Dear Harry,
Remember that Flora worked for a while for Cunard, crossing the Atlantic on several of their great Ocean liners--including the Queen Mary? I've been reading a book by a seaman who started out in the early sailing ship days and ended up as "Captain of the Queens"--the title of his book. The author shares your name, Harry, Harry Grattridge. It's an old book, published around the time of his retirement in 1956. I worked out the dates, and it's entirely possible that Flora worked under his command. She must have joined Cunard fairly soon after her secretarial training, so maybe around age 20--which would have been in 1954. Her title (rank?) was "purserette", and I guess she had mostly secretarial duties, possibly for passengers as well as the ship's Purser.
Anyway, it was kind of fun to read about the ship, remembering that early part of her working life. She later worked as secretary to the brother of Donald Maclean, of "Cambridge Five" spy fame, in an advertising agency, where she once posed with Cary Grant for a PR picture. And then got married, of course, which is what was expected of a respectable girl back then. So I was thinking of Flora as I read the book. It proved to be quite a fascinating tale, though I confess I got a bit bored toward the end, with countless stories about the parade of rich and (once!) famous passengers he entertained. High privilege, crossing the ocean on the Queens in those days. I was distressed--well, a bit angry, really, to find literally no mention of the second- and third-class passengers. Just the Lords and Ladies, Sir this and the Honorable that. Not to mention the captains of industry. Ugh!
And why did Flora not get a single mention, start to finish, eh? I'll bet she earned a pittance, too. But she did get to New York. Ah, well, there you go, Harry. Par for the course, they say.
With love, Peter
As we learn from today's news some of the "nobility" are not as noble as they ought to be. I remember that my grandmother crossed the Atlantic on various Cunard ships, which may have included the Queen Mary, and what she told me rather confirms the rigid class structure that existed on board.
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