Ethel Goodenough

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

or Ethel Mary Goodenough; usually known as "Angela" Goodenough (12 January 1900 – 10 February 1946) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

naval officer who was the deputy director of the

Women's Royal Naval Service The Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS; popularly and officially known as the Wrens) was the women's branch of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. First formed in 1917 for the First World War, it was disbanded in 1919, then revived in 1939 at the ...

when it was reformed in 1939.

Early life

Goodenough was born in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

and baptised at

Shimla Shimla (; ; also known as Simla, List of renamed Indian cities and states#Himachal Pradesh, the official name until 1972) is the capital and the largest city of the States and union territories of India, northern Indian state of Himachal Prade ...

. Her parents were Muriel Grace Mitford (born Ogbourne) and Captain Herbert Lane Goodenough of Setley in Hampshire. Her father served in the Indian army. Her parents arranged privately for her education and her first job was in the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

. She had several relatives in the Navy and she enjoyed working in posts that were close to that branch of the forces. By 1937 she was promoted within the

Civil Service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

as "chief woman officer". She became responsible for the welfare of every woman who was a civil servant and for the recruitment of further temporary staff.

Women's Royal Naval Service

In 1939 when war broke out the

that had been disbanded in 1919 was reformed.

Vera Laughton Mathews Dame Elvira Sibyl Marie Mathews, ( Laughton; 25 September 1888 – 25 September 1959), known as Vera Laughton Mathews, was a British military officer and administrator. She was the second Director of the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS), serv ...

was the new Director of the "WRNS" with Goodenough as Deputy Director, with the rank of Superintendent. On the 3 September 1939 she was in the First Sea Lord's office just after 11'o'clock when the ultimatum sent to the Germans was unanswered. The

Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is a senior official in the United Kingdom Civil Service who acts as principal private secretary to the prime minister of the United Kingdom. The holder of this office is ...

, Eric Seal, bowed to her and said "Miss Goodenough, I have the honour to tell you that we are at war". The task of creating a WRNS fell to her and Mathews as they had no staff. There was 1,000 members of the WRNS but they all needed to be mobilised. Initially only untrained volunteer helpers were available, but 1,500 women were to be recruited. The interview panel was the WRNS director Mathews, Goodenough, the formidable

Myra Curtis Dame Myra Curtis DBE (1886–1971) was an editor, civil servant, and the Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge from 1942 to 1954. Early life Curtis was born on 2 October 1886 in Sunderland. She was the daughter of George and Annie (Johnson) ...

and "Nancy" Nettlefold who was a legally trained businesswoman who had been at university with Mathews. Goodenough was awarded a CBE in the New Years Honours list of 1943. In 1944 she remained responsible for welfare when another deputy was appointed. She wasn't keen when she was asked to go to

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

to oversee the large number of WRNS who were serving in the Eastern Fleet. Nevertheless she journeyed to

Columbo ''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC f ...

where she was successful in her tasks. In 1946 she became ill with

polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...

and died after two days on 10 February. She was buried at

Liveramentu Cemetery Liveramentu Cemetery, also locally known as Jawatta Cemetery or the Torrington Cemetery, is a large municipal cemetery, located approximately from the Colombo city centre, on Torrington Avenue. It is also the largest Commonwealth war cemetery ...

in Colombo. Her funeral was attended by 200 WRNS members and there was well attended memorial services in both London and Singapore that month. Her former boss, Mathews, retired in 1947, but the WRNS was not disbanded.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodenough, Ethel 1900 births 1946 deaths People from Shimla Women's Royal Naval Service officers