Celebrating the Contribution of Somervillians in Wartime 1914-18, 1939-45
This booklet is a tribute to the remarkable women of Somerville who served, supported, and shaped the outcomes of both the First and Second World Wars. Drawn from archival research and personal records, these profiles highlight not only the formal roles these women played in the military, government service, intelligence, academia, journalism and humanitarian aid, but also their courage, intellectual brilliance, and unwavering commitment to their communities
Their wartime contributions ranged from codebreaking at Bletchley Park to fire-watching on college rooftops, from intrepid journalism to life-saving humanitarianism Some joined the armed services or civil defence organisations, while others served through teaching, research, and writing, keeping intellectual and civic life alive through the difficult years of war.
Organised by categories that reflect both their wartime roles and their connection to Somerville, this booklet offers a glimpse into lives shaped by global conflict and the resilience these women brought to their roles. It is designed not only as a record of service but as a source of inspiration and the enduring legacy of Somervillian women in war.
The Somerville Remembrance Garden
The photo below was used as the basis for the plaque introducing Somerville’s new Remembrance Garden, which opened in May 2025.
It captures a moment from the Second World War: a group of Somerville women practising a fire drill outside Maitland, drawing water from the lily pond that once stood where the garden now blooms.
Chosen for its quiet symbolism, this image honours not only the resilience and readiness of the women who served on the home front, but also the continuity of place; where vigilance and community spirit once flourished, a space of reflection and remembrance now takes root.
The garden stands as a living tribute to these Somervillians’ service, their strength, and the enduring legacy of their College in wartime.
Somervillians in the Great War
The First World War marked a profound turning point lives of the women at Somerville. Many women steppe roles previously denied to them. This chapter highlights those who served during the Great War: in hospitals, in administrative offices, and in farmers’ fields. Their contributions laid the groundwork for the expanding role of women in public and professional life, and their experiences shaped a generation’s understanding of service, sacrifice, and social change
Full Name: Vera Mary Brittain Catlin
Matriculation: 1914 – History
War Service: Brittain is most known for her generation-defining wartime memoir ‘Testament of Youth’. The experiences recounted in the book all stem from her time as a student of Somerville, falling in love and losing her fiancé in France, and working as a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse Brittain also helped the war effort by working as afire wardenand by travelling around the country raising funds for the Peace Pledge Union's food relief campaign. Later a dedicated pacifist, the 1945 release of the Nazis' Black Book containing nearly 3,000 people to be immediately arrested in Britain after a German invasion was nonetheless shown to include her name
World War: 1
Vera Brittain
Joan Constant
Full Name: Joan Constant
Matriculation: 1920 – English
War Service: Constant worked as a clerk in the intelligence department of the War Office from 1915-18. She was then secretary to the Foreign Office Legal Adviser.
World War: 1
Hilda Stewart Reid
Full Name: Hilda Stewart Reid
Matriculation: 1917 – History
War Service: Reid undertook agricultural war work. She mainly picked strawberries and flax which was needed to make fabric for cockpits and the wings of aircrafts During the Second World War she volunteered as an air raid warden in the Chelsea borough of London.
World War: Both
Somerville College during World War One
In 1915, the War Office took over Somerville’s site for use as a hospital for wounded officers, and the College relocated to St Mary Hall Quad in Oriel College
During its time as the 3 Southern General Hospital, Somerville College cared for many injured officers, including the poets Siegfried Sassoon and Robert Graves. Sassoon later recalled that “to be lying in a little white-walled room, looking through the open window onto a college garden, was...very much like Paradise.” rd
The period was not without incident, however A sign was found in Maitland by the returning Somerville students: ‘Officers are requested not to throw custard at the walls.’ There is also the infamous evening in 1919 when some Oriel men embarked on a nocturnal escapade to break through the wall dividing them from St Mary Hall and the Somerville women, leading then-Principal Emily Penrose to hold a heated conversation through the hole with Oriel’s Provost about restraining his charges
The incident was later recast by a Somerville as a retelling of the Mechanicals’ play from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, with Dame Emily as Thisbe and the Provost as Pyramus (“I’ll go at once and send my men to bed...”).
