Category: WRNS

JAHANS, Vera. My World War II: A Wren’s Story. 50p. [kindle e-book]. Woking: Peatmore Press, 2017. ISBN: 9780993467714.

She joined the WRNS in 1944 and served in London and Wales. A brief but interesting autobiography.

DE COURCY, Anne. Debs at War: How Wartime Changed Their Lives. xiv, 258., bibliog., illus., index. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005. ISBN: 0297829300.

An entertaining account of the employment of debs during the war, including those in the WRNS. Based on almost fifty individual cases.

LEWIS-SMITH, Anne. Off Duty!: Bletchley Park Outstation : Gayhurst Manor. 51p., illus. Pen Ffordd, Newport: Traeth Publications, 2006. ISBN: 1898368023.

Lighthearted reminiscences of life at Gayhurst Manor, used to accommodate Wrens employed at Bletchley Park.  Illustrated principally with the author's cartoons.  Nothing about work at Bletchley.

BADEN-POWELL, Dorothy. They Also Serve: An SOE Agent in the WRNS. 192p., illus. London: Robert Hale, 2004. ISBN: 0709077157.

She worked in the Scandinavian Section of the SOE, but after eighteen months there was sent to try and infiltrate an enemy spy ring based in Plymouth. An entertaining tale.

CURTIS-WILLSON, Rosemary. c/o GPO London: With the Women’s Royal Naval Service Overseas. viii, 191p., frontis. London:  Hutchinson, [1949].

Charming autobiographical account of service in the Wrens in World War II though somewhat overburdened in places with travelogue.  The author joined in 1941 as a young girl and served mainly overseas, in the Middle East, Quebec (briefly) and Ceylon (Katukurunda), ending the war as a Third Officer.  She was also involved for a while in the planning for D-Day at Fort Southwick.

GREGSON, Paddy. Ten Degrees below Seaweed. [vii], 131p., illus. Braunton: Merlin Books, 1993. ISBN: 0863036600.

The wartime life and loves of one of the elite Boats’ Crew Wrens. A light hearted account of service mainly in Devonport and Middlesbrough.

SLATER, Susan. Dear James: Letters From a Wren in World War II (Once Upon A Wartime, IV). iii,117p., illus. Grantham: Barny Books, [2005]. ISBN: 0948204664.

Anna Tyler joined the WRNS Supply Branch in 1940. These letters were sent to a badly wounded fighter pilot recovering on her father’s Yorkshire estate. They simply and tellingly describe a wartime life of duty and pleasure.

UNWIN, Vicky. Love and War in the WRNS: Letters Home 1940-46. 351p., illus. Stroud: History Press. 2013. ISBN:9780750963046.

The story of her mother, Sheila Mills. The letters show the growth of an innocent 18-year old girl into a mature woman. The letters describe a busy social life, but also a more sombre role working with Admiral Ramsay on HUSKY and in post-war Germany.

STANLEY, Jo. Women and the Royal Navy (A History of the Royal Navy). xxiv, 264p., bibliog., illus., index. London: I. B. Taurus in association with the National Museum of the Royal Navy, 2017. ISBN: 9781780767567.

Another excellent volume in this series. It covers everything from the first naval nurses, through the history of the WRNS, to the integration of women in ships’ crews from 1990. WW2 is fully covered.

BIRNEY, Brenda. The Women’s Royal Naval Service: A World War Two Memoir, edited by Hazel Dakers. [iv], 84p., illus. Milton Keynes, Lightning Source, 2016. ISBN: 9781365315602.

A daughter has edited her mother’s wartime memories from stories, notes and computer files. She joined up in 1941 aged 24 and served in Dover, Edinburgh, Portsmouth, Italy and Malta. An engaging tale.

JENKINS, Louisa M. Bellbottoms and Blackouts: Memories of a Wren. 132p., illus. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, 2004. ISBN: 0595338666.

The biography of her grandmother, Susan Mackenzie. She served in the Communications Branch at various bases in the UK. A cheery tale.

A fragmentary wartime autobiography which covers her service in the Scilly Isles which was used as a base for such diverse groups as air sea rescue launches and special forces.

GLYN-JONES, Anne. Morse Code Wrens of Station X: Bletchley’s Outer Circle. xiv, 163p., illus. Exeter: Amphora Press, 2017. ISBN: 9781845409098.

A very personal and readable account of the realities of daily life at Bletchley Park for those working at the coal face.

HOBSON, Lucia. Land Girl to Leading Wren: A Second World War Coming of Age, edited by Kate Hobson. 128p. [kindle], Hobson Books, 2015. ISBN: 0957530803.

Starting as a 14-year old Land Girl in Yorkshire, she joined the WRNS in 1943 and served for four years first on boats and then as a car and lorry driver. Edited by her daughter.

ROBERTS, Hannah. The WRNS in Wartime 1917-1945. x, 276p., bibliog., illus., index. London: I.B. Tauris, 2018. ISBN: 9781788310017.

Created in 1917, the WRNS was re-formed in 1938. Using twenty-one new oral histories and a host of archival personal records, the author describes the huge role of Wrens in both world wars.

PARKIN, Simon. A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Secret Game that Won the War. 320p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Hodder, 2019. ISBN: 9781529353037.

Describes the development of tactical gaming of how to deal with U-boat attacks as led by Captain Gilbert Roberts working with a team of Wrens.

