RJL Parkes Biography
Issue Date: 21/3/2020
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Add info re will & Dower House.
Add holidays in the 1930’s from albums.
This section is a composite of information from Rosemary herself, written
and told at various times and memories of her close family.
DSM managed her not insignificant finances in later years, she was a member of
Lloyds (insurance), but was not as badly hit as some during the disastrous
years in the 1990’s; DSM remarked at one stage, they were back where they
started 20 years before.[i]
War Experiences, from her recollections (16/4/1995 and other times):
Her letters to her parents in the period July 1942 when she joined the ATS
until leaving Egypt in early 1946 have been transcribed. They contain a
snapshot of a bright 23 year old setting off an living in Egypt - they are a
description of her life, observations on the life of others (from her rather
privileged background as viewed in the early 21stC), and her worries
about the future. The following links are large files, with about 100 or more
pages of text each.
Egypt Letters.
From joining the ATS under training, at Bletchley Park, the
voyage out to Egypt and the first few months there.
Last months in the ATS and the first term teaching at the English School.
Latter period in Cairo, including birth of son Antony.
She thought that she was conceived in Stresa (on Lake Maggiori, Italy),
where her parents were on leave towards the end of the 1st World War. Arthur
Parkes, her father, was stationed in Italy at that stage of the war and her
mother, a VAD nurse, had travelled there by train, no mean feat at that time,
probably done as a uniformed nurse which aided travel in those times.
She was born in Wolverhampton, 14/6/19 and lived at Parkdale (on the
Tettenhall Road from Wolverhampton) until 1929. The family then moved to the
Manor House, Oaken, near Wolverhampton, where her father lived until his death.
The family had a much loved Nanny, who remained with them until her death
during the war, when RJLM was in Egypt.
The family lived a life typical of their contemporaries, many of whom had
moved out from the urban areas of Wolverhampton, where they had manufacturing
businesses. There were several staff in the house: Nanny, Tweeny (undermaid),
cook and gardener/driver. Holidays were taken either on the Welsh coast or in
Devon. Theirs was a small family, Arthur only had the 2 daughters, Rosemary and
Bunch, and his brother Cyril, only one daughter. Her mother, Ethel was the only
one of her siblings who married. Arthur and Ethel saw few of their many cousins
and never spoke of them. Some Parkes and Fryer cousins were involved in the
Works from time to time, but the Listers were never mentioned. It is probable
that Arthur & Cyril "came up in the world", drifting away from
their cousins. It is known that there were relatively close Lister relatives in
Willenhall in the 1990's, but no contact has been forthcoming.
Her father was a gifted sportsman and expected his children to take part in
the usual country sports such as tennis and riding. Rosemary neither of these
were her favourite occupation - was not good at ball games and was allergic to
horses! Father deemed them to be desirable however. They had a wide circle of
friends in the area, mainly among the manufacturing families.
She was educated at Bredenbury & Lawnside (Malvern) schools. She was
coached in Birmingham for Cambridge entrance, travelling in daily; this
determination was evident at Cambridge interviews and probably helped her to
win a place. After her mother's cerebral thrombosis in 1937, she became more
involved in running the Manor House. This early experience probably taught her
manage household staff later in life.
Her School Certificate Examination from Lawnside, Malvern, December 1936
showed her having taken: Modern European History, Geography, Latin, French,
Elementary Mathematics. Also studied: English, Religious Knowledge, History,
Geography, Latin, French, Arithmetic, Mathematics, Art, Handicraft, Needlework.
She was an undergraduate at Newnham College, Cambridge (Sidgwick Hall),
1938-41, reading Geography. In October 1939, she met her future husband, Donald
Maitland, also and undergraduate, in the Whim Café on King Street.
In the late 1930's, she trained for and obtained a private pilot's licence
(on Tiger Moths at Wolverhampton airport) under a Government Sponsored scheme,
at 10/- per hour, to build up a reserve of pilots in case of war. During and
after the War, it was not possibly to continue with this. First flight
13/4/1939, Solo 14/8/1939. A test 17/8/1939. Joined Midland Aero Club 18 May
1939 4gns (£172 2004). Flying fees varied from 5/- per hour (abt £10 2004).
Only completed A test and 17 hrs before war stopped it all. Pilot's Certificate
of Competency & Pilot's Licence 21083 issued 25/8/1939 for "all types
of landplane".
Medical 8/3/1939 requiring glasses.
She remembered dances in winter 1939/40 with her sister, Bunch, 3 a week.
None of the men they danced with (all in forces by then) survived the war. Non
technical undergraduates had been called up for military service by then.
During the 1940-41 winter in Cambridge, she woke to find after a snowstorm,
black holes in snow: firebombs had caused them but she had slept through the
raid! Even as an undergraduate, she did not like getting up too early: she
stopped breakfasting then to be able to stay in bed later and never ate
breakfast again. The social life at University was good: there were very few women
in Cambridge (even in the 1960's, the ratio was about 7 to 1, men to women);
some of the friends she and Donald made then lasted throughout their lives.
She joined the Civil Service after leaving Cambridge in the Ministry of
Food at Colwyn Bay calculating optimum nutritional value food imports from US,
work she found interesting.
