CAMPBELL, Hon Moyra Jean 1924-2024
Richard R
She was d of Brig 4th Baron STRATHEDEN CBE 1899-1981 and his 1st w Jean Helen St Clair CBE 1901-56 d of William ANSTRUTHER-GRAY 1859-1938 (who was also f of LP Baron KILMANY 1905-85, as well 2xgt gs of Sir Philip ANSTRUTHER 2nd Bt 1688-1763 of Balcaskie) and Clayre Jessie 1872-1958 d of Andrew TENNANT 1835-1913 of Gleneig, S Australia and Rachel Christina FERGUSON 1840-1921. She never married.
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Moyra Campbell, Wren in the top-secret Y-Service who later worked for Moët et Chandon – obituary
Fluent in German, she listened to enemy VHF voice messages in the North Sea, and fed coded HF transmissions to Bletchley Park
Moyra Campbell, who has died aged 99, was one of the last Wrens of the highly secret Y-Service who in the Second World War listened to German VHF voice messages in the North Sea and fed coded HF transmissions to Bletchley Park.
Born on July 14 1924, she was the daughter of Lord Stratheden, and as a child she lived at Hartrigge House, near Jedburgh. She and her two sisters enjoyed a happy Borders childhood revolving around ponies and pets. Like many girls of her class, “Moy”, as she was known, never went to school, but her mother believed strongly in educating girls, and taught by a governess, Moyra became fluent in French and German.
She was 15 when the war broke out in 1939. The Admiralty advertised on the BBC that it needed German speakers, and as soon as she was old enough she volunteered for the Women’s Royal Naval Service………………………………
Postwar, Moyra Campbell felt too old to prepare for university, and had begun working for the English Speaking Union in Edinburgh, helping to find housing for those newly arrived in the city, when she received a telegram from a friend in France, Laurien Jones, daughter of the playwright Edith Bagnold, saying “Would you like my job?” After some hesitation, Moyra said yes.
The job involved working for Count Robert-Jean de Vogüé, war hero and director of Moët et Chandon champagne, as chatelaine of Château de Saran, near Épernay. She helped to entertain a stream of guests, when after working all day, she would stay up late talking: not a problem for Moyra Campbell who never went to bed until well after midnight……………………….
Moyra Campbell always returned to the Borders for the hunting season, and after 13 years at Saran she settled permanently near Jedburgh. There she became a well-known figure in the local community, involved with charities such as Scotland’s Garden Scheme or Riding for the Disabled, and was a woman farmer when farming was a man’s world. A regular at the Jedburgh festival and Kelso show, she rode with the Jed Forest Hunt, followed hounds well into her nineties (latterly in a car), and gave memorable Christmas parties.
Independent-minded and full of common sense, she just got on with the things that needed to be done. She lived a full life on her own terms, and never married.
Moyra Campbell, born July 14 1924, died June 18 2024