Patricia Rosemary Anderton Penn was born on 13 November 1914 in Battersea, the third daughter of William Arthur Penn (1876-1945) and Jane Winifred Penn née Hartley (1875-1923). Her father had been a journalist working for The Times, who also wrote a book extolling the benefits of tobacco, whilst her mother was an artist and sculptor.
She was baptised on 16 May 1915 at St Mary le Park Church, Battersea. The baptismal register shows the family living at 62 Albany Mansions, Albert Bridge Road, Battersea, and her father as a Lieutenant in the 13th (County of London) Battalion, The London Regiment (Kensington). Her father was to lose an arm on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.
In 1921 her father divorced her mother and married Hilda Margaret Kenworthy (1896-1981) on 2 February 1921 at Lambeth Registry Office and they had two children.
From 1934 to 1937 she was a nurse at Manchester Royal Infirmary, Oxford Road, Manchester and qualified as a registered nurse by examination in London on 26 November 1937.
The 1939 England and Wales Register lists her as a Hospital Sister at the 12th General Hospital, St Helens Road, Ormskirk, Lancashire. Having joined the Territorial Army Nursing Service (TANS) in 1939 she is listed in the Supplement to the London Gazette of 30 January 1942 as Miss Patricia Rosemary Anderton Penn (215178) being granted an Emergency Commission as a Sister in the TANS with effect from 30 May 1941 and where she saw service both at home and abroad in Africa. (The rank of Sister was equivalent to that of a Lieutenant in the British Army).
The nursing registers of 1940 and 1943 show her home address at "Cartref", 6 Brackley Road, Monton Green, Eccles, Manchester, whilst the register of 1946 shows her home address as 22 Elgin Crescent, London, W11 and this latter address is confirmed by the electoral registers of 1945 and 1946.
Electoral registers and telephone directories from 1947 to 1978 show her listed at 5 Great Ormond Street, London, W.C.1 and from 1979 to at least 1983 at 3 Great Ormond Street WC1.
In 1971 she was involved in the campaign to save the Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital, at Goldhawk Road, Hammersmith.
She died, aged 77 years, in Camden on 12 February 1992 and was cremated in Islington on 21 February 1992.
Credit for this entry to: Andrew Behan