On 8th November, 1941 she and Donald were married at Codsall Church by
Montague Spinney. DSM was then in the RAF at Sealand, near Chester. Arthur
Parkes was reputed to have stood up in the Church at her sister, Bunch's
wedding and invited everyone back in three weeks. Their honeymoon was simple
and truncated with wartime restrictions.
She joined the ATS (women's army) in June 1942 in order to get to Cairo.
Initial training at Northampton for a week or two, much less than for normal
ATS recruits. This was followed by training at the Intelligence School at Beau
Manor for a few weeks. She was posted to the Government Code & Cypher
School at Bletchley Park by October 1942, probably in Hut 3 with her boss, Capt
Firnberg, a DF expert who later moved to Hut 6, interpreting German radio
intercepts to plot German army group movements. Her letters give an indication
of the 24 hour shift system worked there.
"BP" was the centre of British decoding and interpretation of
German radio traffic (where the "Enigma" transmissions were broken).
As the effort built up, a large number of graduates were recruited, both for
code breaking and for data analysis.
DSM was posted to Egypt in 1942: she did not hear from him for 3 months and
then only by a telegram. It is difficult in an era of fast, universal
communications to realise that this silence was not uncommon. All mail was by
sea, and during much of the war, the Mediterranean was closed to allied civil
traffic, meaning that the Egyptian mail had to route via South Africa.
In mid January 1943 she sailed for Egypt as she transferred from BP to the
outstation in Heliopolis (Cairo) as a Corporal, no mean feat as it was
extremely difficult to "escape" from BP, mainly for security reasons.
The first ATS had arrived in Cairo for this work in early January 1943. It
appears that she was in the second draft of ATS to go to Egypt.
They sailed to Egypt by way of Durban: their convoy to Durban had 8
troopships, 13 destroyers and a battleship and aircraft carrier (as far as
Gibraltar, it felt very lonely when the capital ships left them in mid
Atlantic). Her ship had 40 women and 4500 men and took 6 weeks. They spent a
month in Durban, redirecting forces mail. Durban to Egypt on Empire Windrush
with coloured troops. No escort: there was fear of Japanese submarines (a real
fear: a southbound ship evacuating civilians from Cairo had recently been
sunk). They arrived in April 1943.
Egypt was a big change from the privations of Britain, although some things
were rationed (sugar & paraffin). The life was more of the colonial style.
Rosemary was unusual in Egypt, as a non-commissioned officer, married to and
officer and with a university education and good background. As a result, she
had the entry to the Gazira club on an island in the Nile in Cairo, where many
of their commissioned friends were members.
In the ATS in Cairo, she was doing similar work to that at BP, analysing
the content of radio transmissions intercepted from Greece & Russia and
decoded from the Enigma traffic. Engaged on DF with 276 Wing at Heliopolis -
direction finding on Russian Front and Thrace - Stalingrad to Janina (German HQ
in Thrace). Unlike at BP, they were "told everything" in weekly
intelligence lectures. There were 32 or 33 girls in unit.
She attended a course at Sarafand, near Tel Aviv and visited a deserted
Jerusalem several times, hitching lifts in vehicles to get there. 276 wing was
sent to Italy, but she did not go as the war moved north away from the
Mediterranean.
The Egyptian based cryptanalytical work was carried out in Heliopolis (at
the former Flora and Fauna Museum), where intercepts of Enemy transmissions
(mainly from Russia, the Balkans and Middle East) were made and decoded. The
unit finally moved out of Heliopolis in January 1944, over half to Italy and
the remainder to Sarafand in Palastine. Sarafand had been an early intercept
station, but had been run down in 1941 in favour of Heliopolis.
Rosemary left (escaped from) the Army by the influence of the Professor at
The British School at El Mazra in Cairo: she joined the school in 1944 &
taught Maths & History (of the Crusades to a mixed class of English, Arabs
and Jews) to the equivalent of "O" level & Geography
"A" level.
DSM, RJLM & AAAM left Egypt in March 1946 to Glasgow by ship and moved
to High Elms. High Elms was a Victorian house of about 4 bedrooms in Mill Lane,
behind Codsall Church. It had been bought by Arthur Parkes for us to move into
on arrival back in England. Donald & Rosemary never liked it much. My
(AAAM) impression was that they arrived back to a war scarred Britain and were
told that the house was on the other side of the village and Donald started at
the works "next week"! It did however give breathing space to settle
down back in England.
They learnt about gardening at High Elms, and kept pigs and chickens. The
pigs were killed for bacon and ham. I vaguely remember them being salted on the
cellar. It should be remembered that the late 40's was still a period of
rationing and shortages. I just about remember sweets coming off ration. The
chickens were kept for eggs and boiling: chicken was a luxury meat then. Donald
made the hen run economically - circular, using the least steel. He only later
found the problem of catching an animal in a circular pen.
They lived at high Elms until 1956 when they moved to the Dower House,
Oaken, on the other side of Codsall.
She was a governor of an early Comprehensive School in the local area when
living at High Elms.
