Draper, Nurse, Midwife, Spy: The Fantastical Life of Margaret Spencer

While searching for nuns and spies the other week, Google presented a few results that piqued my curiosity. All of the hits revolved around a lady named Margaret Spencer from Eastbourne. She had passed away in June 2014 and, after her death, her family revealed that Margaret had been a wartime spy.

Now, this is not unusual. There were many women who served with the Special Operations Executive, parachuted behind enemy lines and carried out extremely dangerous missions. But Margaret’s story is different.

The story first ran in the Eastbourne Herald and was then picked up by three tabloids, the Daily Mail, the Daily Express and The Mirror. The link to the Eastbourne Herald article no longer exists, so we are left to sift through the national tabloids for the core of her story.

Nurse who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe dressed as a NUN to spy for the Allies dies aged 94

Margaret Spencer lived a quiet life as a midwife in Eastbourne, East Sussex
But after her death the pensioner’s incredible double life was revealed
Not even her husband knew her activities and just thought she was a nurse
She told how she lived the rest of her life with a bullet lodged in her back
The incredible story of a spy who parachuted into Nazi-occupied Europe disguised as a nun has been revealed after she died aged 94.

By Dan Bloom

Just before her death Margaret Spencer wrote of her days as a Second World War spy, being shot in the back by a German sniper and caught by the Gestapo. She had been silent for 50 years after signing the Official Secrets Act – and her account was a shock to all but her closest friends and family in her village near Eastbourne, East Sussex. She finally revealed her life story in memoirs which her family handed to her local newspaper, the Eastbourne Herald, after her death last month.

Mrs Spencer said she had been recruited at the start of the war, given a Colt 45 and instructed to round up German spies and Communists along the south coast – all while working as a nurse. “During all these activities my husband was in complete ignorance,’ she wrote. ‘He just thought I was busy at the hospital. Secrecy meant just that, not even your nearest and dearest knew about your double life.’

During one of her daring missions she told how she was captured by the brutal Nazi secret police, the Gestapo. Her published memoirs do not reveal how she escaped – but she lived to tell the tale. In another mission, she parachuted behind enemy lines disguised as a nun.

After the war she continued working in the intelligence services, including a mission to Russia, before leaving to work as a community nurse and midwife. All the while, she said, she still had the bullet from a German sniper lodged near her spine. But she was only allowed to reveal her secrets in 1995 – and kept her gun until 1977.

Mrs Spencer lived in Eastbourne with her husband Len before moving to the nearby village of Westham, where she was choirmaster at St Mary’s Church. She was also a keen member of the WI [Women’s Institute] and a local history group.
Her daughter Diana Milne, 68, who also lives in Eastbourne, told MailOnline her mother had been involved in several parachute drops – but remained completely humble. ‘She was far more proud of what she did in the village than what she did during the war,’ she said. ‘She was the kingpin of the village and lived in and around Eastbourne all her life. ‘A lot of people had contacted the local paper because my mum had given a few talks locally, and there were so many different stories that I decided to let people read what she wrote. ‘But she was very private and only told her story within the village. She had an opportunity to publish – someone who taught history at a university wanted to write it – and she said no. ‘She only ever wrote three accounts of her life which she put down in letter form to her family.’ Her daughter added: ‘The parachuting was normal for her and I know the details of the mission when she dressed as a nun, but she would have wanted that kept private. ‘She was a wonderful woman, my mum. I’m very proud of her.’

Friend Jill Parsons said: ‘She was well known in the community and very popular. She came to our local group a few years ago and told us about her time in the war. ‘She wasn’t one to show off about what she did. She was incredible.’
(Daily Mail – 23 July 2014)

Girls’ Own Adventure?

My immediate thought, upon reading the tabloid articles was that Margaret had been working on a fiction book. Her story reads like a fantastical Boys’ Own story… or in this case… a Girls’ Own adventure story. It seems that her family took her written “memoirs” at face value and believed them to be autobiographical. It is clear, however, that Margaret also spoke about these exploits over the years, regaling close friends and family with snippets of her secret life as a spy. Different villagers heard different versions, and it was Margaret’s written account that finally set the story straight.

