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The Auxiliary Territorial ServiceThe ATS, Auxiliary Territorial Service, was the Women's branch of the British Army, they served mainly on the home front in the defense of Britain. |
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List of those who served with The Auxiliary Territorial Service during The Second World War
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Joan Doreen Jessop  This is my mother, Joan Doreen Jessop in ATS Uniform, taken by Army Photographer at a Beauty Contest held in
London during WW2
 Her wedding to Dad in 1946. She married Sgt. Hermanus Koomans (a Dutch Allied serviceman) of the Army's REME, who had recently been repatriated from Belsen POW Camp in Germany. She later went to Holland with him and had 3 children (I was one), but later we migrated to Australia, Holland was just too cold. |
Private Esie Florence Swift North Company East Lancashire My mother enrolled in the ATS ON 6.8.1941 and was Embodied 15.8.1941. she spent most of her service in Lancashire:North Company East Lancashire and on her records it shows postings in Clitheroe and Preston.l am researching my mother's whereabouts in Lancashire and her time in the A.T.S (she died in 1966)and would be graeful for anyone who could tell me their War Time experiences in the A.T.S based in Lancashire especially the social life during 1941-1943.Could anyone tell me if Allied Forces were in Lancashire :Americans and Canadians?looking forward to your reply. |
Eleanor Hamlin I have an interesting story regarding my Auntie Queenie, Eleanor Hamlin, who was in the A.T.S.(Auxiliary Territorial Service) throughout the war in spite of being deaf. I have inherited her calling up paper at Blyth, Northumberland, her paybook, discharge papers and medals. She volunteered in August 1939, before the war started, and was called up in October, W/17926. According to her paybook, she didn’t have a medical until 1942 and was given A.W.1! In 1944 she was downgraded to B.W.4. She spent the last two years at Catterick. Her commanding officer was Mrs. Edna M. Sheel of Barking, Essex, and for the last seven months of service, she was her batman. She was very adept at lip reading but couldn’t necessarily hear a telephone or fire bell or air-aid siren. On one occasion she was escorted home on leave to make sure she arrived safely because there was a threat of bombing in Leeds. I have just read Roy Terry’s book, "Women at Khaki", which partially explains what could have happened. Until April 1941, the A.T.S. was a voluntary organisation and her medical occurred as conscription was introduced. One complication is that her pay book is only a certified copy up until 1944. In 1942 she was with the 52nd A.A. and finally discharged from G company, Catterick in October 1945. I would love to know more about her service and if anyone remembers her. |
Mary Theresa Brennan My mother, Mary Theresa Brennan, served in the ATS during World War Two. I am looking for her ATS service number, so that I can apply for further information about her. |
Elizabeth "Betty" Banks 11th Caithness Company My Nana, Elizabeth "Betty" Banks, who brought me up, was in the ATS from Feb 1939 until the war ended, Her number was W/9265. She would love to contact anyone who was in her unit or any of the courses she went on as a PT instructor. I'm hoping to get some photos from her that you can put on your website but wondered if anyone could point me in the right direction to get her some information. The details I have are: 11th Caithness Company, then sent to Orkney for 3 years, then Inverness Cameron Barracks, then Redford Barracks Edinburgh, then became PT instructor and attended courses in Scotland and Durham, Aldershot and Newton Abbot. |
Florence Edith "Flossie" Hamilton My mother, Florence Edith Hamilton, known as Flossie, served in the A.T.S. at Paisely in Scotland during the war, my father was a prisoner of war in Stalag 5, my mother became pregnant with me whilst serving in the A.T.S in Scotland, I was born in Johnstone Renfrewshire, as I grew up I never knew my biological father, only that he was a Scot and served in The 5th Royal Highlanders and came from Aberdeen, I have a family maybe in Scotland that I would like to know about, if any of my mothers friends of that time can remember anything at all I would greatly appreciate it, my mother and father who bought me up as his own are now both passed away, I think my biologial fathers surname is Knowles, please can anyone throw some light on it for me |