Chapter Two WWII Students at Somerville
WWII Students at Somerville
While many women served on the frontlines of intellig logistics and military support during the Second World War, o contributed vitally from within the college itself. Throughou course of WWII, Somerville College was a place of determined patriotic effort its students and staff adapting to wartime pressures while continuing their studies, supporting the Home Front, and in some cases preparing for roles in national service. This section highlights those whose war work was rooted in or closely connected to their time at Somerville, showing that courage and contribution were not only found on battlefields or within codebreaking huts, but also classrooms and college corridors
Cecily Bennett
Full Name: Cecily Mary Eleanor Hastings Bennett (Fisher)
Matriculation: 1942 – French & German
War Service: Bennett worked as a fire warden whilst at Somerville and would watch for any fires that may arise from bombings Following this, she was sent to New York City as the first female Vice-Consul, where she helped British subjects return home following the war.
World War: 2
Averin Hinton
Full Name: Averin Dora Macallister Hinton
Matriculation: 1940 – French & Spanish
War Service: Hinton wrote a memoir of wartime Oxford, and her letters were published as ‘Averin’s War’. She also worked in the Foreign Office from 1943-4
World War: 2
Full Name: Baroness Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher
Matriculation: 1943 – Chemistry
War Service: Margaret Thatcher grew up in Lincolnshire and came to Somerville in 1943 to study Chemistry. After graduation, she worked briefly as a research chemist before training as a barrister. In 1959 she was elected MP for Finchley She voluntarily worked as a fire watcher in the local ARP service whilst at secondary school and helped with the local forces canteen twice a week whilst at Somerville She would go on to become Britain’s first female Prime Minister as well as the nation’s first scientist Prime Minister. Baroness Thatcher became an Honorary Fellow of Somerville College in 1970.
World War: 2
Baroness Margaret Thatcher
Chapter Three Code-Breakers and Linguists
Photo: Patricia and Jean Owtram
Code-Breakers and Linguists
Among Somerville’s most remarkable wartime contributions were the women who used their intellect and linguistic talents to break codes, interpret enemy communications, and serve in intelligence roles. Many of them worked in utmost secrecy at Bletchley Park, wireless intercept stations or foreign offices. Here, their work was fundamental, yet they were unrecognised for decades due to the classified nature of their roles. This chapter remembers those women whose sharp minds and quiet dedication helped decipher the course of war, often without fanfare, but with lasting impact
Photo: Dr Carmen Blacker
Annette Arculus
Full Name: Annette Magda Townend (Arculus)
Matriculation: 1937 – French & German
War Service: Arculus served from 1940-45 in the Air Ministry and then in the Foreign Office at Bletchley Park. Her family have preserved all her letters written during this period, which focus on her efforts to learn Russian, rather than the sensitive nature of her role.
Rank: TSAO(D)
World War: 2
Dr Carmen Blacker
Full Name: Dr Carmen Elizabeth Deidre Blacker
Title(s)/Awards: OBE, FBA
Matriculation: 1948 – PPE
War Service: Blacker was a codebreaker and Japanese translator in technical intelligence within the Naval Service. Following the war, she was one of the first overseas students to study at the prestigious Keio University in Tokyo Blacker went on to enjoy a fruitful career at the University of Cambridge, teaching and publishing her research until her retirement in 1991.
World War: 2
Lorna Bottomley
Full Name: Lorna Margaret Bottomley
Matriculation: 1941 – French
War Service: Bottomley served alongside her friend and fellow Somervillian, Mary Kenyon, to decipher Enigma transmissions from Hut 6
Rank: TA
World War: 2
Full Name: Professor Amy Marjorie Dale (Webster)
Title(s)/Awards: FBA
Matriculation: 1919 – Classics
War Service: Dale joined the Foreign Office at the start of the Second World War, where she was highly prized for her analytical skills, which added to the national intelligence effort She was made an Honorary Fellow in 1962.