The online tabloid articles from 2014 have dozens of comments, most praising Margaret for her willingness to risk her life. A few readers are skeptical of the entire story but are quickly trolled by others.

Unfortunately, without proof, her story does beggar belief. She survived a sniper’s bullet? The bullet remained lodged near her spine for her entire life? She was captured by the Gestapo and escaped? She kept the gun until 1977? To top it off, the original Eastbourne Herald article includes even more fanciful anecdotes (more on that later).

Some commentators suggest Margaret was delusional, going squirrely in the head as she aged. Charitably, she may have read wartime accounts or fictional stories and blurred the lines between fantasy and reality. Perhaps she was sitting with her history club and shared some information she had gleaned from one of these accounts. Perhaps someone said, “How do you know so much about this?”. And in a moment of weakness, she said “I was there.” Heads turned. Eyes widened. Suddenly Margaret was the centre of attention. There was immediate interest from the group: “Tell us more!” But as soon as you start with one small white slip… you are committed to it. The single fib gets bigger and multiplies. The lies take on a life of their own.

Until, a university history professor contacted Margaret asking if he could write her story. She demurred. But acquiesced when her family asked her to write some of it down. She might have been appalled to learn that her story would then be published in the newspapers for all to see. For all to evaluate.

Let’s start with a bit of background information on Margaret, based on facts and see where that leads us.

Early Life of Margaret Spencer

Margaret Ethel Payne was born 16 May, 1920, in Eastbourne, to Frederick William Payne and his wife Edith Florence Mabel (née) Bird. Frederick had joined the Royal Navy at age 15 (1886) and served until 1917. He and Edith were married in February 1908 and their first child was born 10 months later. The 1911 census notes he was a Petty Officer Instructor. The couple had four children (one of whom died as an infant) and Margaret was the youngest. By the time Margaret was born, Frederick worked as a bank messenger. Margaret was baptized at Christ Church in Eastbourne on 20 June, 1920.

From 1920 to 1934, Frederick and his family resided at 30 Seaford Road in Eastbourne. There is no information on Margaret’s education but it seems likely that she attended school in Eastbourne. Would she have learned any foreign languages during her school years? Latin? Greek? German? French? Her paternal grandfather was born on the Jersey Islands and may have spoken French. But would those language skills have been passed down to Margaret? It seems unlikely.

In 1933, at the age of 25, Margaret’s eldest sister, Irene Edith Payne gave birth to a child whose father seems to have been John Henry Dixon. There is, however, no evidence that Irene married this Dixon character. Irene had been living with her family until 1931, at which point she moved out on her own, into Dixon’s house. Dixon seems to have run a rooming house as there were other individuals living at the same address. Irene later pops up in the 1939 National Registration (under her maiden name) residing in Bournemouth and working as a Beauty Specialist Demonstrator. Her son, Roy, was probably living her, but his record is still locked. Irene later married Harold Jones in 1960 and eventually moved to Canada. She worked as a teacher and passed away in 1986 in Victoria, British Columbia, not far from here. Irene was a widow when she passed and died from ovarian cancer complications. I wonder if she stayed in contact with Margaret after she left for Canada, or even before? I get the sense that she may not have left the family home in 1931 under the best of circumstances. Margaret, on the other hand, was the good girl. At least for a while.

By 1934, the Payne family had moved to 29 Harding Avenue (aka Lothbury), a bland, semi-detached in a sea of similar homes. Margaret and her parents would remain here for several decades. At this point, Margaret’s older brother, Nigel Edward, was still living at home. By 1939, however, he had moved to Yorkshire where he was working as a Mechanical Engineering Draughtsman. He would settle in Staffordshire and raise a family. It was up to Margaret to care for her aging parents.

Outbreak of War

Shortly after the outbreak of war (according to the 1939 National Registration), Margaret was living with her parents at 29 Harding Avenue. Frederick (age 68) was a Bank Messenger (retired) and a pensioner of the Royal Navy who had served as a Petty Officer Gunnery Instructor. His wife Edith was 53 years old and a housewife. Margaret (age 19) was a Draper’s Assistant, someone who worked in a fabric shop. The marginal notes are cut off but suggest that Margaret was Section Leader for the British Red Cross and possibly an ARP (Air Raid Precautions) Ambulance Driver. It doesn’t appear that Margaret’s parents served in the ARP or Red Cross, at least not this early in the war.

