Pamela Rose facts for kids

Pamela Rose (born 29 November 1917, died 17 October 2021) was an amazing woman who lived a long and interesting life. She was an actress known as Pamela Gibson. During World War II, she worked at Bletchley Park, a secret British codebreaking center. Later in life, she became a leader for different charities.

Early Life and Education

Pamela Rose was born Susan Pamela Gibson in Knightsbridge, London, on 29 November 1917. Her father was a stockbroker, but he used to be an opera singer. She had an older brother named Patrick. Their family loved music and often had musical performances at home.

Pamela went to Broadstairs Preparatory School and then Westonbirt School in Gloucestershire. After school, she took part in a special social season for young women. However, Pamela wanted to be an actress. She traveled to France to study French and cabaret performance. She even learned from a famous performer named Yvette Guilbert. After that, she went to Munich, Germany, to learn German. When she returned to the UK, she trained at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art in London.

Family Life

Pamela met her future husband, Jim Rose, while they were both working at Bletchley Park during the Second World War. They enjoyed acting together in amateur plays. They got married in January 1946 and had two children.

For most of the 1950s, Pamela and her family lived in Switzerland because of Jim's job. In 2015, Pamela was a special guest on a BBC Radio 4 show called Desert Island Discs. She passed away on 17 October 2021.

Working During Wartime

Pamela started her acting career in the late 1930s after finishing drama school. When World War II began, she joined the Entertainments National Service Association (ENSA). This group provided entertainment for British troops and factory workers. She performed in shows in places like Bournemouth and Birmingham. By 1942, she was about to get a main role in a play at the Aldwych Theatre.

However, her life took a different turn. Because she spoke German and had a good family background, she was asked to interview with Frank Birch. He was a former actor who was in charge of Hut 4 at Bletchley Park. Pamela was offered a job there and worked at the secret codebreaking center for the rest of the war.

Pamela's Role at Bletchley Park

Pamela's knowledge of German was very important at Bletchley Park. She worked in a section that took keywords from secret messages that had been decoded. She wrote these keywords onto index cards. This made it easier to search for information quickly.

She worked with other clever people like Sarah Baring and Jean Barker, Baroness Trumpington. Pamela quickly became the leader of this important index section. It grew so large that it eventually filled three rooms! She became one of the most senior women working in the Naval Sections records at Bletchley Park. In the late 1990s, she shared her experiences for a TV show about Bletchley Park called Station X.

Life After the War

After Pamela and her husband returned from Switzerland, Jim didn't want her to go back to acting on stage. Their work hours would have meant they rarely saw each other. Instead, Pamela chose a new path.

She taught at a local school that helped children from the Windrush generation who had recently arrived from the Caribbean. Pamela felt that this teaching work was even more important than her secret work at Bletchley Park.

From the early 1960s until she retired around 1979, Pamela worked as a counselor at a school in London. She helped students with their problems and decisions.

Charity Work and Return to Acting

In the 1980s, Pamela became a trustee for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC). This charity works to protect children. In the 1990s, she became the chair of the Stroke Association, a charity that helps people affected by strokes.

After her husband passed away in 1999, an actor friend named Sam Beazley encouraged her to take acting classes again. Even though she hadn't acted on stage for almost 60 years, she quickly remembered her skills.

In 2002, Pamela returned to the stage in a play called Lady Windermere's Fan by Oscar Wilde. She acted alongside famous actress Vanessa Redgrave. The play was directed by Peter Hall at the Theatre Royal in Bath. Pamela continued acting until she was in her 90s, when her eyesight started to get worse.