Rank: TSAO
World War: 2 Amy Marjorie Dale
Hilda Harvey
Full Name: Hilda Jean Harvey (Thompson)
Matriculation: 1946 – English
War Service: Harvey joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service and was stationed at Bletchley Park. She was responsible for the maintenance of the Colossus computer
World War: 2
Lucienne Hill
Full Name: Lucienne Marie Hill (Palmer)
Matriculation: 1941 – French & German
War Service: Hill worked on Enigma at Bletchley Park, translating messages from French to English, which enabled her to work within the Intelligence Establishment Team. She would go on to become a respected translator of plays, and was an understudy to Mae West.
World War: 2
Elizabeth Hunter
Full Name: Elizabeth Greaves Hunter
Matriculation: 1940 – Classics
War Service: Hunter is listed as working in Block D at Bletchley, which housed Hut 6, the section responsible for breaking the German army and air force Enigma cyphers Within Hut 6, SIXTA, or Section 6A, specialised in traffic analysis, examining the characteristics of enemy messages to understand their organisation, locate forces, and pinpoint radio transmitter locations across Europe
Rank: Cpl
Corps/Regiment: ATS
World War: 2
Mary Kenyon
Full Name: Mary Rignall Humphrys Kenyon
Matriculation: 1941 – English
War Service: Kenyon was tutored by JRR Tolkien at Somerville and volunteered for the Foreign Service, where she was sent to Bletchley Park She was stationed in Hut 6 and was tasked with decoding the Enigma transmissions. She was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Woman’s Hour’, where she recounted how filthy the Bletchley huts were, as no cleaners were allowed to enter!
Rank: TA
World War: 2
Lesley Gordon Parker
Full Name: Lesley Gordon Parker (Gray)
Matriculation: 1939 – French
War Service: Gray was interviewed for Bletchley Park with two questions: Do you prefer Bach or Jazz? Do you prefer chess or bridge? She preferred Bach, and hated both chess and bridge, but hated bridge more.
Rank: TA
World War: 2
Marjorie Pattle
Full Name: Gladys Marjorie Whitter (Pattle)
Matriculation: 1942 – Classics
War Service: Pattle worked in Hut 6 alongside several other Somervillians. She worked predominantly on setting up Bombe menus, modifying Typex operators, and decoding messages using settings found by Bombe.
Rank: TA
World War: 2
Patricia Owtram
Full Name: Ethel Patricia Owtram (Davies)
Title(s)/Awards: Awarded Legion d'honneur in June 2019; Honorary Fellow, 2024
Matriculation: 1951 – English
War Service: Davies did vital secret work, manning covert listening stations on the South Coast. She would translate transmissions in both German and encrypted code She would transcribe and decode the messages and pass them on to Bletchley Park She then worked for the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force in London, scanning German official documents to search for war criminals. Patricia later became a noted TV producer behind formats such as ‘The Sky at Night’ and ‘University Challenge’, and was recognised for her wartime service with the Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest honour.
Rank: CPO WRNS
World War: 2
Marigold Sneyd Phillips
Full Name: Marigold Diana Sneyd Philips (Freeman-Attwood)
Matriculation: 1941 – English
War Service: In 1943, Phillips was recruited into the Women’s Royal Naval Service where she was sent to Bletchley Park It was later discovered that she had worked on Colossus, the computer that finally broke into the German high command’s secret messaging.
