Kathleen Pettigrew (1898 - 1990) was a secretary within the police and British Intelligence services during the First and Second World Wars who reached the most senior roles. She is better known as inspiration for

Miss Moneypenny Miss Moneypenny, later assigned the first names of Eve or Jane, is a fictional character in the James Bond novels and films. She is secretary to M (James Bond), M, who is Bond's superior officer and head of the British Secret Intelligence Serv ...

in the ''

James Bond The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

'' novels and films. Pettigrew was born 27 February 1898 in

Bermondsey Bermondsey ( ) is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, ...

in London to William and Ellen Pettigrew. Her father had been in casual work as a

sealskin Sealskin is the skin of a seal. Seal skins have been used by the peoples of North America and northern Eurasia for millennia to make waterproof jackets and boots, and seal fur to make fur coats. Sailors used to have tobacco pouches made from ...

dresser, but soon after she was born the family moved to Westminster and both her parents became proprietors of a chandler's shop. Ellen Pettigrew continued with the shop after William died in 1915. Kathleen Pettigrew attended St Martin-in-the-Fields School for Girls until 1906. After training as a secretary from when she was 14, probably at Pitman Metropolitan School, Kathleen Pettigrew started work at 18 in 1916, in the police Special Branch during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. She produced transcripts of the interrogation of German spies, including

Mata Hari Margaretha Geertruida MacLeod (, ; 7 August 187615 October 1917), better known by the stage name Mata Hari ( , ; , ), was a Dutch Stripper, exotic dancer and courtesan who was convicted of being a spy for German Empire, Germany during World War ...

in addition to typing and filing confidential documents. After the war ended, Pettigrew joined

MI6 The Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), commonly known as MI6 ( Military Intelligence, Section 6), is the foreign intelligence service of the United Kingdom, tasked mainly with the covert overseas collection and analysis of human intelligenc ...

where she worked for 37 years to became the most senior secretary in the organisation, working with five of its chiefs. She accompanied at least one of them,

Stewart Menzies Major General Sir Stewart Graham Menzies, (; 30 January 1890 – 29 May 1968) was Chief of MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), from 1939 to 1952, during and after the Second World War. Early life, family Stewart Graham Menzies ...

at meetings with

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

she was involved in message transmission within

Bletchley Park Bletchley Park is an English country house and Bletchley Park estate, estate in Bletchley, Milton Keynes (Buckinghamshire), that became the principal centre of Allies of World War II, Allied World War II cryptography, code-breaking during the S ...

as well as communication with overseas field agents. Pettigrew was made

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

in 1958 when she retired as a Senior Chief Executive Officer in the Foreign Office, after being previously awarded an MBE in 1946. Her life-long appreciation of parakeets began when some were kept in a pub near her family home in Westminster. She died in 1990.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pettigrew, Kathleen 1898 births 1990 deaths British women in World War I British women in World War II Officers of the Order of the British Empire People from Bermondsey