One of her great loves was her garden, which she and DSM spent nearly 50
years creating from an older form at the Dower House, and which had reached its
full maturity in 2004. She had an extensive and catholic collection of roses
(120 varieties?) and rhododendrons and azaleas. DSM was in charge of the major
works, the fruit trees and vegetables. Her other passion was travelling: after
the war, she started travelling with DSM when he was away on business trips to
the company's overseas factories, initially in Africa, but later in the Far
East as well. They managed to make one winter trip every year from the early
1960's onward: DSM would cash in his 1st class ticket and use it to buy 2
economy ones. After DSM's retirement, he was asked how he found retirement: he
said they went to the same places, but stayed in the cheaper hotels, but spent
an extra week away. After DSM' death, she continued to travel as much as
possible. They visited most of Western Europe, much of Africa and South East
Asia and the Middle East, the Caribbean, but only one trip to the USA to stay
with DSM's cousin, Dick Poole, in Virginia.
Rosemary's last big overseas trip was to Jamaica and Cuba which she managed on
her own in January 2003. She spent a split holiday, staying at Jamaica Inn with
a short period in Havana, Cuba, which she found fascinating. She was good at
mixing with people she did not know: at Jamaica Inn, both the staff and the
other guests adopted her and looked after her - an 83 year old lady on a solo
trip encouraged the attention.
"Code Breakers", edited by F.H. Hinsley and Alan Stripp has a chapter
partly on the work in Egypt.
Never worried about convention: short fat lady emerging from microlight
aircraft in a flying suit, which, when removed, revealed Rosemary clad in a
mink coat.
Death
Rosemary died 12/7/2004 at home after a trying period fighting cancer: she
found the multiple hospital stays and restrictions to her mobility irksome.
Rosemary was cremated on 20/7/2004 at Telford Crematorium with a Service of
Rememberance afterwards at Codsall Church, where her parents' funerals had been
and where she and Donald were married. Fortunately (for the summer of 2004),
the weather was beautiful and some 70 her friends were able to return to the
Dower House for a last look at the house and garden. An address at the service
was given by Peter Boxer, Antony's oldest friend, who had known Rosemary for
much of his life.
Notes from Dower House Papers:
Christmas Dinner: Shepheard's Hotel, 1944
Returned to UK on HMT "Empire Ken"? March 1946.
Letter 19/6/1963 re:
Whites-Nunan Ltd, Sharp St, Manchester
Injectors-Ejectors, Steam, Oil & water valves, Fire Hoses & Appliances,
ships fittings) from AJP as Chairman (for 32 years). Bought out by Yorkshire
Imperial Metals. RJLM shares 6790, cheque £30555. Also to DSM re 200 shares
£900.
Movement Order W/176595 Cadet Maitland RJL (found at DH miscellaneous)
The A3m will be travelling by air from Lyda to Cairo on 17 March 1944.
Private Pilot's Licence, issued 25/8/1939, valid to 25/4/1940(!).
Logbook showed a total of 17 hours by then, last flight 17 August 1939
(remembering WW2 started 3 September).
Remarks for Rosemary Maitland’s Memorial Service
By Peter Boxer.
We’re celebrating here a remarkable life… As with so many whose passing after
so long a time spent living through a critical period of our history, that life
spanned the great majority of a century which saw enormous change, and indeed
enormous challenges to our way of life…
In terms of this community of Codsall… there is also recognition…of her
family’s presence hereabouts over many years: from the time the Parkes moved
from Wolverhampton to the Manor House in 1926 until now, Rosemary Maitland
represented one of the last links with the days when Codsall itself was a small
country village; both her parents are buried in the churchyard here; the
window at the west end was contributed by her father in memory of her mother;
the roof on this very building, which I gather has just been restored again,
was last renewed thanks to the fund-raising efforts of Rosemary’s father. And
in terms of one local person in particular: if you were a visitor to the Dower
House itself over the last 34 years, you’d know that one of the great and
faithful friends to Rosemary and the Maitland family has been Mary Lowbridge –
for them all, a much-loved representative of continuity if ever there was one!
…Rosemary – as an individual, as one half of that remarkable duo with Donald,
as a Mum – as the Mum of a best school-friend – was her own person, and put her
own individual stamp on the lives of many around her…no-one would ever have
said that she was run-of-the-mill: from the first, she left an impression on
me, as a very young prep-schoolboy, that was at once gentle, amused (and
amusing), perceptive and kind – not to say at times extremely tolerant!
We all have our own set of impressions that have been imbued in us through
being happily and fondly associated with Rosemary: rather alarmingly, I can
lay claim to having known her for “over half a century”…many of my impressions
are, I’m sure, no different in a general sense from those of most others among
her family and friends – and this is certainly not – cannot be -- an exhaustive
list:
…There was a passion for gardens and gardening, of course – not just her own,
but of others’ too…one of her more interesting club memberships being of a
small group called the Borderline Garden Society (…a name surely conjured up by
someone with a sense of humour – members’ gardens being anything but
“borderline”, one gathers!); and for me, being on the periphery of apparently
intense conversations with Donald about The Raspberries … (or about something
else completely incomprehensible to someone like me who’s not bilingual in
horticultural latin);
…that remarkable mackintosh for pottering about the garden – I say “that
mackintosh”: over time there may have been several that saw out their years in
the Dower House garden; but it always seemed to be the same one to me – and
sometimes accompanied by accoutrements like some lovely, and thoroughly
incongruous, diamond ring – the whole ensemble worn completely
un-self-consciously;
…Luxuriant cats – which, I have the impression, always knew, once their mistress
had taken her early-evening bath, that they were NOT supposed to be IN that
chair to the left of the drawing-room fireplace…and never seemed to be;
…Gin-and-French, as part of that pre-dinner ritual at the Dower House – always
Booth’s gin, I think – with Rosemary sitting opposite Donald … reviewing the
day’s events with each other. (On one or two occasions, trying to ‘do the
honours’ after Donald had died, I gallantly mixed one or two of those
gin-and-frenches for Rosemary; but I don’t think I ever quite got it right);
…That Marmalade – still the best in the world, I reckon… production of large
quantities of this breakfast treat itself being part of a quietly determined
routine on which the week, month and year operated around Rosemary and her base
of operations, the Dower House.