World War: 2
Jacqueline Woodfill
Full Name: Jacqueline Isabel Iselin Woodfill
Matriculation: 1940 – English
War Service: Upon finishing her degree, Woodfill joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service and was assigned to work at Bletchley Park Her painstaking task was to examine slips of paper looking for repetitions or duplicates. If she found any repetition, she would take the slips to someone else for them to decode
Corps/Regiment: Int Corps
World War: 2
Chapter Four Humanitarian Aid
Photo: Dr Cicely Williams
Humanitarian Aid
In the midst of conflict, many Somerville women chose to serve through compassion and care. This chapter honours those who took part in humanitarian missions during and after the wars, working with displaced populations, prisoners of war, refugees, and communities shattered by violence. Whether through the Red Cross, Quaker relief organisations, or international aid work, these women responded to suffering with humanity, empathy, and determination Their work reminds us that war ’ s legacy extends far beyond the battlefield, and that healing is a form of resistance in its own right
Photo: Dr Cicely Williams
Rhoda 'Sally' Coole
Full Name: Rhoda Doris (Sally) Coole
Title(s)/Awards: MBE
Matriculation: 1924 – English
War Service: During the Second World War, Coole worked as a Junior Assistant Principal in the Foreign Office before becoming a Member of Staff of the British Council in 1942.
World War: 2
Una Cormack
Full Name: Una May Cormack
Matriculation: 1927 – PPE
War Service: After the war, Cormack worked with the British Red Cross as a Liasion Officer in the Civilian Relief Commission from 1946-7.
World War: 2
Lady Eileen Crofton
Full Name: Lady Eileen Crofton
Title(s)/Awards: MBE
Matriculation: 1938 – Medicine
War Service: Crofton was a qualified doctor and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1944. She was made a Captain and was posted in County Down, Northern Ireland.
Rank: Captain Corps/Regiment: RAMC
World War: 2
Jean Darling
Full Name: Jean Darling
Matriculation: 1924 – Classics
War Service: Educated at Cheltenham Ladies’ College and Somerville, Jean Darling had by 1940 risen to the position of Chelsea Council’s Housing Manager, where was much-loved for the care with which she looked after residents of the borough’s housing estates In 1939, Darling volunteered to organise an air raid service in the council’s largest block of flats A year later, on 9 September 1940, she was killed alongside 46 occupants of Cadogan House when their shelter suffered a direct hit in a bombing raid th
World War: 2
Joan Darling photographed in 1939 for Kensington & Chelsea’s ‘Ordinary Heroes’ series
War Service: During the Second World War, Kenyon served as the Divisional Commander of the Red Cross in Hammersmith. She was Principal of St Hugh’s from 1962-73, and was the first female President of the Oxford University Archaeological Society
World War: 2
Dame Iris Murdoch
Full Name: Dame Jean Iris Murdoch (Bayley)
Title(s)/Awards: DBE
Matriculation: 1938 – Classics
War Service: Novelist and philosopher Murdoch worked for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) during WWII. This included working in Refugee camps across Austria after the war, experiences which shaped her philosophical view that an objective notion of good was not only possible but essential
World War: 2
Jean Rowntree
Full Name: Jean Rowntree
Matriculation: 1924 – History
War Service: Rowntree travelled with her sister to Czechoslovakia to assist fleeing refugees who had spoken out against Nazism They led convoys and helped secure visas for those who needed them. When Hitler invaded wider Czechoslovakia, she returned to the UK. On her return, she initially worked with evacuees who arrived in Newbury during the Blitz and was then offered a post at the BBC Talks department. In 1946 she returned to central Europe to work with the Allied Control Commission in Austria, helping those displaced by the war return home and resume a normal life
World War: 2
Pamela Schiele
Full Name: Pamela Gwendolen Schiele
Matriculation: 1936 – Geography
War Service: Schiele worked at the Admiralty in the Mine Design Department and then the Department of Operational Research She went on to volunteer with Save the Children and also the UN High Commission for Refugees in Athens.