PAGE, Gwendoline. We Kept the Secret: Now It Can Be Told. Some Memories of Pembroke V Wrens Collected and Edited by Gwendoline Page. xii, 169p., illus. Wymondham:, Reeve, 2002. ISBN: 0900616652.

A wonderful collection of memories from the Wrens who served at Bletchley Park and the various out stations at home and abroad.       

HORE, Peter. Bletchley Park’s Secret Source: Churchill’s Wrens and the Y Service in World War II. xiv, 210p., bibliog., illus., index. London: Greenhill, 2021. ISBN: 9781784385811.

Uncovers the hidden story of the Wrens who ran the Y Service chain of wireless intercept stations which provided much of the raw data for Bletchley Park. Engagingly told with strong use of recollections from those who served.

LAMB, Christian. Beyond the Sea: A Wren at War. 304p., illus., index. London: Mardle Books, 2021. ISBN: 9781914451027.

A largely autobiographical work, much of it retelling the story of her war years, as in her earlier book I Only Joined for the Hat, q.v. This volume also gives a full account of her pre-war and post-war life.

MACDOUGALL, Ian. Voices of Scotswomen in Peace and War: Spoken Recollections of Home Life, Employment and 1939-45 War Service. ix,435p., bibliog., illus., index. Edinburgh: John Donald2019. ISBN: 9781910900321.

Transcribed recorded oral histories from some nineteen women who served in the ATS, WAAF, the Timber Corp and five in the WRNS. Each account is 5-10 pages long and is in Scots dialect so can be difficult to read. Covers a fascinating variety of experiences.

SHERIT, Kathleen. Women on the Front Line: British Servicewomen’s Path to Combat. 288p., bibliog., illus., index. Stroud: Amberley, 2020. ISBN: 9781445696843.

This very well written book by a former member of the RAF, provides useful background on the development of the WRNS in  the Second World War.

FARLEY, Patricia Bridgen. Birds of a Feather: A Wren's Memoirs, 1942-1945. 65p., [n.p.], author, 1998. ISBN: 9780966343403.

Born between the Wars, she was educated in England and Switzerland. She joined the Navy in 1942, married an American artillery officer in 1945 and went to the U.S.A. in 1946.This is a record of three and a half years of wartime service spent at a degaussing station on the Firth of Clyde in the company of eight other Wrens.

A skilfully woven mixture of her own career, joining from a somewhat privileged background, and that of friends and colleagues, often using original letters and diaries.

The record of a trip made in 1944 by the author, visiting various establishments where Wrens were employed, is used as a vehicle for a brief account of their varied wartime duties.

Broome's drawings and cartoons are accompanied by short rhymes describing the pleasures and hazards of wartime life in the Wrens. Reprinted by Kimber in 1974 (ISBN: 0718303733).

The profusely illustrated memoirs of a radio mechanic.

She served throughout the war, mainly at Plymouth most notably over the D-Day period and latterly at Liverpool and Kyle of Lochalsh. This is a moving account of daily life during the war, including her marriage and widowhood when her childhood sweetheart and husband was wounded and later dies after a training accident.

An anecdotal history.

The author was a former Commandant of the WRNS. This profusely illustrated history is laced with snippets of reminiscences.

A WRNS autobiography. She joined up in 1940 and spent most of her war in the Middle East, and this is fully described. The cover gives her name as Elizabeth Whitelaw-Harvey and the title page as Elizabeth Harvey.

Apparently reconstructed from diaries. She joined up after Dunkirk and served at St Merryn, Machrahanish, Greenock, Candy and Colombo before returning to civilian life at war's end to train as an opera singer. A fresh, lively memoir.

Describes the nicer and more social side of wartime Wren life in the second half of the war with time spent in East Africa and Australia.

She joined up in 1942 as a naïve young girl from Leicester and spent most of the war as a Wireless Telegraphist based at Londonderry. Gives an excellent flavour of what it was like.

An enchanting description of a young girl's move from civilian to service life. The story revolves largely round her training and a long period based at Oban in 1943–45.

A pleasantly told tale of one woman's exciting war as a wren signaller, stretching through the miseries of Hull, via the submarine base at Gosport, to work on troopships, at the Yalta Conference and on to occupied Europe.

A thorough if brief account. A new edition was published by Cooper in 1992 entitled Britannia's Daughters (ISBN: 0850522714) .

The wartime director of the WRNS tells its story from her own experience.

A photo-essay gives a panoramic view of their wartime duties.

The author joined the WRNS aged 17 in 1943. After training she spent the rest of the war in the Southampton area. This is a lighthearted account of her service. A second edition was published by Warsash Nautical in 1993 and a third by Catweasel in 2004, subtitled Adventures of a Wren Stoker in World War 2, featuring D-Day in Southampton (ISBN: 0954746708).

The story of women's work in the war, including Wrens, laced with personal details.

The broadcaster was a Wren driver in the northeast of England for the first 18 months of the war, before going to OTC. This is a brief and humorous account of her adventures in those months.

Uses Lee Miller's photographs to provide an extended photo-essay showing the multifarious wartime roles of the WRNS.

The author was a billeting officer who then joined the WRNS, first as a courier and then as a Wren stoker in the pre-invasion south of England. She had fallen in love with an Australian engineer serving with the RAF. He was posted to the Middle East and these extracts from her letters beautifully record the pains of separation and the vagaries of life at the Home Front.