…And her love of fine things, surrounded by them in the Dower House, as we will
always remember – about the sense there of the surroundings being so
‘civilised’. …But she was always interested in fine things elsewhere: her
long-held membership of NADFAS was one way of pursuing this passion.
These are the impressions, mostly, from childhood – perhaps the most
strongly-formed sort of impression one has. From the earliest times, too, I
had an impression of Rosemary somehow “being bright” – intelligent. I don’t
mean that condescendingly at all – and I’m sure I didn’t think about it in
quite those terms anyway: but there was something about her – and Donald, too…
…Neither Rosemary, nor, for that matter, Donald, ever talked much about what
they’d done earlier in their lives…like my own father, they were from a
generation that not so much ‘didn’t do that sort of thing’ (hark back to the
past, that is), but from one which instead much preferred to look forward.
…Certainly, I think I knew fairly early on that Rosemary was one of that quite
rare breed of pre-War girls – a Cambridge Graduate; and I thought I knew that
she and Donald had met out in Egypt – which turned out to be historically
inaccurate; but in whichever version, it was still another slightly unusual,
rather exotic, part of her aura. Later, of course, I learned the correct
history – of their meeting in Cambridge and then getting married before going
out to Egypt.
…Of course what one didn’t know at all were the circumstances under which she
went out there – and it was really only quite recently, after the 50-year rule
allowed the relaxation of much of the wartime secrecy surrounding Enigma and
the crucial code-breaking effect on the successful outcome of WW2, that we
found out that Rosemary had been at Bletchley Park – its now-legendary
activities then one of the best-kept wartime secrets, and perhaps the most
remarkable of our wartime ‘secret weapons’. Somehow learning that of Rosemary
didn’t surprise me – neither that she had played a part in that remarkable
story, nor – like so many others involved in it – that she’d never even hinted
at having done so.
…Now, reading through some biographical notes on Rosemary, somehow it doesn’t
surprise me either to learn that she pulled off a remarkable coup – for those
tense times – in managing to extricate herself from Bletchley Park, and be
posted out to Egypt to help form a code-breaking sub-group covering intercepts
of German signal traffic from the Greek and Russian theatres – and to join
Donald, of course, who was already serving out there in the Royal Air Force.
Somehow, it didn’t surprise me either to learn that Rosemary had become a
qualified pilot on Tiger Moths before the war; nor that she’d taught maths, history
and geography to a mixed class of English, Arab and Jewish students at the
British School at El Mazra in Egypt; nor that she’d been a governor at an
early Comprehensive school when she and Donald were living at Codsall.
I think all this has simply confirmed to me how lucky I’ve been to have known,
always with great fondness, a remarkable person whose passing will leave large
holes in the lives of all who knew her. I make no apology for putting her life
in the context of a generation which helped get us to where we all are today.
Like so many others, she kept her particular light well-hidden under a bushel
until not so long ago – and, as I said earlier, that’s something about her
which somehow didn’t surprise us to learn – and that we shouldn’t forget.
And we won’t forget Rosemary: her friendship; for me, sometimes it would be
quite a while between visits, and opportunities to see her – I’d be living
overseas, or whatever – but always, from the first few seconds of seeing her
again, it would be as though I’d just stepped out for a couple of minutes, as
threads were taken up again, and life seemed to go on as before – with Rosemary
as interested, tolerant, and occasionally amused as ever by my sometimes
chaotic life. On one such occasion, she even accepted a lift over to Antony’s
in my Austin Healey – which, about a mile after we’d pulled out from the Dower
House, discourteously ‘failed to proceed’ – actually for the first time since
I’d owned it (it was a problem with the fuel pump for those with a technical
bent, which I fixed with a hammer) – and she accepted even all that in good
grace, along with the draughty drive over to The Gables, and the ever-present
prospect of further unscheduled halts!
