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

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

Looking for details on a WRNS officer not listed here yet?
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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.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

PATO
to
PYM

S.E. Paton to B.M.C. Pym

Paton,
Sheila Ethel
(Miss)
S.E. Paton

Married ((03?).1947, Chelsea district, Middlesex) Michael T. Fuller.

25.03.1922
Reigate district, Kent
-
01.1996
Vale Royal district, Cheshire

3/O	11.07.1943 (reld > 07.1946)

11.07.1943	-	(10.1944)	HMS Landrail (RN Air Station, Machrihanish, Argyllshire)
(01.1945)			no appointment listed
23.01.1945	-	16.04.1945	HMS Lanka (RN base, Colombo, Ceylon)
17.04.1945	-	(10.1945)	HMS Bambara (RN Air Station, Trincomalee, Ceylon)
(04.1946)	-	(07.1946)	HMS Sultan (RN base, Singapore) *

* indexed, but not listed as such

Pattison,
Mary Romaine
(Mrs)

see:

Andrews,
Mary Romaine
(Miss)

Paul,
Florence Jessie
(Miss)
F.J. Paul (Photo courtesy of Jackie Neatherway)

Daughter (with three siblings) of William Lloyd Paul (1888-1966), and Jessie Mary Main (1895-1953).
Married ((03?).1949, Stroud district, Gloucestershire) S.Lt. Ralph Anthony Bird, RNVR (02.04.1924 -); three children.

21.08.1921
Stroud district, Gloucestershire
-
10.05.1982
Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Wren	18.03.1941 [ON 14662]
Ldg. Wren	04.05.1943
A/3/O	27.02.1944
3/O	27.08.1944, seniority 27.02.1944 (dispersed 01.10.1946) (reld 26.11.1946)

18.03.1941	-	30.04.1943	HMS Spartiate (RN base Clyde, Glasgow) [Wren (G), from 27.05.1941 Wren Coder, from 27.08.1941 Wren (HSR [= Higher Sepicialised Rate])
01.05.1943	-	27.02.1944	HMS Skirmisher (RN base, Milford Haven) (15.01.1944-05.02.1944 officers' training course)
28.02.1944	-	28.08.1944	HMS Eaglet (RN base, Liverpool) (for cypher duties in office of Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches)
29.08.1944	-	25.01.1945	HMS Royal Anne (Naval Party 1500, Arromanches [Mulberry B]) (for cypher duties) [accounts carried in HMS Odyssey (accounting base for Naval Parties)]
26.01.1945	-	31.03.1945	HMS Odyssey (accounting base for Naval Parties) (additional; for duty with Naval Party 1747)
01.04.1945	-	13.08.1945	HMS Pembroke I (additional; for duty with Naval Party 1747)
14.08.1945	-	30.09.1945	HMS Royal Albert (RN base, London / Berlin) (additional; for Naval Party 1730)
01.10.1945	-	14.11.1945	HMS Royal Edgar (port party, Hamburg) (additional; for cypher duties at Hamburg Naval [...] Centre)
15.11.1945	-	28.09.1946	HMS Royal Albert (RN base, London / Berlin) (additional; for cypher duties)
29.09.1946	-	30.09.1946	HMS President I (additional; for time only)

Payne,
Peggy Gordon (née Burton)
(Mrs)

see:

Burton,
Peggy Gordon
(Miss)

Peacop,
Rhona Cynthia Martin (née Power)
(Mrs)

see:

Power,
Rhona Cynthia Martin
(Miss)

Pemberton,
Nellie
(Miss)
N. Pemberton (Photo courtesy of Mr Kenneth Allan)

Daughter of Samuel Pemberton, and
Elizabeth Marsden.
Married (26.11.1945, Sydney,
Australia) Lt. Sydney Smith, Australian
Army (1914-2010); one daughter.
Last residence: Lower Templestowe,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.

