Liverpool Exemplar - Jean Davies

Jean Davies was born on the 11th of August 1909 to Richard C. Davies and was educated at Merchant Taylor's Girls' School in Great Crosby. After leaving school she worked as a secretary to the headmaster of Merchant Taylors' Boys School in Crosby.
In December 1939, during WW2, Jean joined the WRNS, Womens Royal Naval Service, given seniority from the 6th of December and then in May 1940 was given the rank of third officer, which is the eqivalent to sub-lieutenant.

From 1940 to 1942, Jean was a member of the staff of Flag Officer Liverpool where her tasks included encoding and decoding messages concerning the Royal Navy's battle with the German U-boats. In February 1941, she was promoted to second officer, the equivalent to lieutenant, with seniority from the 2nd of December 1940. In 1942, she was selected for signals officer training, a role usually reserved for men, and was one of the first six WRNS officers to qualify. Following her qualification she worked at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches, a major operational command of the Royal Navy during WW2. The admiral commanding, and his forces, sometimes informally known as 'Western Approaches Command', were responsible for the safety of British shipping in the Western Approaches.

In August 1943, Jean was selected to be part of the delegation accompanying Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the Quebec Conference, working in the cypher room aboard the RMS Queen Mary during the voyage to Canada. This was the first highly secret military conference held by the governments of the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States. After the conference she was posted to Washington D.C. where she undertook signal work for the British Embassy as a result of the conference had overloaded the permanent staff there.

First Officer Jean Davies meeting Queen Elizabeth in 1945

She returned to the United Kingdom with the rest of the British delegation aboard HMS Renown where, unusually for a woman, was actually established as a member of the ship's company during the voyage.

Churchill's 69th Birthday party.

Next Jean was made an acting first officer, the equivalent to lieutenant commander in November 1943, with seniority from the 26th of October. She was then part of Churchill's entourage to the Cairo Conference on the 22nd to 26th of November 1943 followed by the Tehran Conference a few days later, during which she attended Winston's 69th birthday party at the British Embassy in Tehran together with President Franklin D Roosevelt and Soviet Marshal Josef Stalin.

Returning to the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief, Western Approaches, she continued to work there until the end of the war. Her promotion to first officer was confirmed in May 1944 and she was granted seniority in that rank from the 26th of October 1943. Jean was appointed an OBE in the 1944 King's Birthday Honours List.

see also:- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2020/10/a-liverpool-exemplar-sir-henry-tate.html