…Of course, without Rosemary life won’t now “go on as before”; but we all of
us have some great memories – of which I’ve only represented a small, personal,
fraction here. I’ve left big gaps covering significant aspects of the life she
led both as an individual and with Donald and members of their immediate and
wider family circle, and friends: annual rituals like the wine-bottling
sessions at the Powers from that family’s annual plunder of French vineyards;
Rosemary’s adoration of Lindley and Antony; of Alice, and her grandchildren
Isabel and Oliver; her great closeness to her sister Bunch, and to her two
nieces Carol-Ann and Angie; her courage after Donald died; holidays at Les
Roches Blanches at Cassis (on mine there with the Maitland family, it was my
introduction to Crêpes Suzettes); then on the business front, there were the
lock manufacturers’ conventions at various places in Europe to which she and
Donald went over many years; the business travel to South Africa and the Far
East (when apparently Rosemary used to go as half – the ‘better half’, no doubt
– of Donald’s First Class ticket!) – journeys which I suspect reinforced her
love of travel – later continued on those always-unusual trips with Donald once
he’d retired; but since his death, too, the ‘travel bug’ persisted, sometimes
on her own, but more usually with Lindley, throughout many subsequent odysseys.
All these memories…and these have been just some of my own. For each of us,
it’s these affectionate memories that we celebrate today, in our own contexts,
at a time of great sadness, to be sure; but at the same time, for this
gathering it is also a collective opportunity, happily to recall, and relive,
much that will remain precious for us all, whose lives were lucky enough to
coincide with Rosemary’s.
Dower House Documents
1. Receipt for £64 to NI, 28/12/1964
2. Paybook.
Enlisted Wolverhampton 2/6/1942 "Home Duties"
Clerk mustered 7/1/1943
8 days leave, 2 free rail warrants, 21/5/-30/5/43
7 days leave, 3/4-10/4/44
7 days leave, 27/8-3/9/44
Discharged 21/9/1944 as WS/CPL "services no longer required"
17/9/1944 forces ID card as wife of DSM.
3. From Lawnside school magazine Christmas 1937, University of Cambridge School
Cert A Credits in History, Geography, Latin, French and Mathematics. Also RJLP
shown as member of old girls ass. Left in 1937.
Also in same issue, Ursula P Senior Silver Medal in Verse Speaking exam of
the Poetry Society London. She also was awarded the Tidiness cup
Both were present to the Old Girls Luncheon at the Criterion, Piccadilly, 26
Oct 1950.
4. From the Bredenburian, Fees in 1928? 47-5-0 for board & tuition, 2 gns
each for Dancing & Laundry, 3gns for use of Linen 7/6 for games & 3/6
for Church (seat). Total £55-3-0. (2004 = £2175 cf Moor Park at 4500)
5. Sat Newnham & Girton Joint Scholarship exam Feb 1938 in Geography.
6. According to Times notice of birth, born at Church Hill, Tettenhall.
Confirmed by B/C.
7. Movement Order: W/176595 Cadet Maitland RJL
The Am will be travelling by air from Lyda to Cairo on the 17th
March 44.
Her Story, Written 28 or 29th October 2002
(On paper headed Abou Nawas, Diar El Andalous, El Kantaour, Tunisia - hotel)
1941 finished at Newnham 2.2
Worked in eye infirmary testing eyes while waiting for job - I think might
have been Autumn 1941. Been earlier in long vac.
Late summer job in Ministry of Food. Very interesting job. I calculated
whether it was better to import potatoes or whatever etc on old calculators.
Very restricted available ????? I worked for Ruth Cohen. Likes her. She became
principal of Newnham years later. She found me good digs (Rhos) in (Colwyn Bay
HQ).
Donald was at (Sealand A3M) near Liverpool. Had 72 Tiger Moths on his
inventory! We had to meet in Chester at the Pied Bull for Sunday pm or
Saturday. Car? Train? It was very happy to be near.
Bunch married in a hurry October 18th Pete posted overseas. On
the train from Chester and Colwyn Bay was met at Chester and said he had been
posted to Middle East.
At Bunch's wedding Daddy asked everyone about 30?? To come back in 3 weeks
or so. They were marvellous, Mummy and Daddy.
We had 5 days honeymoon. 1st night Grosvenor Hotel in Chester.
Then the ?? hotel in Beaumauris. Weather not too bad. Think we had Xmas
together at The Manor House. He finally left from where we were staying in
Wilmeslow in Feb 12th (?) Did not sail until 14th. He
went to Freetown and Cape Town for refuelling etc. Arrived March middle.
(Note be A3M - most of his clothing was burnt in a fire in the hold in Suez?)
I then hawked my soul and body to follow him. I was finally interviewed by a
Colonel in road alongside Buckingham Palace. He told me all about the secrecy.
I have always imagined that it was the Cambridge University Appointments Board.
I was sent to Northampton Barracks for military training. Huge barracks bunk
beds one above the other. Food??? It was pathetic the other girls all cried.
Away from home for the first time. Not me. Like school. Not much worse.
Then I did a course on radio for 2 or 3 weeks. Then to Bletchley.
I lived in a 3 story house on the railway line. We worked in huts with
stoves in the middle of the room. There were only a few people in each hut. I
was not allowed in the really secret bit in ??? as I was going. Worked shifts
9-6, 5-12, 12-9. Dispatch riders had to bring the logs (bits of paper) with all
the odd things at the beginning and end which I used to work out where it all
came from. Mostly I did Russian front and N.E. Greece. Once I woke up in the
middle of the night and the stove was red hot. Meals in main buildings. One
night I opened behind a general with red tabs etc. I can't really remember the
people except Lady Ginny Lawson. She was going too, but her husband was posted
home, so she didn't. Used to see her name later in the Tatler etc? Off finally
January 5th - I think.