So, here we have 19 year old Margaret at the outbreak of war. She is living with her parents in Eastbourne. She is a volunteer with the British Red Cross and works in a fabric shop. There is no indication, as of yet, of a health care profession. She is like any other typical young woman of the day. She stepped up to do her duty, but a local duty. She did not join the WAAF (Women’s Auxiliary Air Force) or the WRNS (Women’s Royal Naval Service). She did what she could within the confines of her life. She doesn’t appear to have had any particular skills that would have made her a top pick for the Secret Intelligence Service. Other than, perhaps, keeping her eyes open for spies.

Given that Eastbourne was along the coast, it was regularly bombed during the Battle of Britain. At the same time, fears of spies sneaking ashore in advance of a Germans invasion, had all of the coastal communities on high alert. Everyone needed to keep their eyes open for spies. Not just Margaret.

The next time Margaret surfaces is on 23 September, 1943, when she marries Dr. David Lindsay Scott at St. Mildred’s Church in Addiscombe, Croydon. This is rather far from Eastbourne, Mildred’s normal stomping grounds. Who was this Dr. Scott? Did Margaret meet him while working as a nurse in a hospital? Had they eloped? Luckily for us, David and Margaret’s subsequent divorce made the national newspapers. We can learn quite a bit about their short-lived marriage from the papers and genealogical records.

Dashing Surgeon

David Lindsey [sic] had been born 11 May, 1920, in East Essex to David Scott and his wife, Beatrice Mary Lindsey. David Sr had been born 1867 in the Orkneys and by 1890 had moved to the south of England with his large family to farm. But David Sr had bigger plans for his life than farming. He seized the opportunities available in the south and, on 27 July, 1912, he qualified as a physician and surgeon. Seven years later, at the age of 52, he married Beatrice Mary Lindsey. Interestingly, Beatrice (born 1888) would qualify as a registered nurse in 1944 at the age of 56. Late bloomers seem to run in the family, although young David Lindsay hit the ground running. (N.B. the spelling of his middle name was changed by deed poll in 1930 from Lindsey to Lindsay)

David Jr earned his MRCS (Membership in the Royal College of Surgeons) and LRCP (Licentiate of the Royal College of Physicians) on 24 April, 1942 at the age of 22. By 1 October, 1942, David was hard at work at Princess Alice Memorial Hospital in Eastbourne. He is mentioned in a 24 October, 1942, Eastbourne Herald article. A sapper named Joseph Walsh had died of complications from Vincent’s angina (inflammation of the mouth) and an inquest had been held, during which Dr. D.L. Scott gave testimony.

As a newly minted surgeon, David’s skills would have been in high demand during the war. Born in 1920, he was also of an age to be prime military material. Britain’s Armed Forces were always in need of medical staff. It comes as no surprise, therefore, to learn that David received a commission in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 21 January 1943. The RAFVR was the primary means whereby air crew and commissioned officers entered the RAF during the war. David naturally joined the RAF’s Medical Branch, and was initially commissioned as a Flying Office (Flg Off).

Courtship & Marriage

According to subsequent newspaper articles (detailing the end of their marriage), David had met Margaret in an Eastbourne hospital where he was a surgeon and she was a probationer (student) nurse. It seems likely that they met at Princess Alice Hospital. As a probationer nurse, Margaret would have had to live in residence with the other nurses, not at home with her parents. She would have been under strict supervision by Staff Nurses and Matron. Her job would have included helping patients with bed pans, taking temperatures, and giving blanket baths. Living in residence meant that nurses were under intense scrutiny and strict discipline. Matron would have controlled their movements, conduct, manners and morals. Because of this strict policy, and the requirement to live in residence, nurse training was virtually incompatible with married life.