World War: 2
Angela Sinclair-Loutit
Full Name: Angela de Renzy-Martin
Sinclair-Loutit
Matriculation: 1939 – PPE
War Service: Sinclair-Loutit worked with the Friends’ Ambulance Unit, where she helped reunite dispersed Yugoslavian refugees in Egypt As part of her work there, she learnt how to drive service aid trucks to deliver medical equipment. She would later go on to work for the Red Cross Tracing Service, trying to unite families who had been split up by the war She also worked for the World Health Organisation and as an advisor to UNICEF.
World War: 2
Esther Thornton
Full Name: Esther Margaret Thornton
Title(s)/Awards: OBE
Matriculation: 1920 – French
War Service: Thornton was the Prisoners of War Department Director within the War Organisation Division of the British Red Cross Society & Order of St John from 1941-46
War Service: Vaughan initiated the creation of the first national blood banks. The creation of the system of blood donors and blood storage across the capital would prove vital in the treatment of patients during the Second World War. At the end of the war, she was among the first civilians to enter Belsen Concentration Camp as Head of the Medical Research Council Team, where she carried out research into how those suffering from starvation could best be treated. From 1945-67 she served as the Principal of Somerville College, and was made an Honorary Fellow in 1967
World War: 2
Val Vester
Full Name: Valentine Vester (Richmond)
Matriculation: 1930 – English
War Service: Vester worked with the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts (CEMA), which was set up to support the arts during wartime. Vester toured munitions factories to help boost morale.
World War: 2
Doreen Warriner
Full Name: Doreen Agnes Rosemary Warriner
Title(s)/Awards: OBE
Matriculation: 1928 – PPE
War Service: Warriner is thought to have saved more than 15,000 refugees from Nazi persecution, including both Czech dissidents and Jewish children. For this, she was awarded the OBE in 1941 and, posthumously, the British Hero of the Holocaust Medal in 2018
War Service: During the Second World War, Williams oversaw the primary health care centre in Malaya. She was captured by Japanese forces and interned at the Sime Road camp and then Changi Prison for three-and-ahalf years, where she became one of the camp leaders. This resulted in her being removed for six months to the Kempe Tai headquarters, where she was tortured, starved and kept in cages with dying prisoners She used her nutritional knowledge to care for fellow prisoners, keeping the death rate lower than in other camps.
World War: 2
Chapter
Photo: Daphne Park
Intelligence and Espionage
In foreign cities and in the shadows of war offices, a select group of Somerville women operated in the covert world of intelligence and espionage. Fluent in languages, quickwitted, and discreet, they were recruited for some of the most sensitive and high-risk roles of the war effort, gathering information, decoding signals, and navigating complex political landscapes. This chapter sheds light on their secret wars, conducting duties that have often remained classified for decades, yet which we now know to have been vital to national security and the success of Allied operations. Their courage was quiet, their work unspoken, but their impact was extraordinary.
Photo: Daphne Park
Full Name: Mary Laetitia Somerville Bennett (Fisher)
Matriculation: 1931 – Classics
War Service: In 1941, Bennett joined the staff of the Joint Broadcasting Committee, a wartime propaganda organisation, and later transferred to the transcription service of the BBC. In 1945, she joined the Mediterranean department and later the East African department. From 1965 - 1980, Bennett was the Principal of St Hilda’s College, Oxford
World War: 2 Mary Bennett
Emile Clarke
Full Name: Emile de Rontenay Clarke (Moon)
Matriculation: 1930 – PPE
War Service: Clarke began the war organising the Children’s Country Holiday Fund to take ailing children on visits around the country. She then became a temporary civil servant in the Prime Minister’s Statistical Section, and a War Cabinet Officer from 19402 From 1942-45, she worked at the Ministry of Aircraft Production
World War: 2
Rosamund Dashwood
Full Name: Rosamund Margaret
Dashwood
Matriculation: 1946 – English
War Service: During the Second World War, Dashwood joined the Women's Auxiliary Air Force, becoming a sergeant working with the newly invented and top-secret RADAR.