We spent about a week waiting to go. In near Paddington. Mummy and Daddy
came up to London to Brown's for tea. I had gone ---
We were taken in the middle of the night to the train and off to Liverpool
to get on the Volendan - I think it was. Then up to Glasgow to wait for the
convoy there a day or two. Convoy 13 destroyers, Battleship, Armed Merchant
Cruiser, Aircraft Carrier. Atlantic was rough. I was only ill for one day.
Shared cabin with one girl and bathroom with another 2 next door cabin. Salt
water. Fresh twice a day 6-6.30!! PM. The food wasn't bad. First supper, we had
ORANGES and rolls. What a ???? in the dining room. 33 women and 4500 men!!
Black out. No noise. Could always go out on deck in darkness total. We were
nest door to cruiser, battleship and aircraft carrier. Left when we came back
across Atlantic to go to Gibraltar.
Further edition written 4.II.03 Jamaica (pouring with rain).
Mid January 1943
We all 33? parked in London somewhere near the Royal Lancaster Hotel. Mummy
and Daddy were meeting , e for tea at Brown's Hotel. We were woken in the
middle of the night. Went to Euston and then by train to Liverpool. The officer
ATS told another officer that she was to put my kit bag on her shoulder. I obviously
couldn't. Sailed for Glasgow. 4500 men and 33 women. Shared a cabin with
another girl. Bathroom between 2 cabins only salt water, Fresh water twice a
day for 1/2 hour. Had grapefruit for breakfast at
Picked up convoy in Glasgow and set off across the Atlantic Escort 13
destroyers battleship armed merchant cruiser. Aircraft carrier. Blacked out. No
noise allowed. Played Bingo at night. Just ??? to sit on deck in dark. Went
nearly to US and back. Very rough.
(note by A3M convoys to South Africa took a very westerly route to avoid U
boats).
Carrier and Battleship left us for Gibraltar I think. It took 6 weeks more or
less to get to Durban. We stopped at Freetown for a day or two for walks etc.
No blackout singing.
Durban Feb.
Worked redirecting troops mail. Henwoods looked after me JP&S. Tummy
upset on dock! Wonderful fruit and chocolate 3 weeks 4 weeks? SWIM.
Sailed for Suez on all black troopship. I slept on deck because the
cockroaches were so awful. UNECORTED. A woman sung to the ship as we left
harbour. Arrived Suez mid early April. Tent. ANTS everywhere. No black out.
After 1st night an RAF truck came. A man stepped in shorts and a
moustache. Didn't know who it was for one minute. It was wonderful. He
found me. We were allowed out for the night. Can't think where we slept. Then
by truck we went to Heliopolis.
We went to a smallish modern house detached. A little ??? of modern houses.
Quite nice, 2 floors 4 to a bedroom. I was first floor. Looked across the
desert to MI8 huge mosque like building. Minaret quite close. Mullah always
walking round chanting.
The whole thing was amazing. Leonard Wesson was there - army captain. I was
a corporal. All was revealed. There all services together. WAAF's operated
machines. There was a gallery round it. I worked on ground floor. Once a week
we had a talk about the spies etc report ----
I continued to do .E. Greece and Russian Front. I shall always remember all
the radio operators chatting to each other. We did the same thing. When I sent
information back to the hut at B.P. where I had been, you had to put in a bit
of chat at the beginning and end to make decyphering more difficult. One of the
funniest things - a man ran round the gallery upstairs waving a log (code
thing) showing that the distribution of contraceptives had been completed in
the Dodecanese. The whole place exploded with laughter. We worked 8-1 and 5-8
every day. We knew all about the horror of Cyprus. Russia from Greece and then
Italy. It was fascinating.
276 Wing H.Q.
Stan Grant Wing Commander and 2 other RAF Wing Commanders shared a flat near
and I used to meet nearly every day at the Heliopolis Sporting Club. Went
swimming. Officers only. They were so sweet to me. I was v. lucky. If Donald
could get up to Cairo, sometimes we squeezed in at Stan's flat or at the
Heliopolis House Hotel. I used to go down to Heliopolis after 8.30 and sit
drinking coffee and waiting hours for the call. It was after this that I was
nearly raped by Egyptian Policeman who raced after at the train terminus. I saw
a light on in an isolated house and banged on the door. A woman opened the door
and said of you make all that noise you'll wake the baby! He ???? ???? to
safety. We used to go to open air cinemas after work fish? The same thing nearly
happened with and American black sergeant. Life wasn't dull.
After Italy came into the war ?when 276 wing was moved to Italy, but women
couldn't go January??
Donald and I managed to get Christmas leave 1943. Heaven. Went by train to
Haifa. Terrible journey. No facilities. Didn't like the hotel went to the
officers club in Haifa and hitched a lift with an army Lt 24.XII.43. It was a
fabulous journey all along the coast. No buildings except Tyre and Sidon. No
traffic. It was fabulous. Donald and Lt took turns to drive. They would never
let me go to the loo. They did!
Notes by A3M.