It therefore comes as a bit of a surprise to learn that Margaret and David found the opportunity to get romantically involved. Even if David arrived in Eastbourne in May 1942 (shortly after being licensed as a Surgeon & Physician), the two lovebirds would have only had eight months to form a relationship before David joined the RAF. The strict supervision of the probationer nurses, would have made their courtship difficult. Difficult, but seemingly not impossible. Perhaps David was stationed at a nearby RAF base (RAF Croydon?) and visited on the weekends, when Margaret had a few blessed hours of relief from emptying bed pans. Perhaps all of this played into their decision to get married in Croydon, far from the disapproving eyes of Matron and Margaret’s parents. Given what had happened with Margaret’s eldest sister, Irene, Margaret may have told David that if he wanted “more” then they needed to get married.

Whatever the case, while they were going on their honeymoon, Margaret’s bubble of romantic marital bliss popped. David told her that, even though he was a member of the Church of Scotland, he was an agnostic and ridiculed the marriage ceremony and the parson. Margaret was devastated. David was not the man she had thought him to be. But they were married. And marriage was for life.

What happened next? Margaret was now a married woman and it seems rather unlikely that she continued as a probationary nurse. Did she move back home with her parents? David would have been housed in military quarters and it is unlikely that she would have moved in with him. A few months after their marriage, on 21 January, 1944, David was promoted to Flight Lieutenant. And so their relationship continued, with weekend leave granting them some time together.

In May 1945, after the Japanese surrender, David was sent overseas with the RAF to Singapore, as a non-combatant, likely in his role as physician/surgeon. During his time away, Margaret continued to live with her parents at 29 Harding Avenue.

On 27 July, 1945, Margaret gave birth to a daughter, Diana Christine Scott. The birth announcement in the Eastbourne Herald noted that her father, Dr. D.L. Scott was serving overseas with the RAF. If we count backwards, little Diana was likely conceived in late October 1944. Was she conceived while David was on weekend leave from the Royal Air Force? Possibly.

Tragic Suicide

On 5 February, 1946, while David was overseas, tragedy struck the Payne household. It was around noon when Margaret went into the garden to call her father inside, possibly for the midday meal. Getting no response, she went to the potting shed and found him with a gunshot wound to the head, and a service revolver near his right hand. I can’t even imagine how this affected Margaret, but perhaps her nursing experience kicked in. Did she attempt to render first aid? She did have the presence of mind to ring for the doctor and the police.

A coroner’s inquest was held the next day where it was revealed that Frederick had seen his family doctor several weeks earlier about a small growth on his right ear. The physician had referred him to a surgeon at Princess Alice Hospital. Afterwards, there was talk of radium treatment suggesting that the doctors thought it might be cancerous.

Margaret said she had never heard her father threaten to take his own life, but thought that the ear trouble “was a bit of a blow” to him. Margaret knew that there was a gun in the loft but didn’t know that her father had ammunition for it. The coroner returned a verdict that Frederick killed himself while the balance of the mind was disturbed.

Margaret herself had had a series of hard blows within the space of three years. She had had a hasty marriage and subsequently discovered that her husband was an agnostic. She may have lost her position as a probationary nurse after her marriage. Her husband was sent overseas just as the war was ending elsewhere. She gave birth to their daughter while her husband was away. Her father committed suicide at the age of 74 and she was the one who found him. Was she also the one who had to clean up the potting shed afterwards? Trying to scrub away the blood stains? Consoling her mother who had lost a husband?

Her father’s suicide is also the only time we come across a revolver. Was it a Colt 45? Did Margaret carry it around with her (unloaded) as she patrolled Eastbourne’s streets, searching for spies and communists? Other lonely wartime women had done even stranger things. For example, Dorothy O’Grady, on the Isle of Wight, had imagined herself to be a Nazi spy and had cut telegraph wires with nail scissors. I also wonder… what became of the suicide weapon after the coroner’s inquest? Did Margaret turn it over to the authorities? Or did she hang onto it? It could not have been easy to handle the gun that had killed her father.

Brief Reunion

Thing began to look up for Margaret a few months later, however. In May 1946, David returned from overseas duty. Margaret was ecstatic! Finally, they could have a normal life!