Eithne Swanton (d.21st November 1944) During the second World War the Allied and German soldiers, who were killed in Goirle, Noord Brabant, the Netherlands and in the neighbourhood, were buried at the Roman Catholic cemetery from the parish St. Jan in Goirle. I am looking for information about the only women who is buried in Goirle. Her name is EITHNE SWANTON, Auxiliary Territorial Service, service nr. W/297570, age 28 years old, died 21 November 1944. After the war the remains of the German soldiers were reburied in Ysselsteijn (near Venray) and most of the allied soldiers were reburied in Bergen op Zoom (War Cemetery and Canadian War Cemetery) and in Leopoldsburg (Belgium, War Cemetery). At this moment there are 27 Allied graves. Every year we commemorate the victims of World War II, both soldiers and civilians. We know their names, but who were the persons behind the names? What were their lives before they died? Where did they come from? How did they die? Under what circumstances? It is my intention to give the victims a face, to write and keep the story behind the gravestones because we always will remember the soldier who died for our liberty. We can forget names, but not faces. I will try to write down all their stories for the next generation so they will know who was commemorated. Maybe someone can help me in this matter. Send me a letter or an e-mail with additional information, a photograph or a copy of any personal document, which I can use for The Memory Book or a website. Thank you in advance for your help |
Dora Stanley I am looking for anyone who knew my mother, Dora Stanley. She enlisted in the ATS in 1941 in Newcastle Upon Tyne. In 1944 she married Terry Looby, and she left the ATS in 1945. She was stationed in North Shields and Yorkshire. Any information about her or the ATS in the North of England would be welcomed. |
Adelaide Dorcas "Tiny" Axford My dear Mum, Dorcas Axford was in both the land army and the ATS. She told me many stories when I was a child about those times and I wish I has taken notes so I could pass them on to my son. He absolutely adored her and was heartbroken when she died. Her Mum, my Grandma, Doris Axford ran a boarding house on Wyndham Street in Yoevil Somerset which was frequented by a lot of American service personnel. They all called her "Ma" and used to treat her very special often bringing her food supplies and treats from their base. They would marvel at the tasty meals she was able to make out of those supplies. Many kept in touch as did their families often sending parcels to my Mum and her sisters Ruth and Miriam. I wish I had kept records of those names. One I do remember was Elmer Treese or Treece. I wonder if there are any relations of these service men that remember their loved ones speaking of the Axford family from Yeovil? Also has anyone heard of Waldron Axford from the same family and his wife Kay? Any info would be so appreciated. |
Elizabeth Ann Mason My mother, Elizabeth Mason, was in the ATS stationed around Middleton Stoney where she met my father an American Army medic. I have the letters written to her during that time. She came to America on the Queen Mary in either late March early May 1946 with a baby girl. The ship was loaded with war brides. |
Pte. Louisa Mary "Molly" St.Quintin Mary St Quintin, Molly as she was known by everyone was my nanny. During the Second World War she was a member of the ATS working as a lorry driver and also in kitchens on several army bases. One time a bomb went off while she was driving down the road and her lorry got blown into a ditch. On a day off she decided to stay in bed when the air raid siren went off and almost got blown up again, coming through the ordeal with a face full of glass. The third lucky escape was when a bomb was dropped on an army barracks where her group was preparing food for soldiers. But being the tough lady that she was still looked back on those days with thoughts of camaraderie shared with friends who worked alongside her. The way the war changed my nanny's life most though was a chance meeting on a train. Molly was going home on leave packed into a busy train back to Yarmouth. American Staff Sergeant William James Richardson boarded the same train returning to his base from spending a few days in London. It just so happened that the only spare seat was next to Molly. They struck up a conversation and he wrote down his address on a copy of Life magazine. They kept in touch and arranged to meet whenever they could. In September 1944 they were married and I was lucky enough to call him Grandad. They moved back to America briefly before returning permanently to England, setting sail on the liner De Grasse from New York. Two very wonderful people who were the best Grandparents in the world. |
Lance Corporal Felicity Joan Edwards B Company A.T.S. ARBORFIELD 1942-1946 Now that I am 85, and the anniversary of the outbreak of the 2nd. World War is approaching my thoughts return to those years that followed, and to Arborfield, and wonder how many of the men and women I served with there, are still with us today. I joined the A.T.S. at the age of 18 in 1941 and spent the greater part of my war years at Arborfield as a Cinema Projectionist in charge of training films that were constantly shown via my two 16mm Gebescope projectors. These mainly dealt with the maintenance of the Churchill, Cromwell and Sherman tanks, there was also the Coventry, and the almost obsolete General Lee One of the historic events that took place at Arborfield that I felt very involved in,was the construction of a long water tank with vehicle ramps at both end. This happened just prior to the invasion of Normandy. I received an American film ‘The waterproofing of vehicles’ This I showed constantly during the weeks leading up to the invasion. (Lessons had been learned from the Dieppe disaster) Not only was this film shown to those passing through the various training courses at Arborfield but also to the Canadian officers and men who were camped around us in the surrounding countryside. With