She had a "popper bike" (moped) in BP and rode it between Oaken and
BP. Took a lift one night in a lorry, with the bike in the back and an amorous
lorry driver in the front!
The voyage from Durban to Suez unescorted would have seemed fraught with danger
at the time. While the submarine risk would not have been as high in the Indian
Ocean as in the Atlantic, there had been disguised armed merchant raiders in
the area until recently. History shows that in fact they had been caught by the
time RJLM sailed.
Stan Grant was god father to A3M and finished his RAF career as AVM C in C
Gulf, cut short by heart trouble. He was in Malta in about 1942.
276 Wing re Alan Savage
1 Lakeside Enfield
Middlesex EN2 7NW
9.2.2001
Dear Mr Maitland,
I would refer to my recent E mail regarding Rosemary-Joyce Lister Parkes
who I mistakenly referred to as Mrs Parkes until noticing later that she was
mentioned as RM meaning Rosemary Maitland. In the preamble it said that
she was married in 1941 but gave no new surname. I did not study all the
family history on your web site but only the paragraph about her, which
had first come up after entering 276 Wing on the computer. A visit to
the Family Record Centre in London confirmed her marriage to Donald S.
Maitland. As you state that you were born in Cairo in 1945 I assume that
they were your parents however I do not wish to go further into your family
affairs, my only interest is in 276 Wing.
I volunteered for the R.A.F in October 1940 and after training as a Radio
Telephone Operator and serving in the U.K I was posted overseas and joined
276 Wing in February 1941 at Heliopolis. The Wing had various Field
Stations in parts of the Western Desert, Egypt, Palestine etc which moved
around from time to time. I served at one in the desert, and then in
June 1942 a lot of personnel were evacuated to the Lebanon because of the
war situation. I and others came back in September to open a new F.U. near
Alexandria. This unit eventually moved to near Benghasi in July 1943. I
was recalled to Heliopolis in mid November 1943 and was there until the
Wing moved to Italy.
I mention this because from mid November 1943 until the Wing moved I was
at H.Q and this was the latter part of RM’s service with the ATS at
276 Wing. During my time I don’t remember any ATS at the HQ in the
building we called the Museum which was across from our tented camp. Perhaps
the ATS worked in another building somewhere.
Briefly, as you may already know, 276 Wing was an RAF Signals
Intelligence Station which intercepted German W/T messages and sent back
details to the U.K. I thought at the time that the information was
sent by high speed coded messages (morse) to RAF Chicksands which was
about 15 miles from Bletchley Park but perhaps the two stations operated
in conjunction.
I expect that you have read "The Ultra Secret" by F.W.
Winterbotham which tells the inside story of Bletchley Park. It has been
republished in 2000 in paperback by Orion Books. No mention of 276 Wing
therein, but a very interesting book.
My job with the Wing was i/c 9 other RTOs to maintain a check on radio
messages sent by RAF squadrons, to log them and report back to Heliopolis.
Any information or wrong use of code words which could have been of use by
German interception were reported by HQ to the squadrons concerned. As you
know we made use of mistakes made by the Germans and we tried to increase
our security.
Most of the Wing left Heliopolis for Italy perhaps in January or February
1944 and I heard no more of them, except that they had overloaded
their vehicles with equipment when they left and this was discovered when
one was being loaded onboard a ship at Alexandria and it broke the crane!
To return to RM. It is stated that when the Wing left she obtained a
teaching job at a British school in El Mazah 1944-1945. Did she get a
discharge from the ATS or was this an Army secondment as the war was
still on? Was El Mazah a suburb of Cairo? There is an El Manzala near
Post Said or Beni Mazar 100 miles south of Cairo but perhaps these are
modern spellings.
After the Wing left my RTOs were posted to various other RAF stations but I and
two others went to RAF El Ballah in March 1944. In October I went on to RAF El
Fayid and remained there until the end of my 4 year tour and arrived back in
the UK in November 1945. I finished my service at RAF Tarrant Rushton in
Dorset in May 1946.
Two afterthoughts, At the Field Stations where I worked there were also W/T
sections intercepting messages, except when in the Lebanon where no work was
done. I did a lot of D/F work at other stations but none at 276 Wing and I was
interested that RM had done D/F re Russia and Greece. It was said that some W/T
operators at the Wing could follow German units by the way they sent messages
and one operator was tracked from Europe to Greece but after he turned up in
Russia no more was heard from him!
I am still in contact with a colleague who worked with me on the Wing and at El
Ballah and he will be interested in any news you can give me.
I hope that you have been interested in this letter and I will comment further
on any points you may raise.
I would also mention my own interest in family history and my brother spent
11 years in research, with a little help from me, in tracing one side of
our family in Cornwall back to 1650, before his sad death in 1993. I still
continue a bit. We did go to Australia in 1985 to attend a family reunion
where over 300 turned up and then to Vancouver to meet other relatives. The
Australian family started when my great grandfathers brother emigrated with
his family in 1857.
I must not go on about that it would take too long.