World War: 2
Audrey Donnithorne
Full Name: Audrey Gladys Donnithorne
Matriculation: 1945 – PPE
War Service: Conscripted into military intelligence in the War Office.
World War: 2
Claudia Lennon
Full Name: Claudia Mary Lennon (Furneaux)
Matriculation: 1938 – Unknown
War Service: Lennon became a Third Officer with the Women’s Royal Naval Service after she was talent spotted by MI9. She was said to have worked at Trent Park on ‘soft interrogation’.
World War: 2
Daphne Park
Baroness
Park of Monmouth
Full Name: Baroness Park of Monmouth, Daphne Margaret Sybil Desiree Park
Title(s)/Awards: CMG, OBE, FRSA
Matriculation: 1940 – French
War Service: Park joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANY) following graduation in 1943. It was during the selection process for FANY that Park was spotted by the Special Operations Executive (SOE), and for the remainder of the War she trained the famous Jedburghs , a mixed-service force that was sent to support the Resistance in Europe. At the end of the war, she was recruited by the Secret Intelligence Service where she held postings across the globe An operator with immaculate tradecraft and shrewd instincts, her career was of the highest impact, but not entirely without controversy. Having become the Service’s first-ever female Chief of Station, she retired with the most senior operational rank of Controller of the Western Hemisphere. Baroness Park was Somerville’s Principal from 1980-89.
World War: 2
Diana Rowntree
Full Name: Diana Buckley Rowntree
Matriculation: 1933 – Architecture
War Service: Rowntree was a trained architect and used her skills to create faux factories designed to divert enemy bombs.
World War: 2
Hilda Shaddick
Full Name: Hilda Christine Shaddick
Matriculation: 1931 – English
War Service: Shaddick worked for the BBC Monitoring Service from 1941-5 As part of the intelligence war effort, BBC Monitoring gathered and interpreted international news from across the World.
World War: 2
Ann Whitaker
Full Name: Ann Whitaker
Matriculation: 1946 – PPE
War Service: Whitaker was the secretary to the air attaché at the British Legation in Berne. She then enlisted in the Women’s Royal Air Force and was seconded to the Foreign Office and MI6.
World War: 2
Chapter Six Journalists
Photo: Evelyn Irons
Journalists
Amid the chaos and censorship of wartime, a number of Somerville women carved out space for truth-telling. As journalists, correspondents, editors, and broadcasters, they reported on global events with clarity and courage. Some worked from the front lines, others shaped public understanding from newsrooms or government information services This chapter highlights their role in documenting history as it unfolded and ensuring that the realities of war reached the public In a time when words were also weapons, these women wielded them with purpose.
Photographer: Cecil Beaton - ‘Fashion is Indestructable’
Evelyn Irons
Full Name: Evelyn Graham Irons
Matriculation: 1918 – English
War Service: Irons was a war correspondent for The Evening Standard and was one of the first journalists to reach liberated Paris Attached to de Gaulle’s Free French Army, she was the first woman journalist to reach Hitler's Eagle's Nest after its capture, and in 1945 received the French Croix de Guerre with Silver Star in recognition of her service, becoming the first female correspondent to be so decorated
World War: 2
Dilys Powell
Full Name: Elizabeth Dilys Powell
Matriculation: 1920 – French
War Service: Powell worked in the Political Warfare Executive, which oversaw Britain's propaganda in occupied Europe She was tasked with accurately representing British policies to a Greek audience
World War: 2
Anne Scott-James
Full Name: Anne Eleanor Scott-James
Matriculation: 1931 – Classics
War Service: Scott-James joined the staff of Vogue in 1934, initially as a secretary, but quickly advanced to become a columnist, and latterly, Beauty Editor. She subsequently joined the staff of Picture Post and was its Women's Editor from 1941 to 1945 She used her role to reflect the increase in women taking over jobs previously held by men, who had been conscripted into the armed forces. She also initiated articles supporting the campaign to get householders to grow their own food, and advice on how to cook and preserve it.