11.10.1905
Birkdale, Southport,
Lancashire
-
04.03.1984
Metung, Victoria,
Australia
[cremated at
Springvale
Crematorium & her
ashes were scattered
within the grounds of
Bletchley Park, Milton
Keynes, UK]

Petty Officer Wren	?
3/O	23.01.1941
2/O	05.07.1944 (reld 02.02.1946)

26.03.1940			enlisted WRNS (possibly at Dartmouth)
			served as a cipher officer in Signals/ Intelligence in Europe, Canada and the United States:
1940			served at the National Codes Centre at Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire
?	-	(12.1941)	HMS Cochrane II (supply & accounting base for tenders, Rosyth)
01.04.1942	-	(06.1944)	HMS Saker (British Admiralty Delegation, Washington, DC, USA)
06.02.1945	-	(07.1945)	HMS Mercury (signal school, near Petersfield)

Philip,
Madeleine Florence
"Mado"
(Miss)
M.F. Philip

Daughter (with two sisters and one brother) of George Morrison Philip (1892-1965), and Madeleine Marie-Louise Ficart (1898-1982).
Married (28.12.1950, Namur, Belgium) Jean Paul Jules Vigné (03.06.1925 - 14.11.2012); three daughters (one of whom died in infancy).

30.08.1920
Guntur, Andhra Pradesh,India
-
19.07.2004
Château-Thierry, Aisne, Picardie, France

A/3/O	20.02.1944
3/O	1944?, seniority 20.02.1944 (reld 27.07.1946)

09.10.1940			enlisted WRNS
26.03.1944	-	(07.)1945	HMS Cormorant (RN base, Gibraltar)
19.07.1945	-	(10.1945)	HMS Byrsa (RN base, Naples, Italy)
(04.1946)			no appointment listed

A daughter writes: "She would often tell me and my sister about her time as a wren, her postings in Malta, Caserte and Gibraltar."

Playford,
Joan Lesley
(Miss)
J.L. Playford (Photo courtesy of Heather Battles)

Daughter (with two sisters and one half-brother) of Arthur Playford (1870-1944), and Gladys Muriel Barron (1879-1981).
Married (15.03.1947, Hastings district, Sussex) Lt.Cdr. (later R.Adm.) Robert Munroe Battles, RCN (04.06.1918 - 26.10.1999), son of Earle Winslow Battles (1891-1918), and Edith Clitheroe Ross (1889-1992).; two sons, one daughter.

20.08.1916
Chertsey district, Kent
-
10.08.1990
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

3/O	15.05.1941
2/O	31.07.1944 (reld 26.11.1945)

	Def M	-	-
	WM 39\|45	-	-

			undergone the WRNS Officers' Training Course at Greenwich
(08.)1941	-	(10.)1941	HMS Pyramus (minesweeper & anti-submarine base, Orkney)
(12.)1941	-	(02.)1942	HMS Boscawen (RN base, Portland)
1942	-	(04.)1942	Admiralty [HMS President]
01.04.1942	-	(06.)1944	HMS Saker (British Admiralty Delegation, Washington, DC, USA)
03.07.1944	-	(07.)1945	HMS Orlando (RN base, Greenock)

Plews,
Barbara [Joyce]
(Miss)
B. Plews

Married 1st ((03?).1944, Greenwich district, Kent) Bernard W. Campbell; ... children.
Married 2nd ((03?).1956, St Asaph district, Merionethshire) William E. Sumner.

