Oral Histories
22 oral histories were collected in the course of the research for the book. This form of interview style places importance on the personal story of the interviewee, placing them at the centre of the process and enabling them to have freedom to tell their story as they wish.
This page provides a brief overview that you can click through to find out more about each Wren. The intention is not to report the histories of these women in a formal way (which the book does), instead they give a real sense of the person and include more informal details that came up during the interviews. These will be added to in the coming months - please check back.
Sheila Rodman
Was born in Sheffield in 1926. She left school at 15 and went to work in the James Neelam steelworks as a laboratory assistant and typist. She joined the WRNS in 1944 and trained to be an Air Mechanic: Ordinance Wren at HMS Fledgling. She was later posted to HMS Jackdaw in Fife. By 1946 she had become a Writer as the Air Mechanic role had been discontinued
Jean Atkins (3rd Officer)
Trained at Mill Hill, only a few months into its opening as the WRNS training centre in 1942 at 18 years old. Jean became a Met Wren and was trained on the job in Donibristle at HMS Merlin. She was later posted to Dover to train as a forecaster and was working there in the build up to D-Day.
Jeanette Wakeford (Ordinary Wren)
Signed up in 1943 at the age of 20. She was sent to HMS Pendragon for her initial training as a Writer (having already been to secretarial school). Janette was later posted to HMS King Alfred in Hove and HMS Mercury in Petersfield.
Betty Calderara (Leading Wren)
Joined the WRNS in 1941 at 19 years old. Unlike later Wrens, she was trained on the job as a Writer, having joined the service before the training base at Mill Hill was established. Betty served for nearly four years at HMS Vernon in Portsmouth and later in Brighton when Vernon moved to Roedean School. Later she would be posted to HMS Collingwood.
Catherine Avent (2nd Officer)
Joined the service in 1942 and trained as a Classifier as she was too short to service at Staion X (Bletchley Park) where you needed to be five foot 2. As a Classifier she listened to high speed morse signals from Northern America to Russia. She was initially posted to Great Baddow near Chelmsford. In 1944 she was trained as an officer at Framewood Manor, Stoke Pogues. She finished her service in 1947 as a Administrative Officer within the Education Office, retraining member of the Royal Navy and WRNS to access civilian jobs.
Sophie Richardson* (Petty Officer)
I interviewed Sophie's husband who shared her story of being a Special Duties Wren, owing to her ability to speak fluent German. At the end of the war she was transferred overseas working for Airey Neave to translate content during the Nuremberg Trials.
* Names have been changed based on permissions for the book
The importance of cultural memory
Cultural memory, as a historical approach, has sought to recognise the importance of a range of ways of remembering and memorialising conflicts. It places the subjectivities and intersubjectivities of individuals within the culture of the society being explored. It is closely aligned with the oral history tradition that became popular in the 1970s, as part of the rise in personal testimony as a legitimate historical concern.
Often regarded, as ‘history from below’, oral history and personal testimony, whether in autobiographical or memoir accounts held in archives, shared with magazines, or in media sources have become important sources to understand conflict and people’s lives.
See British Cultural Memory and the Second World War, ed. Lucy Noakes and Juliette Pattinson (London: Bloomsbury Academic, 2013) for more discussion of this topic
© Copyright Hannah Roberts 2024, © Copyright Hannah Roberts 2017 'The WRNS in Wartime', Bloomsbury
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