover Sub-Command [HMS Lynx (RN base, Dover)]
20.10.1943
 		-
 		(10.1944)
 		HMS Spartiate (RN base, Glasgow)
(07.1945)
 		 
 		 
 		HMS Spartiate (RN base, Glasgow) *
* indexed, but not listed as such
Manners,
Margaret Angela
 (Miss)		 see: Cartwright,
Margaret Angela
(née Manners)
 (Mrs)		  
Mathews,
 Dame Elvira Sibyl Marie (née Laughton)
"Vera"
(Mrs.)
E.S.M. Mathews
E.S.M. Mathews (Photo courtesy of Mr Michael Dempster) E.S.M. Mathews (Photo courtesy of Mr Michael Dempster)
E.S.M. Mathews E.S.M. Mathews
Eldest daughter (with three brothers and one sister) of Sir John Knox Laughton, KCB (1830-1915), and his 2nd wife Maria Josepha de Los Angeles de Alberti (1863?-1946).
Sister of Supt. Grace Laughton Bell, CBE, WRNS.
Married (10.06.1924, Kobe, Japan) Ernest Gordon Dewar Mathews (1880?-1943); two sons, one daughter. 
25.09.1888
Hammersmith, London
-
25.09.1959
Ashley Gardens, London
Dir. 11.04.1939
Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire DBE
 01.01.1945
 New Year 45 [investiture 27.02.45]
Commander of the Order of the British Empire CBE
 01.01.1942
 New Year 42
Member of the Order of the British Empire MBE
 09.05.1919
 for valuable services rendered in connection with the war
Grand Officer in the Order of Oranje-Nassau, 4th class (Netherlands) ON4
 07.01.1947
 for outstanding services during the war
Education: convent schools, UK (St Andrew's Convent) & Belgium; King's College, London University
Journalist. Sub-editor "Suffragette" & "Ladies' Field". Editor, "Time and Tide". Girl Guide Commissioner. Skipper of Sea Rangers. Chairman, St. Joan's Social and Political Alliance.
1917
 -
 		1919
 		Unit Officer, WRNS
05.1940
 -
 		11.1946
 		Director, Women's Royal Naval Service
Chairman Domestic Coal Consumers' Council, 1947-1950. President National Smoke Abatement Society, 1949-1951. Member of SE Gas Board, 1949-1959.
Adviser on Women's Affairs to the Gas Council; Life President Association of Wrens; President St Joan's International Social and Political Alliance; Chairman Status of Women Committee; President Mermaid Swimming Club; Member Council Girl Guides Association
Published: Blue tapestry : the story of the WRNS (1948).
Mathews,
Gladys Deveson
 (Miss)
G.D. Mathews
Surname of adoptive parents.
Married ((09?).1945, Ashford district, Kent) Douglas L. Sladden ((09?)/1921 - ); one son.		 16.02.1917
-
01.1979
Chiltern and Beaconsfield district, Buckinghamshire
A/3/O 06.06.1943
3/O 1944?, seniority 06.06.1943
2/O 01.04.1945 (reld > 10.1945, < 04.1946)
28.07.1943 - (12.1943) HMS Scotia (signals training establishment, Doonfoot, Ayr)
24.01.1944 - (07.1945) HMS Eaglet (RN base, Liverpool)
(10.1945)     HMS Drake (RN base, Devonport) *
* indexed, but not listed as such
Mathieson,
Evelyn Margaret Helen
 (Miss)
E.M.H. Mathieson
Married (23.06.1945, Aberdeen) Lt.Cdr. George James Macdonald, DSO, DSC**, MID*, RNZNVR; four daughters, one son.
 23.11.1918
Aberdeen, Scotland
-
2007
Wellington, New Zealand
A/3/O
 		31.01.1944
3/O
1945?, seniority 31.01.1944 (reld 02.09.1945)
Education: University of Aberdeen (Masters degree in French and German).
15.06.1941
  
 		 
 		joined WRNS
31.01.1944
  
 		 
 		commissioned as an officer, serving in "Y" service
(04.1944)
  
 		 
 		no appointment listed
08.05.1944
 -
 		10.07.1944
 		HMS Beehive (Coastal Forces base, Felixstowe)
11.07.1944
 -
 		20.08.1944
 		HMS Pembroke (RN base, Chatham)
21.08.1944
 -
 		02.1945
 		HMS Hannibal (RN base, Taranto, Italy) [(for security reasons she had to be separated from her boyfriend, Jim Macdonald.)]
02.1945
 -
 		05.1945
 		HMS Byrsa (RN base, Naples, Italy)
05.1945
  
 		 
 		returned to UK (by air?)
(07.1945)
  