07.04.1922
St Asaph district, Merionethshire
-
12.1995
Rhuddlan district, Clwyd, Wales

Wren	?
3/O	23.01.1941
A/2/O	16.11.1943
2/O	15.03.1944, seniority 16.11.1943 (reld > 04.1944, < 06.1944)

			undergone the WRNS Officers' Training Course at Greenwich
(04.1941)			HMS Victory II (accounting section)
(06.1941)	-	(02.1943)	HMS Eaglet (RN base, Liverpool)
(04.1943)			HMS President III (accounting base)
19.04.1943	-	(06.)1943	HMS Eaglet (RN base, Liverpool)
28.06.1943	-	(04.)1944	HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base) (for duty with Admiral (Submarines))

Pontier,
Betty Isabel
(Mrs)

see:

James,
Betty Isabel
(Miss)

Pott,
Alixandrina Rose
(Miss)
A.R. Pott

Elder daughter of George Murray Pott, a wireless operator in the Merchant Marine in WW1 & T/A/Lt.Cdr. (Sp.Br.) RNVR in WW2, of Glasgow, Scotland.
Married (12.1944) Lt. (S) William Arthur Walters, RN (11.09.1921 - 14.12.2002), son of William Samson Walters, DSM and Bar, RN (1880-1938), and Edith Langdon, of Exeter, Devon; two daughters.

25.11.1920
-
28.12.2012

3/O	27.02.1944 (reld 27.10.1945)

27.02.1944	-	(10.1944)	HMS Cochrane II (supply & accounting base for tenders, Rosyth)
(01.1945)			no appointment listed
22.02.1945	-	(07.1945)	HMS Excellent (gunnery school, Portsmouth)

Potter,
Félicité
(Miss)
F. Potter

(06?).1916
Nantwich district, Cheshire
-

C/O	01.01.1944

MBE

Poulden,
Janet Gawler
(Miss)
J.G. Poulden

26.02.1912
Hampstead district, Greater London
-
04.2001
Gloucester, Gloucestershire

C/O	27.03.1944

Power,
Rhona Cynthia Martin
(Miss)
R.C.M. Power

Daughter of .... Power, and ... Stewart.
Married (02.09.1944) Maj. Archie William Peacop, African Colonial Forces (11.03.1917 - 27.02.1992); two daughters.

23.12.1914
Medway district, Kent
-
08.07.2008
Kirstenhof, Cape Town, South Africa

3/O	23.01.1941
2/O	16.03.1943 (reld > 10.1945, < 04.1946)

1941	-	(04.)1941	HMS Drake (RN base, Devonport)
1941	-	(06.)1941	HMS Pembroke I (RN base, Chatham)
(08.)1941	-	(10.)1941	HMS Wildfire (RN base, Sheerness)
(12.)1941	-	(02.)1942	HMS Badger (minesweeper base, Harwich)
(04.)1942	-	(02.)1943	HMS Victory III (accounting section, Wantage, Berkshire)
16.03.1943	-	(10.)1943	HMS Kestrel (RN Air Station, Worthy Down, nr Winchester)
25.10.1943	-	(06.)1944	HMS Heron (RN Air Station, Yeovil, Somerset)
1944	-	(10.1944)	HMS Lanka (RN base, Colombo, Ceylon)
(01.1945)	-	(07.1945)	HMS Hathi (RN depot, Kandy, Ceylon) *
(10.1945)			no appointment listed

* indexed, but not listed as such

Prendergast,
Madeleine Irene
(Miss)
M.I. Prendergast

Daughter (with three sisters and one brother) of Cdr. Edmund James Prendergast (1873-1936), and Violet Pratt-Barlow (1877-1948).
Married ((12?).1950, Kensington district, London) Philip Watts Solly, MA (15.09.1908 - 28.09.1989), Lt. Royal Artillery & preparatory school headmaster; one son.

03.06.1911
Southsea, Portsmouth district, Hampshire
-
10.06.1994
Bethany Residential Care Home, Paxton Hall, Huntingdon district, Cambridgeshire

Ldg. Wren	?
3/O	12.10.1941
2/O	18.08.1942
A/1/O	01.05.1944
1/O	01.01.1945 (reld > 10.1948)

			WRNS officers' training course, Greenwich
08.11.1941	-	(06.)1943	HMS Eaglet (RN base, Liverpool)
(08.1943)	-	(02.1944)	HMS Gadwall (RN Air Station, Sydenham, Belfast) *
(04.1944)			no appointment listed
01.05.1944	-	(06.)1944	HMS Braganza (RN base, Bombay, India)
08.1944	-	(10.)1945	HMS Hathi (RN depot, Delhi, India & Kandy, Ceylon)
15.11.1945	-	(07.1946)	HMS Sultan (RN base, Singapore)
(10.1946)			no appointment listed

