Auxiliary Territorial Services Women’s Services – Chief Volunteer – Roll No: 30246
Mary Winifred Green holds the somewhat dubious honour of being the first member of the A.T.S. to die whilst on active service during a bombing raid. She was born in Yardley 9 July 1910, the daughter of John Robert Green ( a wholesale draper buyer) and Ethel Nora Young. The 1911 census shows the family living at 84 Lyttelton Road, Stechford.
She attended London University where she obtained a degree and then started work as a Pharmaceutical Chemist. At the time of the census on 29th September 1939, she was also volunteering as an Auxiliary Ambulance Driver, whilst living at a boarding house in Oxford with 13 others.
By 1940, Mary and her friend had moved to Nottingham and were lodging with the Wright family in Bramcote Lane, Chilwell. On the night of 30th August 1940 six high explosive bombs and a number of incendiary bombs were dropped in the wider district.
The Nottingham Evening Post on 31st August records Mrs Wright’s recollection of the event:
“I was standing at the sink talking to the two girls when I heard an explosion and Mary fell to the floor. As she was getting to her feet, the other girl and myself scrambled over the debris into the hall to see how the children were … We went back to the kitchen and Mary was lying on the floor, she was dead. Shrapnel must have struck Mary in the head while we were huddled together in the kitchen.”
She is commemorated on the war memorial in Castle Bromwich and her last permanent address is given as 9 Water Orton Road, Castle Bromwich although she died in Nottingham.
This article is based on research by Alan Fewtrell and Terrie Knibb.
