Your questions answered
Was my cousin a Secret Listener?
Q I had a cousin, Elsie Margaret Smith, who was called up for the war. She was an office worker and died in Cairo. My aunt never received the death certificate and there’s no mention of Elsie on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) website. I emailed the ambassador in Cairo but had no further information from that. Elsie was born on 27 April 1917 in Deptford. I’m very keen to find out about Elsie’s war work and her death. I wonder whether she might have worked as part of the Secret Listeners in the Wire Scheme?
Kathleen [surname withheld]
A I found details of Elsie’s grave here https://billiongraves.com/grave/Elsie-Margaret-Smith/6415116. The gravestone says she died serving her country in Cairo. This implies death by natural causes or accident rather than enemy action. It also suggests she was working for some Government or military organisation rather than a commercial enterprise.
Trace tree leads
There is a Smith family tree on Ancestry run by Jan Smith which says Elsie died in Al Qahirah, Cairo. It would be worth contacting Jan to see whether she has any further information.
1939 Register clues
In the 1939 Register Elsie is shown as an office worker living in Dorking Street, Deptford with her parents and a brother, William. William is also an office worker, but a later note says he was in the military.
‘Office worker’
Office worker is an all embracing term and could mean almost anything. If she was working for a covert Government department it certainly wouldn’t say so in any publicly available documents. Although by 1944 Egypt was well away from the frontline it remained an important headquarters and one may be reasonably certain that any civilians there would be engaged in war work of some kind. If she had linguistic skills it could have been as an intercept operator but there were numerous other jobs she might have done.
Look locally, but not the embassy
I’m not surprised you had no reply from the embassy. Diplomatic posts are not staffed to do that sort of work. I have been unable to find any online details of death certificates in Egypt and you might have to employ a local researcher if you wish to proceed further. Contacting the cemetery would be a good start.
Useful web links
Other sources you might find useful are:
• www.cyndislist.com/middle-east/
• www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Egypt_Genealogy
• or www.worldgenweb.net/egypt/DF
Tip!
Curious to learn more about the Secret Listeners? Listen to the National Archives’ coverage of this topic by Sinclaire MacKay at https://media.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php/the-secret-listeners/
Tracing our Waterloo veteran
Q My cousin has a medal inscribed with the name of ‘William Dorey’ who participated in the Battle of Waterloo. My connection in this matter is that my mother’s maiden name was Dorey.
The information I have so far
