Notices
Miss Sheila Puckle (Lieutenant Colonel Sheila Puckle OBE, TD, DStJ, BA)
In College 1931-36 Day Girl South
Sheila Puckle died, aged 88, on 24th May 2007 after a brief illness following a stroke. She was one of those quiet, somewhat enigmatic characters who worked quietly in the background with a wide range of contacts. Invariably her efforts were dedicated to serving human and charitable interests; truly she was someone who lived up to the principle of pro utilitate hominum.
Her great-grandfather was William Charles Macready, the renowned Victorian actor, but she also came from a long line of distinguished Army Officers; her Grandfather having been a full General who as Adjutant General of the Army, was responsible for the formation of the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps. Educated in Switzerland and at The Cheltenham Ladies’ College, Sheila then obtained a BA in History and Egyptology at London University in 1939. However, coming from a military family and with the threat of war hanging over England, it was inevitable that she should join the Army as a Territorial volunteer, which she did in 1938 whilst at London University. By 1939 she was a 2nd Lieutenant in the Territorial Army.
Initially, it was proposed she should work in intelligence with MI5, but this did not appeal to her, so eventually she was posted to 1st Mixed Battery, Royal Artillery. The following years were spent serving with anti-aircraft units and by the end of the war she was a Captain and junior commander of anti-aircraft plotting, having served all over Britain. In 1946 the Government decided that all three Services should be able to recruit women on a full-time basis and Sheila, with the rank of acting Major, was invited to produce the appropriate regulations to turn the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) Training Centre into a Corps of the Regular Army. With no precedent to work to, this was a major undertaking which popularly became known as ‘Sheila’s Baby’. Certainly it could not have been managed by a more suitable person. By 1949 she was to see it all go through Parliament and so the Women’s Royal Army Corps was formed. It was for this work that she was awarded a MBE.
Having been invited to take a permanent commission in the Army, Sheila was posted to Hong Kong during the Korean War. She then returned to England to attend the Staff College, after which she served in Germany for 3½ years before finally retiring in 1963 with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. She also held the Territorial Decoration.
On leaving the Army Sheila joined the Victoria League, with its world wide contacts with the Commonwealth. Whilst there, she was talent-spotted by Lady Dunrossil and quickly appointed as Staff Officer to Lady Moira Browne, then Superintendent-in-Chief of St John Ambulance at Grosvenor Crescent, where her background enabled her to fit in perfectly. Whilst she was never one to suffer fools gladly, her efficient work quickly made her indispensable and she gained an encyclopaedic knowledge of the personalities and operations of St John. It was here that she laid the foundation of what subsequently became the St John Fellowship, with over three hundred branches world wide. This finally came into being in 1983 in the form we now know it. For this she was promoted to OBE for her work with the Order. This meant that she joined that rare group of people who are able to wear both the OBE and MBE together, as one was the Military Order and the other the civilian award.
Sheila never married, but devoted much of her private life to looking after her invalid mother. Many of those with long service in St John will find it difficult to envisage life without Sheila there, as she has been so much a part of St John for so long.
John Hemsley and Esmée Salkeld, St John Fellowship