Pamela Betty McGeorge BEM was a Women's Royal Naval Service motorcycle dispatch rider during World War II.
Early life
editPamela 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
editMcGeorge 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 Womens 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
editMcGeorge 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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