Born: 26 June 1925 at Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England
Parents: Margaret “Gretta” Oram 1888-1967 and Sydney Hardisty Thomas 1886-1970
Siblings: William Terence Thomas 1916-1929, Arthur Thomas 1922-1962
Marriage and offspring: None
Died: 5 Feb 2006 at Cooper Beeches Nursing Home, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, England
_____________________________________________
Catherine would have been the source for her own entry in Daphne Oram’s ‘Oram Family Saga’ compiled in the 1960s
_____________________________________________
Catherine is the youngest child and only daughter of Gretta (née Oram) and Sydney Thomas of Melton Mowbray born June 26th 1925.
Catherine attended Windy Brow Preparatory School and Melton Mowbray Grammar School where she was taught Maths and Physics by her father.
On leaving school in 1943 she joined the W.R.N.S and was stationed at Woburn Abbey doing highly secret work* there. After the war she joined the Civil Service and is at present a Higher Executive Officer in the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Food at Nottingham.
Catherine is a keen hockey player and also enjoys badminton and tennis.
In 1960 she visited the U.S.A. and stayed with her Anderson relatives in Pennsylvania and Illinois.
_____________________________________________
* 2013 Postscript
Catherine worked at Bletchley Park that is now famous for its secret code breaking work during the 1939-1945 War. It is interesting that even though Daphne lived 7 miles from Bletchley Park in 1970 Daphne had never heard of it, that is how secret it was! It was not until the late 20th century that Bletchley Park became known for pioneering work in the development of computers as well and the important part it played in listening in to the German High Command.
Link to the Bletchley Park “Roll of Honour” entry for Catherine.
Locally it was known that during the war the military had been stationed in the large Woburn Abbey Estate, probably carrying out highly secret work and Catherine would have fallen in with Daphne’s assumption that she had been based there.
In later life Catherine did talk about her work at Bletchley Park that she seems to have found rather repetitive and boring, having had no idea that she was a part of such an important organisation.
Page 1
Page 2