World War: 2
Rosemary Smith
Full Name: Rosemary Stella Middlemore Smith (Hughes)
Matriculation: 1929 – History
War Service: Smith worked in press censorship from 1939-44, then in civilian relief work from 1944-47
World War: 2
Dame Audrey Withers
Full Name: Dame Elizabeth Audrey Withers Stewart Kennett
Title(s)/Awards: OBE
Matriculation: 1924 – PPE
War Service: Withers was the editor of British Vogue, which was treated as part of the war effort as Vogue was used to print advice and information During the Blitz, she printed the iconic photograph by Cecil Beaton of an impeccably dressed model alongside the bomb site of the Temple, London with the caption “Fashion is indestructible”. On the home front, she joined the London Fire Brigade as a volunteer and acted as a driver to senior officers.
World War: 2
Chapter Seven Lawyers
Photo: Joyce Gutteridge
Lawyers
During the war, questions of justice and accountability came sharply into focus, and some Somervillians stood at the forefront of these legal efforts. As lawyers and legal scholars, they engaged with emerging international frameworks, helped shape policy, and contributed to defining the rule of law in a world recovering from conflict This chapter traces their paths, where their intellect and advocacy helped build a more just world.
Photo: Joyce Gutteridge
Dr Christine Brooke-Rose
Full Name: Dr Christine Frances
Evelyn Brooke-Rose
Matriculation: 1946 – English
War Service: Brooke-Rose was a Women’s Auxiliary Air Force officer where she worked at Bletchley Park, assessing intercepted German communications She later took charge of the American Liaison Section at Bletchley, and was later Counsel for the prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials
World War: 2
Joyce Gutteridge
Full Name: Joyce Ada Cooke Gutteridge
Title(s)/Awards: CBE
Matriculation: 1925 – History
War Service: Gutteridge became an army lawyer with the Auxiliary Territorial Service Her wartime work led to her recruitment to the Foreign Office in 1947 in the temporary role of legal researcher As a member of the British delegation to Geneva in 1949, she played a pivotal role in drafting the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Her work on the Conventions sparked a lifelong interest in the work of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Corps/Regiment: ATS
World War: 2
Chapter Eight
Photo: Marion
Servicewomen
As war redefined the boundaries of duty and gender, Somervillians stepped into uniform and took on active roles within the armed services. Serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS), the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS), the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), and other branches, these women broke new ground in military life They worked in logistics, communications, intelligence, and operations, often under demanding and dangerous conditions This chapter celebrates their service: disciplined, courageous, and essential to the wider war effort, both at home and abroad.
Photo: Marion
Ann
Bernard
Full Name: Ann Bernard
Matriculation: 1946 – Science
War Service: Bernard served with the Auxiliary Territorial Service and is listed as a candidate for the Special Examination for Ex-Services at Somerville in 1946
World War: 2
Elizabeth Blair
Full Name: Elizabeth Blair
Matriculation: 1946 – English
War Service: Blair served with the Women’s Royal Naval Service and is listed as a candidate for the Special Examination for Ex-Services at Somerville in 1946.
World War: 2
Anne Chidell
Full Name: Anne Barbara Chidell (Ivimy)
Matriculation: 1927 – French
War Service: During the Second World War, Chidell worked as an ambulance driver from 1942-5.
World War: 2
Full Name: Violet Helen Clover (Barrett)
Matriculation: 1930 – Economics and Political Science
War Service: Clover served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service from 1940-51 and was promoted to Second Officer.
Rank: Second Officer
World War: 2 Violet Clover
Katherine Du Boulay
Full Name: Katherine Du Boulay
Matriculation: 1946 – PPE
War Service: Du Boulay served with the Women’s Royal Naval Service and is listed as a candidate for the Special Examination for Ex-Services at Somerville in 1946
World War: 2
Margaret Finer
Full Name: Margaret Ann Finer (McFadyean)
Matriculation: 1946 – PPE
War Service: Finer served with the Women’s Royal Naval Service and is listed as a candidate for the Special Examination for Ex-Services at Somerville in 1946.