And yet, as time went on, she smelled a rat. She asked him if he had been unfaithful while overseas. He scoffed at the idea. In September, 1946, however, the couple reached a breaking point. David was visiting his wife for the weekend in Eastbourne. While they were walking on the Eastbourne promenade, David showed her three photographs of a “coloured” woman and said he had lived with her while overseas. Back at the family home, voices were raised and David lost his temper. Margaret’s mother ordered him out of the house and after protesting he left. He phoned Margaret the next day and “invited” (ordered?) her to join him. She refused.

Divorce or Dissolution

Much of this information came out during proceedings at the London Divorce Court in mid-December 1950. Mr. Commissioner Grazebrook presided over the case and listened as Margaret and David both told their sides of the story.

David claimed that Margaret had deserted him when she refused to come with him in September 1946 and sought a divorce for desertion.

Margaret on the other hand, claimed that David had admitted adultery and sought a decree “nisi” or dissolution of the marriage. Margaret claimed that her husband was intemperate in that, when he drank, he became angry and would stamp about the house and kick the furniture, to the point that she was afraid of him. When he showed her the photographs of the other woman, he also extolled the virtues of this lady and compared “his wife unfavourably as regards methods of affection and love”. Margaret also told the court that. if she had known that David was an agnostic, she would never have married him.

At the time of the divorce case, David was living in Liverpool and Margaret was still living in the Payne home in Eastbourne. The Commissioner sided with Margaret and called David’s attempts to justify his adultery as “ridiculous”. The marriage was dissolved.

A Second Marriage

Margaret was now a free woman, but she would not leap back into the marital bed anytime soon. She and her mother, and little Diana, continued to live in their semi-detached in Eastbourne. While there is no evidence that Margaret ever completed her registration as a nurse or midwife, perhaps her role as community nurse did not require her to be registered.

On 16 November, 1958, Margaret’s mother passed away. We don’t know much about Edith, although knowing that she kicked David out of the house in September 1946, we can assume that she had her feisty moments.

Six years later, on 25 April, 1964, Margaret married Leonard Tennyson Spencer in Eastbourne. Born in 1912, Leonard was a joiner/carpenter whose first wife had passed away in 1959. He had two children (born in the 1940s) from his first marriage. and passed away in 1984 in Eastbourne.

Margaret herself passed away on 23 June, 2014, in Eastbourne.

Margaret’s Spy Story in Context

Having reviewed some of the facts of Margaret’s life, at least as much as we can decipher from the historical record, let’s now take another look at her spy story. The following account was published on War History Online on 28 July, 2014.

Nurse who parachuted as a NUN into Occupied Europe to spy for the Allies has died

Upon the death of a former WWII nurse, her previously unknown story has been discovered. It is now known that she was much more than anyone might have guessed from her job description. In an act of Allied espionage, she was sent to Germany in the guise of a nun. Transcending the role of a simple WWII nurse, she became a spy for the Allies, keeping her secret from those closest to her for the rest of her life.

Margaret Spencer died recently at ninety-four years of age, but not before putting pen to paper and revealing a lifetime of silence surrounding her role in the Second World War. Due to the Official Secrets Act, she could not tell the tale of her deployment in Germany, during which she was dressed as a nun to help maintain secrecy. Most believed her to be a WWII nurse like any other, but she was actually carrying a gun. Her mission was to help capture German spies for the Allies. Her nun disguise only accompanied her to one of many missions, but her pistol was with her on all of them. Unfortunately, danger still lurked around every corner.

Of course, the greatest danger for a spy such as Spencer was the fear of being caught. This eventually became a reality. Not only was she spotted by a German sniper who put a bullet in her back that would remain there for the rest of her life as a supposed WWII nurse, but she was eventually captured by the Gestapo. Her writings of this account appear to be relatively unfinished, in that her escape is not detailed. Even so, it is clear that she led a harrowing life during the war, the Mail Online reports.

Her life was much quieter after the war ended. In the mid-1990s, she was allowed to tell some of her friends and family what she had been through. In between her late life as a housewife and her life as a WWII nurse and spy, she did run a few missions. Luckily, they were not as dangerous as the operations she undertook during the conflict. Like many heroes of the Second World War, even those who she told about her adventures would not describe her as a braggart, but rather as a remarkable woman with a measure of humility.

