Mary Rundle
Mary Beatrice Rundle | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1907[1][2] Swaythling, Southampton, England, United Kingdom |
| Died | 29 September 2010 (aged 103) [3] |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service |  Royal Navy |
| Rank | Superintendent |
| Relations | Engineer Rear-Admiral Mark Rundle (father) |
Mary Beatrice Rundle CBE[4] (1907 – 29 September 2010)[5] was a Superintendent of the Women's Royal Naval Service.[6]
Family
She was born in Swaythling, Southampton in 1907.[2] Rundle was the daughter of Rear Admiral Mark Rundle (1871–1958), DSO, RN,[7] Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour,[8] who began his military career as an Engineer Lieutenant and was promoted to Engineer Commander on 6 July 1909.[9]
Background
Before the Second World War, she worked as a private secretary on the 1935 Royal Commission on the Coal Industry in Alberta, Canada. In 1935, she served as private secretary to Sir Montague Barlow, Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Coal Industry in Alberta.[10] As World War II approached she was recommended for a WRNS commission by her uncle, Paymaster Rear-Admiral Martin Bennett, and became a First Officer on 26 August 1939.[11] In the war she was in charge of Portsmouth WRNS under Admiral Sir William James. She then became Superintendent,[5] the third highest post in the service. After the war at the Admiralty she helped plan the continuation of the service in peacetime.[5]
Post World War II
Rundle was named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1948 Birthday Honours.[6] She then became secretary to the Managing Director of the large packaging firm Metal Box until retiring in the early 1960s to a cottage in Outgate on Windermere in the Lake District.[5] She indexed the naval histories written by her cousin Captain Geoffrey Bennett.
Centenary
In 2007, when a party was held to mark her 100th birthday near her Lake District home, she was listed as a Vice-President of the Women's Royal Naval Service Benevolent Trust. A portrait photograph of Rundle is held by the Portrait National Portrait Gallery.
References
- ^ Believed to have been born between July 1907 and September 1907
- ^ a b "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. Retrieved 30 May 2009.
- ^ "Telegraph death announcements". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
- ^ "The Birthday Honours". infotrac.galegroup.com (Times Digital Archive). 10 June 1948. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
- ^ a b c d "Honoured Navy wren dies at 103". Evening Chronicle. Newcastle, England. 11 October 2010. Archived from the original on 17 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018 – via The Free Library.
- ^ a b "Supplement to The London Gazette, 10 June 1948". The London Gazette. 10 June 1948. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
Superintendent M B Rundle, W.R.N.S., appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Military List)
- ^ "Supplement to The London Gazette, 1 January 1918". The London Gazette. 28 December 1917. p. 86. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
- ^ "Supplement to The London Gazette, 12 December 1918". The London Gazette. 12 December 1918. p. 14685. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
- ^ "The London Gazette, 9 July 1909". The London Gazette. 9 July 1909. p. 5284. Retrieved 29 May 2009.
- ^ "Mary Beatrice Rundle". Archives Canada. Archived from the original on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
- ^ "26 August 1939. Miss Mary Beatrice Rundle". The London Gazette. 31 May 1940. Retrieved 27 May 2009.