their many forms of transport awaiting for that significant day when they would drive onto the beaches of France, without the fear of breaking down with waterlogged engines. At one time I was taken in a waterproofed jeep, down one ramp through the water tank, and up the opposite ramp. I think I was being given a reward for the many hours I spent showing that film. I did not really enjoy it. Those war years spent at Arborfield are very clear in my memory. I can still see Brigadier Buttonshaw taking the salute at the parade, the day that R.E.M.E. was formed, and must be now one of a very few who were there on that occasion and can still remember it. My cousin has offered to take me on a visit to Arborfield, but I doubt if I would recognise any of it now, except for the water tower, if it is still there. Army legend had it, that it would only fall when a virgin walked past. THE BIRTH OF THE’ROYAL ELECTRICAL MECHANICAL ENGINEERS’ I was posted to the Royal Army Ordinance Corp at Arborfield, Berkshire, in1942 as a Cinema Projectionist to show training films to the Officers and N.C.Os. who were attending one of the 29 week training courses that were being held there, and found myself showing long, and to me, tedious films on the care and maintenance of the Churchill, Sherman and Cromwell tanks, on the 25 pounder gun and on things like the planetary gear train and synromesh transmission and on the recovery of vehicles with a Leyland breakdown lorry. Whenever I found converation lagging in those days, the approved method of getting a Churchill tank out of a shell hole, was always something I could fall back on. I was very conversant on that subject. I shared an office with a chap called Joe Semp, and Sergeant Major Mann. When I was not showing training films I worked with Joe amending army manuals and pamphlets with out dated text, with stickers that carried new versions. This was a tedious job which was relieved by a sideline when Joe acquired a book of blank leave passes. We had a R.A.O.C. stamp which we used on the books and pamphlets to identify them as the property of the Royal Army Ordinance Corp. Joe and I worked opposite each other at a table between two windows When Sergeant Major Mann left the office, word would get around, and one by one chaps would begin to appear at the window on my side and ask for a leave pass. Ever ready to oblige I would stamp one and pass it across to Joe who would add the necessary officer’s signature and return it to the individual concerned through his window. Joe was very good at supplying a variety of signatures. As most of our customers had to get through main line stations which were laced with Red Caps (military police) forever eager to examine leave passes, they wanted unobtrusive signatures like Captain Simpson or Lieutenant Jones. Others who preferred to live dangerously requested the signature of Field Marshal Montgomery, General Wavel, or even Mickey Mouse. Most of us who lived in London managed to avoid the Red Caps who patrolled the mainline station at Waterloo, by jumping off the train one stop earlier at Vauxhall. The permanent staff of this R.A.O.C. training establishment had been recruited from a variety of different regiments, as well as from the County regiments with all their proud history. It was not a happy day for Arborfield’s personel when it was decided that a new regiment was to be formed encompassing the whole establishment. We were to become the Number 1 Training Establishment of the R.E.M.E. and the birth of this new regiment was to take place in the October of that year 1942. This meant that all the well polished cap badges so proudly worn of the former regiments were to be handed in to the stores and exchanged for a very brassy looking new R.E.M.E. badge which was not looked upon kindly. All regimental flashes had to be cut from uniforms. All this created a lot of disenchantment in the camp, and that was not diminished when it was learned that the new regimental march would be a mixture of the well known ‘Lillibularo and the theme music from Walt Disney’s ‘ Snow White and the seven Dwarfs’(Hi Ho, Hi Ho, its off to work we go) That for some was the last straw. We members of B. Company. A.T.S. could only look on and sympathise, while also wearing our new R.E.M.E. badge above the left hand uniform tunic pocket. We were now attached to this new regiment. These are the trivialities that I remember to the run up to the day when the whole camp was assembled on the large parade ground to celebrate the formation of our new regiment, by which time badges looked a little less brassy, and there was confidence and pride in being part of this new elite military establishment.the R.E.M.E. I remember so well marching on to that parade ground to the new regimental march which was being played for the first time. No one dared to catch any one else’s eye when the ‘Hi ho. Hi ho’. bit came in. We were inspected by the very top brass, and watched the R.E.M.E. flag hoisted to the top of the mast head for the very first time. It was a day to remember. I was at Arborfield towards the end of the war, after a short posting to Derbyshire, and remember those early evenings when we stood and watched while squadron after squadron of ‘flying fortresses’ filled the skies, to take their part in the carpet bombing