* indexed, but not listed as such

Price,
Hilda Mary
(Miss)
H.M. Price

Daughter (with one brother) of Albert Price (1867-1944), and Mary Louisa Middleton (1880-1960).
Married (1946) Clennel Evelyn Van Rooyen (28.09.1908 - 16.03.1989); one son, one daughter.

04.04.1915
Buncrana, Donegal, Ireland
-
24.03.2014
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Petty Officer Wren	?
3/O	23.08.1942
2/O	31.07.1944 (reld 21.09.1946)

23.08.1942	-	(08.)1943	HMS Eaglet (RN base, Liverpool)
14.10.1943	-	(10.)1945	HMS Cormorant (RN base, Gibraltar)
11.1945	-	(07.)1946	HMS Cochrane (RN base, Rosyth)

Prichard,
Ada Constance
(Mrs.)
A.C. Prichard

?
-

C/O	01.04.1945

Pym,
Ann Vere
(Miss)
A.V. Pym (Photo courtesy of Fearnley Szuster)

Daughter of Paul John Every Pym (1870-1948), and Marjory Isabel Anderson (1891-1965), of Overcompton, Sherborne.
Married (24.11.1945, Church of the Holy Ghost, Yeovil, Somerset) Lt.Cdr. Witold Ryszard Szuster, DSC, Polish Navy (1913-1973), son of Adam Szuster (1868-1952), and Julja Jaskolska (1877-1942) of Warsaw, Poland; one daughter, three sons.

17.07.1919
Maidenhead district, Berkshire
-
12.09.2001
Adelaide, South Australia

3/O	27.02.1941
2/O	20.08.1943 (reld > 10.1945, < 04.1946)

(06.)1941	-	(02.)1943	HMS Pembroke (RN base, Chatham)
08.02.1943	-	(08.)1943	HMS Pembroke III (WRNS accounting base, London) (for WRNS Training and Drafting Depots)
20.08.1943	-	(10.)1944	in charge of WRNS, HMS Fervent (RN base, Ramsgate)
20.10.1944	-	(04.)1945	HMS Pembroke V (secret base WRNS, Bletchley Park, London)
26.06.1945	-	(07.1945)	HMS Gosling (new entry training establishment, Risley, nr Warrington, Lancashire)
(10.1945)			no appointment listed

Pym,
Barbara Mary Crampton
(Miss)
B.M.C. Pym

Elder daughter of Frederic Crampton Pym (1879-1966), solicitor, of Oswestry, and Irena Spenser Thomas (1886-1945).

02.06.1913
Oswestry, Shropshire
-
11.01.1980
Michael Sobell House, a hospice attached to the Churchill Hospital in Oxford

A/3/O	11.03.1944
3/O	06.10.1944, seniority 11.03.1944 (reld < 04.1946)

Education: Huyton College, Liverpool; St Hilda's College, Oxford.

11.03.1944	-	(06.)1944	HMS Mastodon (Combined Operations base, Exbury House, Exbury, nr Southampton)
21.08.1944	-	(01.)1945	HMS Hannibal (RN base, Taranto, Italy)
(07.1945)			no appointment listed

Novelist. Editorial Secretary, International African Institute, London, 1958-1974. FRSL, 1978.
Published: Some Tame Gazelle, 1950; Excellent Women, 1952; Jane and Prudence, 1953; Less than Angels, 1955; A Glass of Blessings, 1958; No Fond Return of Love, 1961; Quartet in Autumn, 1977; The Sweet Dove Died, 1978; posthumous publications: An Unsuitable Attachment, 1982; Crampton Hodnet, 1985; Civil to Strangers and Other Writings, 1987.

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