 		 
 		no appointment listed
May,
Winifred Joyce
 (Miss)
W.J. May (Photo courtesy of Mrs Anne Ammundsen)
Daughter of John Thomas Edward May (1880-1951), and Ellen Elizabeth Edmed (1881-1975).
Married (19.01.1944, Chelsea district, London; marriage dissolved 26.10.1976) Capt (later Col.) Philip Sidney Newton, MBE, FMA, FRSA, Royal Sussex Regiment (14.8.1920 - 30.09.1998); one daughter.		 09.11.1911
Thanet district, Kent
-
02.08.2003
Bromley district, Kent
Wren 11.06.1942 [WRNS 36626]
A/3/O 20.12.1943 (reld 22.11.1944; own request)
War Medal 1939-1945 WM 39|45 - -
11.06.1942 - 30.06.1942 HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base, London) (for Westfield College trainee's)
01.07.1942 - 30.06.1943 HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base, London) (for Combined Operations HQ, Norfolk House)
21.11.1942 - 23.11.1942 sick leave
01.07.1943 - 08.08.1943 HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base, London) (for Princes Gate)
13.07.1943 - 21.07.1943 sick leave
09.08.1943 - 12.11.1943 HMS Lynx (RN base, Dover)
13.11.1943 - 13.11.1943 on passage
14.11.1943 - 04.12.1943 officer's training course
05.12.1943 - 06.12.1943 HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base, London) (for Princes Gate)
07.12.1943 - 19.12.1943 lent for bursar course
20.12.1943 - 02.01.1944 HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base, London) (for Mobile Censorship Unit)
03.01.1944 - 12.01.1944 HMS Minos (RN base, Lowestoft)
13.01.1944 - 20.02.1944 HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base, London)
26.01.1944 - 15.02.1943 unpaid leave
21.02.1944 - 23.04.1944 HMS Northney (landing craft base, Hayling Island)
24.04.1944 - 22.11.1944 unpaid leave [HMS Pembroke III]
McKee,
Joan Spiers
 (Miss)
J.S. McKee
Married 1st (1944, Alexandria, Egypt) Lt. Lewis Arnold Moore, Middlesex Regiment (1918-1945).
Married 2nd ...		 1920
Dundee, Scotland
-
11.05.2013
A/3/O 22.08.1943
3/O 1945?, seniority 22.08.1943 (reld < 04.1946)
20.08.1944 - (01.)1945 HMS Nile (RN base, Alexandria, Egypt)
03.03.1945 - (07.1945) HMS Nuthatch (RN Air Station, Anthorn, Cumberland)
McNeil,
Anne
 (Miss)
A. McNeil		 ?
-
C/O
 		26.10.1942
       
Medhurst-Saul,
Patricia Elizabeth
 (Miss)
P.E. Medhurst-Saul (Photo courtesy of Fiona Chalk) P.E. Medhurst-Saul (Photo courtesy of Fiona Chalk)
P.E. Medhurst-Saul (Photo courtesy of Fiona Chalk)
Daughter (with two sisters) of Walter Emil Medhurst-Saul (1887-1969), and Doris Mary Tennent (1889-1971).		 29.06.1921
Iloilo, Philippines
-
11.1990
Yeovil, Somerset
A/3/O 20.12.1943
3/O 1944?, seniority 20.12.1943 (reld 23.11.1945)
20.12.1943 - (10.)1944 HMS Gnu (RN base, Cape Town, South Africa)
01.10.1944 - (04.)1945 HMS Afrikander (RN base, Simonstown, South Africa)
(07.1945)     no appointment listed
Worked for P&O shipping and for the Palestine Exploration Fund.
Merry-Motson,
Jessie Ritchie
 (Miss)
J.R. Merry-Motson		 ?
-
C/O
 		27.04.1942
       
Millar,
Rachel
 (Miss)
R. Millar
Daughter (with one older brother and one younger sister) of Cdr. Fitzadam Millar, DSC, RN (1889-1965), and Frances Louise Lewarne ((1893-1928).
Sister of S.Lt. Michael Fitzadam Millar, RN.
Married (15.10.1949, St Michael's, London) Lt. Robert Varvill, DSC, RNVR; ... children (two daughters, one son?).		 22.02.1923
Mongalia, Mitubiri, Kenya
-
09.02.2014
West Wittering, West Sussex
A/3/O 02.01.1944
3/O 08.1944, seniority 02.01.1944 (reld > 04.1946)
01.01.1944 - (03.)1944 HMS Victory III (accounting section, Wantage, Berkshire)
21.03.1944 - (06.)1944 HMS Attack (Coastal Forces base, Portland)
31.07.1944 - (10.1944) HMS Hornet (Coastal Forces base, Gosport)
(01.1945)     no appointment listed
04.01.1945 - (04.1946) HMS St Angelo (RN base, Malta)
Miller,
Marjorie Florence
 (Mrs)
M.F. Miller		 ?
-
Supt.
 		15.04.1942
28.03.1945 - (07.1945) WRNS HQ, Admiralty [HMS Pembroke III]
Mitchelhill,
Nora Janet
 (Miss)
N.J. Mitchelhill (Photo courtesy of Pauline Watson)
Daughter (with one brother) of Thomas Mitchelhill (1857-1912), and Annie Laura Banks (1864-1946).		 26.06.1898
Wolverhampton, Staffordshire
-
3/O 10.06.1940
2/O 17.09.1940
1/O 01.03.1941
A/C/O 24.05.1944
C/O 01.01.1945 (reld 18.07.1946)
Education: University College, University of London (BA).
(08.1940)     HMS Victory (RN base, Portsmouth)
 