of Germany. It was the sound of war at its deadliest. The whole camp stood in silence and watched, and not even one small voice asked “What the hell are we doing?” We remembered the defenceless city of Warsaw, our cities like Coventry and Portsmouth. There were many like myself who had endured the relentless bombing of London during the Blitz, and no one said “Has Bomber Harris gone mad?” With the distance of years; and with hindsight it is easy to make moral judgements and to campaign to take down the statue of Bomber Harris erected to honour him and Bomber Command. You really need to have stood where we were standing in our time to understand what the reality of our day was really like. My heart will always go out and embrace the men who served in Bomber Command. Ethics are the luxury for those who have come after us. If there is anyone out there who remembers Arbofield during the war, and who perhaps remembers me as Lance Corporal, F.J. Edwards. A.T.S. please contact me. |
Ivy Murray My Grandmother Ivy was based RAF Watford with the ATS, she became pregnant with my mum but said my grandfather died, and will not release any details of my grandfather. If anyone can remember any details regarding Ivy Murray originally from Burnley I would be very grateful. Thanks for reading. |
This is a photo of my beautiful mother, who we sadly lost to cancer recently at the age of 77. Her name was Catherine Ferguson Woodford (nee Hickie) and she came from Cambuslang, Scotland. she was in the ATS, stationed in Edinburgh, also in Leeds for a while I believe, then in London We miss her sorely.
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I am researching an aircrash which happened in Richmond Yorkshire in December 1942. Oral history tells of an ATS driver who was probably first on the scene. She tried to rescue the crew from the burning wreckage and was badly burned herself. For her valliant efforts she apparantly received an award. The only other detail I have is that she was in Bristol at the time of the blitz there, probably as an ambulance driver. She was posted to this quiet area of North Yorkshire to enable her to recover from the trauma only to be involved in this rescue attempt. Any information regarding this gallant ATS lass or the event itself would be most welcome.
Richmond and Dist Civic Society. |
 Does anyone remember Vera? On the back of the Photograph it says to Jimmy from Vera.
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481 Battery |
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Violette Szabo, George Cross, Croix de Guerre with Star served in
the Women's Land Army, ATS, FANY. She also worked in the Moreden/Acton aircraft factory,
and was in the 481 (Heavy) Ack-Ack Battery under Colonel 'Jim' Naylor.
She worked for SOE in France. Violette was executed in late January - early February 1945 after having been thrown into Ravensbruck concentration camp and others.
If you knew her, or anyone who knew her, it would be wonderful if you would contact me. She was my mother.
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One day Private Barham was sent alone to Portsmouth (from the London Area) to escort a high ranking Officer who was in charge of the Anti-aircraft defences in the South East. Apparently when they met up she took off her dispatch rider's helmet, causing the Officer to exclaim "...Blimey -a woman !!!!" Another memorable incident was when she experienced liquid mustard gas. On another occassion she guided the O.I.C. of the Anti-aircraft Batteries defending London from Southampton to London in dense fog. The reason for his visit was to present the A.A. Battery to which she was attached with the tail rudder from a Heinkel Bomber. Apparently the Battery shot it down from the highest altitude ever achieved up till that time. She was also taught to drive a jeep.... and told to back the jeep into a garage. The Sergeant who was instructing told her he was off to make the char and despite a request for help to guide her in, he went off.... The jeep was almost in the garage when there was a loud crash ....she had backed into a large searchlight mirror smashing it into little pieces. The result was being hauled up in front of the CIO, a fine and confined to barracks for some time. I believe she still thought it unfair to the day she died. Tony Barham |
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ATS Guildford and Camerley My memories are of the Gloustershire Regiment and others. I was 12 years old when the War was declared. At 17 1/2 years I volunteered for the ATS. My parents turned over accomodation to the army at the onset. The RSM's and CSM's were billeted with us at the Union Hotel at Newton Abbot. I would be interested to hear from those who have memories of these locations and times. Also, anyone involved with the Newton Abbott Youth Council and or the St. John Ambulance Nursing Cadets. I left England in 1956 and now live in Canada.
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Photographs
Betty Lewis, this photo was sent to her brother Ron, a driver in the Royal Signals, who was a Prisoner of War in Oflag 79. He mounted it in his "Wartime Log For British Prisoners" which supplied as a gift from the YMCA Switzerland. Read his story
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