Pamela Rose
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Pamela Rose (29 November 1917 – 17 October 2021) was an actress (as Pamela Gibson) who later worked at
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 ...
running Naval
Hut 4 Hut 4 was a wartime section of the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park tasked with the translation, interpretation and distribution of ''Kriegsmarine'' (German navy) messages deciphered by Hut 8. The messages were largely encryp ...
’s indexing section. In later life she was a trustee and chair of charities.


Education and personal life

Susan Pamela Gibson was born during a zeppelin raid on 29 November 1917 in
Knightsbridge Knightsbridge is a residential and retail district in central London, south of Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park. It is identified in the London Plan as one of two international retail centres in London, alongside the West End of London, West End. ...
, London, a daughter of Thornely and Elizabeth (née Wetzlar) Gibson. Her father was a stockbroker but had been an opera singer in his earlier life. She had an elder brother,
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. The family held monthly soirees, so she grew up in a house of musical performance. She attended Broadstairs Preparatory School and then
Westonbirt School Westonbirt School is a co-educational independent day and boarding school for boys and girls aged 11 to 18 located near Tetbury in Gloucestershire in South West England. Founded in 1928. The historical Westonbirt House is part of the school. We ...
in Gloucestershire. At her parents' request, she became a
debutante A debutante, also spelled débutante ( ; from , ), or deb is a young woman of aristocratic or upper-class family background who has reached maturity and is presented to society at a formal "debut" ( , ; ) or possibly debutante ball. Origin ...
for part of a season after leaving school. This was with the express purpose to find her a husband. However, she didn't want a husband at this point, as she wanted to act, so she went to France and studied French and cabaret performance with
Yvette Guilbert Yvette Guilbert (; born Emma Laure Esther Guilbert, 20 January 1865 – 3 February 1944) was a French cabaret singer and actress of the Belle Époque. Biography Emma Laure Esther Guilbert was born in Paris on 20 January 1865 to a modestly w ...
. Following this she went to Munich, Germany and learnt German. She returned to the UK and trained at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art in London. She met her future husband, Jim Rose, during amateur dramatics at Bletchley Park when they both worked there 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 ...
. They married in January 1946. They had two children. The family moved to Switzerland for most of the 1950s because of his work. She was the guest on an episode of
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...
in 2015. She died 17 October 2021.


Career

Having completed stage school she began a career as an actress in the late 1930s. She played one of the lead roles in Synge's ''
The Playboy of the Western World ''The Playboy of the Western World'' is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge, first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on 26 January 1907. The work is considered a centerpiece of the Irish Literary Revival mo ...
'' opposite
Cyril Cusack Cyril James Cusack (26 November 1910 – 7 October 1993) was an Irish stage and screen actor with a career that spanned more than 70 years. During his lifetime, he was considered one of Ireland's finest thespians, and was renowned for his inte ...
at the
Mercury Theatre The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury also r ...
, London. When 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 ...
started, she joined the
Entertainments National Service Association The Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA) was an organisation established in 1939 by Basil Dean and Leslie Henson to provide entertainment for British armed forces personnel during World War II. ENSA operated as part of the Navy, ...
and was in productions in
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and
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and by 1942 was about to take a leading role at the
Aldwych theatre The Aldwych Theatre is a West End theatre, located in Aldwych in the City of Westminster, central London. It was listed Grade II on 20 July 1971. Its seating capacity is 1,200 on three levels. History Origins The theatre was constructed in th ...
. At this point, because of her language skills and family background, she was invited to an interview with Frank Birch, an ex-actor who was in charge of
Hut 4 Hut 4 was a wartime section of the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park tasked with the translation, interpretation and distribution of ''Kriegsmarine'' (German navy) messages deciphered by Hut 8. The messages were largely encryp ...
in the Naval section at Bletchley Park. She was offered a post at Bletchley Park and worked there for the rest of 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 ...
. Her knowledge of German led to her being employed in the section that entered keywords from decrypted messages onto
index cards An index card (or record card in British English and system cards in Australian English) consists of card stock (heavy paper) cut to a standard size, used for recording and storing small amounts of discrete data. A collection of such cards ei ...
so that the information could be searched as effectively as possible. Others with whom she worked and socialised while working at Bletchley included Sarah Baring and
Jean Barker, Baroness Trumpington Jean Alys Barker, Baroness Trumpington, (; 23 October 192226 November 2018) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and life peer. In the 1960s and 1970s she served in local government in Cambridgeshire. In 1980 she was ...
. She was soon in charge of this index that eventually expanded to occupy 3 rooms. Gibson rose to be in charge of all the Naval Sections records and thus one of the most senior women at Bletchley Park. In the late 1990s she contributed information to a
television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...
about the work at Bletchley Park. After she and her husband returned from Switzerland, he was not keen for her to return to the stage as their working hours would mean they would never see each other. Instead she taught at a local comprehensive school that supported newly arrived Caribbean children from the Windrush generation. She declared that this was more important than any of her work at Bletchley Park. From the early 1960s she became a counsellor in a London school until retiring around 1979. In the 1980s she became a trustee of the
National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity founded as the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC) by Thomas Agnew on 19 April 1883. The NSPCC lobbies t ...
and in the 1990s became chair of the Stroke Association. After her husband's death in 1999, an actor friend, Sam Beazley, persuaded her to take classes at The Actors Centre in Covent Garden, and despite being away from the stage for almost 60 years, she soon picked up the skills again. In 2002 she returned to the stage in Oscar Wilde's ''
Lady Windermere's Fan ''Lady Windermere's Fan, A Play About a Good Woman'' is a four-act comedy by Oscar Wilde, first performed on Saturday, 20 February 1892, at the St James's Theatre in London. The story concerns Lady Windermere, who suspects that her husband is ...
'' alongside Vanessa Redgrave. This was directed by Peter Hall at the Theatre Royal,
Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...
. She continued acting until her 90's, when her eyesight began fading.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Pamela 1917 births 2021 deaths British women centenarians Bletchley Park people Bletchley Park women British actresses People educated at Westonbirt School British socialites People from Knightsbridge Actresses from London Alumni of the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art