Pamela McGeorge
Pamela Betty McGeorge BEM was a Women's Royal Naval Service motorcycle dispatch rider during World War II.
Early life
[edit]Pamela Betty McGeorge was born on 29 October 1918, in Edgebaston, to Mabel Maud (née Cooper) and John McGeorge.[1] She was baptised at St Bartholomew's Church, Edgbaston on 30 November 1918. Her father was a surveyor of taxes.[2]
Second World War
[edit]McGeorge initially joined the Women's Land Army aged 20, in 1939, having been at physical training college. She resigned to join the Women's Royal Naval Service.[3]
On 30 September 1941,[4] when a WREN third officer, she received the British Empire Medal, for bravery in carrying urgent despatches on foot in an air raid. She delivered a despatch to a command post at the naval shipyards in Devonport, Plymouth on 22 April 1940, after being thrown from her motorcycle by a German bomb during the air raid, then volunteering for more despatch duty.[5][6][7][8][9] McGeorge had been a Sea Ranger.[10][11] She underwent training WREN's officer training at Greenwich and was promoted to acting second officer on 29 January 1944[12] and was listed as a second officer in the Women's Royal Navy (Supplementary) Reserve in 1960.[13]
A portrait of McGeorge by British painter Anthony Devas is in the collection of The Hepworth Wakefield.[14]
Later life
[edit]McGeorge settled in the family home in Cheltenham after the war.[15]
References
[edit]- ^ "England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "Birmingham, England, Church of England Baptisms, 1813-1919". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "UK, World War II Women's Land Army Index Cards, 1939-1948". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "McGeorge, Pamela Betty - TracesOfWar.com". www.tracesofwar.com. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ Woodward 2019, p. 48.
- ^ Costello 1987, p. 28.
- ^ Roberts 2017, p. 131.
- ^ Wadge 2003, p. 78.
- ^ "The Female Dispatch Motorcycle Riders Of World War II". Motorcyclist. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "Young authors' section: The Wendy Hut". Winnipeg Free Press. 17 January 1942. p. 31 – via Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Honour for Sea Ranger". Launceston Examiner. Launceston, Tasmania. 26 February 1942. p. 5 – via Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970 (1944 April, Vol 2)". www.ancestry.co.uk. 1944. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ "UK, Navy Lists, 1888-1970 (1960)". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
- ^ Art UK 2019.
- ^ "Gloucestershire, England, Electoral Registers, 1832-1974". www.ancestry.co.uk. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
Sources
[edit]- Woodward, Lyn (June 2019), "War birds: the female dispatch riders of wartime England", Motorcyclist, Bonnier Corporation, ISSN 0027-2205
- Costello, J. (1987). Virtue Under Fire: How World War II Changed Our Social and Sexual Attitudes. Fromm International Publishing Corporation. ISBN 978-0-88064-070-1. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
- Roberts, H. (2017). The WRNS in Wartime: The Women's Royal Naval Service 1917-1955. I.B.Tauris. ISBN 978-1-78672-325-3. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
- Wadge, D.C. (2003). Women in Uniform. Women in wartime series. Imperial War Museum, Department of Printed Books. ISBN 978-1-901623-61-1. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
- Imperial War Museum (1989). Union Jack: a scrapbook : British forces' newspapers 1939-1945. Her Majesty's Stationery Office in association with the Imperial War Museum. ISBN 978-0-11-772628-4. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
- Pamela McGeorge, BEM, of the Women's Royal Naval Service by Anthony Devas (Artworks database), Art UK, retrieved 14 June 2019
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