World War: 2
Lady Elizabeth Kennet
Full Name: Lady Kennet, Elizabeth Ann Adams Young
Matriculation: 1941 – PPE
War Service: Young served for three years with the Women's Royal Naval Service. In the 1950s, she started writing for Vogue and focused on political issues, including disarmament, arms control, and maritime affairs
World War: 2
Moira Large
Full Name: Moira Large (Sydney)
Matriculation: 1946 – English
War Service: Large served with the Women’s Royal Naval Service and is listed as a candidate for the Special Examination for Ex-Services at Somerville in 1946.
World War: 2
Diana Moran
Full Name: Diana Gabriel Moran
Matriculation: 1928 – English
War Service: Moran volunteered as a Women’s Auxiliary Air Force plotter (air traffic monitoring) during the Second World War.
World War: 2
Hester Smallbone
Full Name: Hester Smallbone (Parrington)
Matriculation: 1946 – History
War Service: Smallbone was a radar operator in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force. She is listed as candidate for the Special Examination of Ex-services at Somerville in 1946.
World War: 2
Marion Wilberforce
Full Name: Marion Katherin OgilvieForbes Wilberforce
Matriculation: 1922 – Agriculture
War Service: Wilberforce was one of the first 8 women members of the Air Transport Auxiliary, which was responsible for the highly dangerous work of delivering new aircrafts to operational squadrons A fearless and indomitable character, Wilberforce was one of only a handful of women qualified to fly the four-engine Lancaster and soon rose to become one of only two female leaders of the ATA After the war, Wilberforce was famous for her refusal to use a radio and for taking off on unscheduled trips to Europe when bored!
World War: 2
Mary Wride
Full Name: Mary Wride
Matriculation: 1946 – History
War Service: Wride served with the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force and is listed as a candidate for the Special Examination for Ex-Services at Somerville in 1946.
World War: 2
Chapter Nine Hostile Agents
Hostile Agents
Not all those connected to Somerville served British interests during the wars. A small yet notable number aligned themselves with opposing ideologies or worked, directly or indirectly, against the Allied cause. Whether driven by conviction, disillusionment, or coersion, their stories form a provocative part of this history The following entries explore the lives of those who acted as hostile agents, reminding us that history is not always heroic, and that allegiance, identity, and belief can be deeply contested in times of global upheaval.
Barbara Langston
Full Name: Barbara Langston (Fell)
Title(s)/Awards: OBE
Matriculation: 1927 – History
War Service: During World War Two, Langston worked for the Ministry of Information from 1939-46, and was established as Principal in 1945. In 1962, she was found guilty of violating the Official Secrets Act and was imprisoned for 2 years. She admitted to handing confidential reports to a Yugoslavian diplomat, Smijan Pecjak
World War: 2
Phoebe Pool
Full Name: Phoebe Dorothy Pool
Matriculation: 1932 – History
War Service: During the Second World War, Pool worked for the Air Raid Precautions, but was accused of being a member of a soviet spy ring based at Oxford
World War: 2
Thank You
To our readers: thank you for taking the time to explore these stories. In turning these pages, you have helped honour the lives, legacies, and quiet bravery of the women of Somerville who lived through war, shaped history, and, in many cases, went uncelebrated for far too long
To the women featured in this booklet, whether scholars, soldiers, nurses, code-breakers, aid workers, or dissenters, your stories continue to inspire. We are grateful for your service, your courage, and your humanity.
And to all who have supported this project, through research, memory-sharing, archival contributions, and encouragement, your generosity has helped bring this important record to life. This work is the product of many hands and hearts, and it stands as a collective tribute to the extraordinary women of Somerville College