(10.)1940 - (04.)1941 HMS Boscawen (RN base, Portland)
(06.)1941 - (08.)1942 HMS Pembroke I (seamen & WRNS accounting base, Chatham)
14.08.1942 - (10.)1943 in charge of WRNS Training Depot, Crosby Hall [HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base, London)]
29.10.1943 - (04.)1944 in charge of WRNS at HMS Monster (Combined Operations base, Fortrose, nr Inverness, Scotland)
24.05.1944 - (10.1945) in charge of WRNS at HMS Condor (RN Air Station, Arbroath)
(04.1946)     HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base, London) *
* indexed, but not listed as such
Mocatta,
Marjorie Maude
 (Miss)
M.M. Mocatta		 (06?).1905
Birkenhead district, Cheshire
-
C/O
 		04.05.1942
       
Money,
Betty Angell
(Miss) 		see: Stigner,
Betty Angell (née Money)
(Mrs) 		 
Montague Douglas Scott,
Elizabeth Diana
(Lady)		 see: Scott,
Elizabeth Diana
 (Lady) 		 
Moore,
Joan Spiers
(Mrs)		 see: McKee,
Joan Spiers
 (Miss) 		 
Mortimer,
Elspeth Annie Carruthers Fairish
"Elsie"
(née Johnston)
 (Mrs)
M.M. Mocatta
Daughter (with two brothers) of Thomas Alexander (Tom) Johnstone (1892-), and Annie Carruthers Shankland (1891-1975).
Married 1st (1943, Inverness-shire, Scotland) Arnold V. Mortimer.
Married 2nd ((03?).1953, Kensington district, London) Robert G. Hunt; one son, one daughter.		 27.03.1916
Plantation district, Lanarkshire, Scotland
-
05.2001
Peterborough district, Northamptonshire
A/3/O 29.01.1944
3/O 1944?, seniority 29.01.1944 (reld 29.06.1946)
29.01.1944 - 25.03.1944 HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base, London) (for Mobile Censorship Unit)
26.03.1944 - (10.1945) HMS Lanka (RN base, Colombo, Ceylon)
(04.1946)     no appointment listed
1940s - 1950s Women's Royal Naval Reserve
Her son writes: "She told me she was a radio mechanic fixing radios in Swordfishes and was also part of 'E Group' which she said helped shot down /captured airmen escape back to allied territory."
Mountbatten,
Patricia Edwina Victoria
 (Miss)
P.E.V. Mountbatten (© Imperial War Museum (A 13177)) P.E.V. Mountbatten (© Imperial War Museum (A 13178))
Daughter of Admiral of the Fleet Lord Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
14.02.1924
-
A/3/O 11.03.1945
3/O 11.09.1945 (reld 30.06.1946)
11.03.1945 - (10.)1945 HMS Pembroke (RN base, Chatham)
01.12.1945 - (04.)1946 HMS Braganza (RN base, Bombay, India)
Murray,
Lorna Robertson
 (Miss)
M.M. Mocatta
Daughter of Mr & Mrs Charles Halliday Murray, of Aberdeen.
Married (30.12.1943, West Church of St Andrew, Aberdeen, Scotland; marriage dissolved) Lt. Jan van der Toorren, Royal Netherlands Navy; one daughter, one son.		 1917
Aberdeen, Scotland
-
1980
Aberdeen, Scotland
A/3/O 14.12.1942
3/O 14.12.1943 (reld < 04.1946)
14.12.1942 - (12.1943) HMS Jackdaw (RN Air Station, Crail, Fife)
12.02.1944 - (06.)1944 HMS Caroline (RN base, Belfast)
10.06.1944 - (10.1944) HMS Ferret (RN base, Londonderry)
(01.1945)     no appointment listed
(07.1945)     no appointment listed
       
 
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Mackenzie, D.M.
to
Mocatta, M.M.