Wartime Scrapbook from Service on the Queen Mary.
A WREN’S SCRAPBOOK:
THE QUEEN MARY, NEW YORK, AND A VISIT FROM CHURCHILL
[Military - WWII] Heaton, Janet. SS Queen Mary Scrapbook. 1944-45.
Numerous photographs, cards & postcards, newspaper cuttings, menus, programmes,
official documents and letters, some loosely inserted in envelopes, others pasted or
stapled to leaves, accompanied by handwritten and typed notes with details of voyages,
personnel and locations including New York; all bound in to a corded binder in black
cloth (355mm x 310mm), titled in gilt on upper board.
Fascinating scrapbook collected by Wren Janet Isabel Heaton relating mainly to her time
on board the troopship Queen Mary during Atlantic voyages carrying troops to and from
the USA from July 1944 to July 1945.
WRNS Heaton was first employed as a communications coder (from 6th April 1943 to
3rd October 1945) and then on general writer duties (from 4th October 1945 to 19th
March 1946) as noted on her employment certificate, which although noting her general
efficiency during service as “Average” nevertheless concludes that she was “an
extremely keen and efficient worker. Adaptable and willing.” She worked with three
other Wrens on board; an Admiralty Office photograph of the Queen Mary on War
Service in 1944 shows Second Officer Bridget Charlton with a letter addressed to the
Captain commending “the good work done by the ship’s Wren code and cypher staff.”
The scraps Janet collected provide an interesting insight in to a Wren’s life onboard from
Christmas menus, vouchers for cigarettes, landing cards, various photograph’s including
American troops playing cards, British & American Staff on board and of her cabin “The
Wrennery,” to numerous press clippings relating to the ship.
During the voyage from New York to Gourock in 1944 Winston Churchill was on board
the Queen Mary and included in the scrapbook is a copy of the letter dated 25th
September 1944 (presumably typed by Heaton) from Churchill to the Captain,
Commodore Bisset, thanking him and the crew. Bisset is best known for his role as
Second Officer on the Carpathia when they rescued the survivors of the stricken Titanic,
an action for which he was later awarded a gold medal; Bisset’s photograph is also
included in this collection.
The latter half of the scrapbook is made up of ephemera Heaton picked up while in port
in New York, and it is clear she had a fun time while off duty. Included are Playbills,
napkins from the various hotels and bars she visited (including Hotel Astor, the Elbow
Room, and The Alps), menus (including one for a rather fabulous restaurant called The
Chicken Hut, another for dinner at Hotel Taft where Vincent Lopez and his orchestra
were playing, and subsequently signed by Lopez), photographs (Rockefeller Center, NY
Public Library, Chrysler Building) and several rather “colourful” programs relating to the
Latin Quarter. After her work on the Queen Mary, Heaton continued to serve until
demobilization in 1946.
The Queen Mary was built for the Cunard-White Star line in 1936 as their flagship luxury
liner, winning the Blue Riband in her maiden year. She was refitted for passenger service
following the end of hostilities and retired in 1967; she is now moored at Long Beach
California and currently a museum
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