Mary Rundle

Mary Beatrice Rundle
Born	1907[1] Swaythling, Southampton, England, United Kingdom
Died	29 September 2010 (aged 103)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Rank	Superintendent
Relations	Engineer Rear-Admiral Mark Rundle (father)

Mary Beatrice Rundle CBE,^[2][3](1907^[4] – 29 September 2010^[5]) was a Superintendent of the Women's Royal Naval Service.^[3]

She was born in Swaythling, Southampton in 1907.^[4] Before the Second World War, she worked as a private secretary on the 1935 Royal Commission on the Coal Industry in Alberta, Canada. Following her military service, she worked for the Metal Box company. She never married.^{[citation needed]}

Family

Rundle was the daughter of Rear Admiral Mark Rundle (1871–1958), DSO, RN,^[6] Chevalier of the French Legion of Honour,^[7] who began his military career as an Engineer Lieutenant and was promoted to Engineer Commander on 6 July 1909.^[8]

Background

Rundle trained as a secretary before World War II. In 1935, she served as private secretary to Sir Montague Barlow, Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Coal Industry in Alberta.^[9] As World War II approached she was recommended for a WRNS commission by her uncle, Paymaster Rear-Admiral Martin Bennett, and became a First Officer on 26 August 1939.^[10] In the war she was in charge of Portsmouth WRNS under Admiral Sir William James. She then became Superintendent, the third highest post in the service. After the war at the Admiralty she helped plan the continuation of the service in peacetime and then retired.^{[citation needed]}

Post WWII

She then became secretary to the Managing Director of the large packaging firm Metal Box until retiring in the early 1960s to a cottage in Outgate on Windermere in the Lake District. She indexed the naval histories written by her cousin Captain Geoffrey Bennett.

Centenary

In 2007, when a party was held to mark her 100th birthday near her Lake District home, she was listed as a Vice-President of the Women's Royal Naval Service Benevolent Trust. A portrait photograph of Rundle is held by the Portrait National Portrait Gallery.

References

1. ^ Believed to have been born between July 1907 and September 1907
2. ^ "The Birthday Honours". infotrac.galegroup.com (Times Digital Archive). 10 June 1948. http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/487/44/63999446w16/purl=rc1_TTDA_0_CS85411530&dyn=3!xrn_11_0_CS85411530&hst_1?sw_aep=uwesteng. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
3. ^ ^{a b} "Supplement to The London Gazette, 10 June 1948". The London Gazette. 10 June 1948. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/38311/pages/3370. Retrieved 2009-05-27. "Superintendent M B Rundle, W.R.N.S., appointed Commander of the British Empire (Military List)" 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Index entry". FreeBMD. ONS. http://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?cite=IzNA3xt8gcWKdvRVvDZCPw&scan=1. Retrieved 30 May 2009. 
5. ^ "Telegraph death announcements". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://announcements.telegraph.co.uk/deaths/122833/rundle-mary-beatrice-cbe. Retrieved October 5, 2010. 
6. ^ "Supplement to The London Gazette, 1 January 1918". The London Gazette. 28 December 1917. p. 86. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/30451/supplements/86. Retrieved 2009-05-29. 
7. ^ "Supplement to The London Gazette, 12 December 1918". The London Gazette. 12 December 1918. p. 14685. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/31063/supplements/14685. Retrieved 2009-05-29. 
8. ^ "The London Gazette, 9 July 1909". The London Gazette. 9 July 1909. p. 5284. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/28269/pages/5284. Retrieved 2009-05-29. 
9. ^ "Mary Beatrice Rundle". Archives Canada. http://www.archivescanada.ca/english/search/ItemDisplay.asp?sessionKey=1283370121036_206_191_57_212&l=0&lvl=1&v=0&coll=1&itm=253313&rt=1&bill=1. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 
10. ^ "26 August 1939. Miss Mary Beatrice Rundle". The London Gazette. 31 May 1940. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/34862/pages/3279. Retrieved 2009-05-27. 

External links

• Harrowgate College Annual, 1923
• WRNS Officers 1939-1945

Persondata
Name	Rundle, Mary Beatrice
Alternative names
Short description	Royal Navy officer during World War II
Date of birth	1907
Place of birth	Swaythling, Southampton, England, UK
Date of death	29 September 2010
Place of death	Lake District, England, UK