Military Chat

The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich is looking for the above lady - anyone knowing her whereabouts please let me know. She was born around 1917 and lived in Southsea for many years. When she joined the Wrens (Womens Royal Naval Service) she sketched her work colleagues and gave some of them to the Museum (on show now July 2014).

Is Reed her maiden or married name? If she was born around 1917 it is unlikely (although possible) that she is still alive.

Kath. x

These are possible births if it was her maiden name:

Births Sep 1915
Reed Gladys E M Reed Saffron W
Births Sep 1916
Reed Gladys E Rayner Doncaster
Births Jun 1917
Reed Gladys E Huggett Croydon
Births Sep 1917
Reed Gladys E Page Portsmouth
Births Dec 1917
Reed Gladys E Bishop Hendon

So the Portsmouth birth looks like a good guess.

When you said that she lived in Southsea for many years - that would be until at least when? (So a marriage possible after that date?)
.

Yes Reed was her maiden name (we think) as not many married ladies joined the Wrens in those days. Unfortunately we have nothing more about her and she may have married. I think she went to teach at Ashton under Lyne school of art after she left Southsea .

A search on Google suggests that she might have studied art in Portsmouth before the war and in 1947 when she offered the sketches to the museum she was living in Portsmouth

( quote)
The correspondence in the archive shows that in May 1947 Reed was living at Eastern Villas Road in Southsea, and she had served in the WRNS at HMS Eaglet in Liverpool as a wireless telegraph operator.
................................

Old electoral lists would reveal her full name hopefully.


Gwyn

Interesting birth registration.........?

Births Sep 1917

Elwell Gladys E ...Page Portsmouth 2b 534
Reed Gladys E ...Page Portsmouth 2b 534

Yes thanks for your researches but the National Maritime Museum would like to find her now (she could still be alive) - they are looking for relatives or someone who knew her after the War. If you google her you can see her lovely sketches .

They are great, aren't they and a real glimpse of the WRENs important contribution.

By finding possible half siblings or a full name of Gladys, we might find other family members at the same address, thus leading hopefully to living relatives or Gladys herself.
If I was in Hampshire, I'd look up ER lists in Portsmouth or Winchester.

Is it worth a plea in the local Portsmouth daily newspaper, - The News?

They would likely write an article for you or else they run a free 'Where Are They Now?' column.

Gwyn

Marion,

To find her now, or her relatives, it helps to find her birth, which is why we do the researches.
Using her exact date of birth we can often find her death, regardless of her married name

Do you want to purchase the probable birth certificate to find out about that family and birth date?

Or the appeal in the local paper looks like a good bet, also the ER.

Thanks for all your suggestions - yes the RM museum has tried advertising in Portsmouth newspapers. I will try the ER but as I mentioned I think she went up to Ashton under Lyne after Portsmouth.