Spencer’s work as a WWII nurse and spy was not a widely known story until after her death due to her decision not to write about it until the end of her lifetime. Only those in her local village were aware, and their stories were generally mixed until her accounts set the record straight with the precise details of her wartime engagements. She is now known to be much more than a simple WWII nurse, but rather a heroic spy who put her life on the line to give the Allies an edge in one of the largest conflicts in history. (War History Online – 28 July 2014)

Fact vs. Fiction

Let’s review again, the facts that we know about Margaret’s activites between 1939 and 1945.

We know that at at the outbreak of war, Margaret was working as a draper’s assistant and volunteering with the Red Cross and ARP.

We know that Margaret was a probationer nurse in mid-1942 when she met Dr. David Lindsay Scott, likely at Princess Alice Hospital in Eastbourne. We know that she married David in September 1943 and that he, an RAF officer, likely visited her on the weekends. We know that, as a probationer nurse, she would have lived in a nurse’s residence and been kept under the eagle-eyed supervision of Matron. We know that, due to the strict rules of conduct governing probationer nurses, her marriage may have ended her career as a wartime nurse. Her name does NOT appear in the Register of Nurses, although her mother-in-law’s name does, in 1944. We know that Margaret became pregnant with her daughter in October 1944, and that she gave birth in July 1945, a few months after David was sent to Singapore with the RAF.

We know that her father committed suicide with a service revolver in February 1946. Margaret knew about the gun but did not realize her father had ammunition for it. We know that David returned in May 1946 and that the couple went their separate ways in September 1946. We know that Margaret lived with her mother and daughter at 29 Harding Avenue in Eastbourne until her second marriage to Leonard Spencer in 1964.

I honestly find it difficult to picture Margaret having the time, or freedom, to parachute behind enemy lines at any point during the war, or after it.

I question her language skills. Was she fluent in French or German? Where would she have learned a foreign language? Many of the SIS and SOE agents were either foreign refugees or dual citizens who were fluent in other languages.

How did she survive capture by the Gestapo? Violette Szabo, a British-French SOE agent who parachuted into occupied France was captured by the Germans and executed. Margaret conveniently does not write how she managed to escape.

There are many women, like Violette who risked their lives for King and Country. Real heroines like Phyllis Latour or Elżbieta Zawacka or Krystyna Skarbek (aka Christine Granville) or Odette Hallowes or Vera Leigh and her compatriots. Many of these brave women joined the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry as a cover for their covert activities, yet there is no evidence that Margaret was ever a member of FANY.

There is no evidence that Margaret was ever a member of the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).

Responses to Margaret’s Story

The tabloid articles in July 2014 garnered many comments and responses. Many of the readers were awestruck by Margaret’s bravery and humility.

“What a Woman!” “A truly remarkable woman.” “Fascinating story” “Brave woman” “A true heroine” “The Greatest Generation”

A minority of readers questioned Margaret’s story and identified the gaping holes in it.

“This story is a load of hooey – she was delusional.”
“It reads like a phoney story to me.”
“Parachuting into enemy territory while dressed as a nun? I think she watched too many B-movies or episodes of Dad’s Army! A female Walter Mitty?”
“Sounds breezy to me”
“Not just breezy but totally bonkers. The gullibility of people is just extraordinary”
“I have read a lot about the female agents during WW2, but I had never heard of this one before. Was she fluent in another language?”

Those who questioned the veracity of Margaret’s story were trolled by those who clung to the veracity of Margaret’s tale.

“Sadly reading some of these comments I think they broke the mold when they finished making that generation. The disbelieving of some commenting here break my heart. Thank you dear lady and all the others that fought for our future. Sadly the politicians today have given it always in the name of greed.”

It makes sense. Readers have an initial emotional reaction to Margaret’s story. After that, emotions rule the roost and it’s harder to bring in some critical thinking.