From WW2 People’s War (BBC)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/90/a6258990.shtml
SOME RECOLLECTIONS OF THE ATS PROVOST - [RED CAPS] MIDDLE EAST LAND FORCE
1941-1945 by royalstarandgarter
You are browsing in:
Archive List > British Army
Contributed by royalstarandgarter
People in story: Mrs Daphne Hill [Junior Commander D.G. Phillips ATS]
Location of story: Middle East
Background to story: Army
Article ID: A6258990
Contributed on: 21 October 2005
This story was submitted to the People's War site by Margaret Walsh of The Royal
Star and Garter Home on behalf of Mrs Daphne Hill and has been added to the
site with her permission. The author fully understands the site's term and
conditions.
About 1941-42 the war was in full swing in the Western Desert. The General
Staff had insufficient drivers to take the replacement vehicles up to the
Front. His Majesty's Government gave permission to recruit Palestinians, and
with the few ATS that had arrived in Cairo, via the Cape, a recruiting and
training centre was opened in Sarafand. The basic training was the same as that
given in the UK. Their army number was prefixed with the letter 'P'. Four
thousand Palestinian women joined the British Army during World War 11. Those
suitable as drivers joined the Driver Training Company at Mena near the
Pyramids, outside Cairo, and were soon taking convoys of new vehicles round the
clock up to the Front in the Desert.
Meantime many women were employed in the offices and stores in the Command and
in Palestine. I took up my appointment as DAPM [Deputy Provost Marshall British
Troops Egypt, i/c Red Caps] in 1945. We had sections, a Sergeant and so many
NCOs in Cairo [HQ with CSM], Alexandria and Moascar [The Suez Canal area] to
carry out police duties in the area. We had a few jeeps, and the trips across the
desert from Cairo to Alexandria avoiding camels straying across the road, were
trying in the summer. We wore KD [Khaki drill] uniform jackets with skirts and
ankle socks and our legs soon got brown. In the winter the normal Khaki serge
battle dress was worn.
In Alexandria, among other duties, the girls accompanied the Anti-Vice Squad,
picking up prostitutes and taking them for medical checks. Soldiers were also
picked up for being in a Red Light district. The GOC thought that the shock of
men coming into contact with girls similar to their wives and sisters was an
added punishment. The street was internationally known as Sister Street.
Among their normal duties, the Cairo Section was responsible for customs
control duties on the nightly Cairo-Haifa train, which left every evening,
reaching Haifa a.m., and leaving the next evening to return to Egypt. Egypt was
a 'foreign country', and the customs check was at Kantara on the Suez Canal
where the train crossed the bridge into Sinai. The number of service personnel
and civilian 'natives' was so great that the train was held up for hours, so in
the end the Egyptian authorities asked the British to check our personnel plus
the Polish forces for contraband, which was done while the train was on the
move. The train was very long, with long corridors. Every carriage was full of
people and their baggage. The NCO opened the door and asked if they had goods
to declare. If someone looked guilty, you had to check their baggage, and most
had a lot! We joked that we were looking for Baksheesh, Hashish and Mahleesh
[couldn't care less] - a joke on Arabic words. We confiscated the booze, cigs.
and the normal goods.
A memory that is still with me - seeing dawn through the train window - the
moon, a palm tree and the dome of a mosque - a real Biblical scene, and then we
slowed down for Gaza.
Two girls went up and down every night. The women I commanded, the senior NCOs,
were from the UK mostly. We were a mixed crowd - Palestinians, girls from
India, Cyprus, various European countries. They gossiped away in their rooms
[in a house] in Hebrew. I would hear the CSM telling them "Get moving. I
do not know what you are saying, but get on and DO IT." The girls got on
well together and we were a happy unit. One L/Cpl, a Greek, I am sure could not
read orders, but the girls covered for her!
The Palestine Command had their own ATS Provost unit, but the train duties were
run from Cairo.
On reflection, it was a privilege to have seen the Holy Land before the
tourists, been inside the Pyramid, and watched the belly dancers in the night
clubs of Cairo, and generally to have been there.
In 2005 I am still in touch with L/Cpl M Nissim from Jerusalem, now Mrs. Robins
in Florida.
© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find
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TRAVELLING
A list (written on a piece of card from a box!)
1946 Switzerland
1947 Woollacombe
1948 Cornwall Pier Sands
1949 Abersoch
1950 Abersoch
1951 Abersoch
1952 Westward Ho
1953 ?
1954 South Africa
Caravan
1955 Caravan
1956 Boat Holland
1957 R Europe
D America (when he smuggled back early Salk polio vaccine for children)
1958 Garendon
1959 Italy
Garendon
1960 Belgium & Holland (Spring)
Brittany
1961 South Africa
Cassis
1962 Scotland
Cassis
1963 Holland
Sweden
Cassis
1964 Hamburg
Cassis
Montreux
1965 Scotland
Vienna
Cassis
Munich
RJLM’s entry in the Royal Aero Club certificate. Taken at Pendeford Aerodrome
(Wolverhampton), which was managed by the Midland Aero Club at the time. The
Moth Major was one of the Gipsy Moth DH60 series.
Son Antony owns the only flying Moth Minor in the UK in 2012.
Changes:
24/11/00 Edited.
10/6/2001: resaved HTML from Word
1/5/2002: edited and extra information.
8/12/2003: edited.
13/7/2004: RJLM death.
26/4/2005: Letters transcribed
21/3/2020: links revied.