Patricia Swallow

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Patricia Swallow, born in 1931/1932 in the United Kingdom, served in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (the Wrens) from 1950 to 1986. She became a communications officer like her father, Captain Geoffrey Swallow, and worked at sea and at shore bases in places such as Malta, Norway, Portsmouth, Gibraltar and Northwood, including HMS Mercury, HMS Pembroke, and HMS Heron.

Swallow led the Wren training college at HMS Dauntless from 1973 and was a keen bird watcher, serving as vice president of the Royal Naval Bird Watching Society. She was among the first women to attend the National Defence College and became the first woman to be command personnel officer at Portsmouth. She later held roles as staff officer for training and as the command Wrens officer at Portsmouth Dockyard, and in 1979 she was deputy director of the Wrens and a Fellow of the British Institute of Management.

On 30 July 1982 she became director and commander of the Wrens and also served as aide-de-camp to Queen Elizabeth II. She was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1986 New Year Honours. Swallow ceased to be commandant on 6 February 1986 and retired from service on 4 April 1986, with Marjorie Fletcher succeeding her. After leaving the service, she did charity work and married in 1991.