Eastbourne Herald Tidbits

The Army Rumour Service forums (ARRSE) has some interesting tidbits from the original Eastbourne Herald article. These scraps of information did not make it into the national tabloids, perhaps because, even the tabloids found them too fantastical:

• Margaret Spencer was flown in a small aircraft and landed in a field (complete with flarepath) outside wartime Berlin to pick up an agent suffering from rabies.
• A quote from Margaret’s “memoirs”: “He spun around and pointed his gun at me and told me to walk over and stand with my back to the wall and that was his big mistake because while my back was turned to him I got my gun out of my cloak and as I turned I shot his gun out of his hand…”
• After the war – Margaret disguised herself as a male Russian officer to smuggle someone over the Russian [sic] border

I have tried to track down the Eastbourne Herald article but the link provided in the ARRSE forum no longer works as the Herald was absorbed into a larger Sussex news site. The Herald link now redirects to a Page Not Found notice on the Sussex Express site. The British Newspaper Archives only has digital versions of the Herald up until 2003. If anyone has access to the Eastbourne Herald from late July 2014, I would love to read the original articles!

Conclusion

It is telling, perhaps, that after the first flurry of articles in late July 2014, we hear nothing further about Margaret Spencer and her secret life as a spy. Perhaps the family realized that Margaret’s story was just that, a story, with no basis in fact.

There is also no mention of Margaret on the Eastbourne Local History Society page. I like to think that Margaret made up fanciful tales for her grandchildren about the wartime exploits of brave women. If, as she aged, these stories came across as autobiographical, let’s put that down to faulty memories and wishful thinking.

I feel for Margaret. She was on track, in 1942, to make something of herself as a wartime nurse. She was making a difference in the war effort, even if it wasn’t, as yet, glamourous. But then she got swept off her feet by David Lindsay Scott. And got pregnant. And found her father in the potting shed. Her life was derailed multiple times and perhaps she wanted to follow a different path. Perhaps she imagined an alternate timeline, one in which things played out differently. One in which she was the hero.

And yet, Margaret was a hero. She stood up for herself in divorce court and won! She raised her daughter on her own. She found a job that supported herself and her daughter. She remarried, happily this time I hope. She was esteemed and revered in her community. One doesn’t need to have led a fantastical life in order to have made a difference.

Post Script

For those who wonder what became of Dr. David Lindsay Scott. The 1959 Medical Register notes that he was living/working at Lasarettet [Hospital], Sundsvall 5, Sweden. Sundsvall is a city about 400 km north of Stockholm, on the Gulf of Bothnia. A rather frigid and isolated place for a British surgeon.

I did find several references to him in the British Journal of Anaesthesia (1955), where he wrote several letters to the journal. One comments on a modified larygoscopic blade, the other on labelling syringes. In the same journal, he submitted an article titled Pethidine and Gallamine alone in the Treatment of Fractured Mandible (instead of using anaesthesia). In all cases, he was working at the County Hospital in Sundsvall.

By 1961, David was back in England, working at St. Helens and South Liverpool Hospital Group. He had written another article for the BJA, this one detailing his experience in Sundsvall – Anaesthetic Experiences in 1,300 Geriatric Operations. Beyond that, I have been unable to trace him. Did he remarry? Did he have other children? What became of him?

References

British Agent Parachuted While Dressed as a Nun | Army Rumour Service (arrse.co.uk)

Bartleby Research – a questionable site that lets users buy essays – there is an essay stub on Margaret Spencer that raises even more eyebrows – without access to the Eastbourne Herald articles, it’s hard to say how much of this essay is actually based on Margaret’s “memoirs” – Nurse Margaret Spencer: The Secret Intelligence Service Spy | Bartleby

War History Online – 28 July 2014 – Nurse who parachuted as a NUN into Occupied Europe to spy for the Allies has died (warhistoryonline.com)

Express – 22 July 2014 – Former spy Margaret Spencer has died | UK | News | Express.co.uk

The Argus – 21 July 2014 – Spy heroine parachutist Margaret dies aged 94 in East Sussex village | The Argus

The Mirror – 22 July 2014 – Church chorister’s secret life as spy who parachuted into Nazi Europe disguised as NUN revealed – Mirror Online

Eastbourne Herald – original article link (no longer works)- http://www.eastbourneherald.co.uk/news/local/double-life-of-wartime-secret-agent-mrs-margaret-spencer-1-6186718

Header Image – Group of WW2 ARP ambulance drivers from Sheffield Civil Defence – from WW2 Civil Defence site