As World War II approached, Rundle was commissioned into the WRNS and undertook officer training at the Royal Naval College, Greenwich. In 1940, she was appointed first officer at Portsmouth. She later served at HMS Calliope, then a training centre for the Royal Naval Reserve, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, and HMS Daedalus, a shore airfield, located near Lee-on-the-Solent in Hampshire. At the end of the war, Rundle joined the staff of the WRNS directorate and put in place plans to establish the WRNS as a permanent peacetime service. She was promoted to superintendent, equivalent to a commander in the Royal Navy, and second only in seniority to the then director. In 1948, she was awarded a CBE in the King's Birthday Honours.
Rundle was a founding trustee of the WRNS Benevolent Trust, and was elected vice-chair of the trust from 1947 to 1950, and chair from 1950 to 1958. In 1949, she left the WRNS after being appointed deputy director of Encyclopædia Britannica Films in the United Kingdom. After 1951, she joined Metal Box Company Limited, a large can and packaging manufacturer, as secretary to the managing director. In the early 1960s, she retired and moved to a cottage in Outgate, a hamlet near Hawkshead, in the Lake District, Cumbria. In retirement, she indexed the naval histories written by her cousin Geoffrey Bennett. In 2007, a party was held at her home to mark her hundredth birthday. She died in a hospital from the effects of a stroke.
By September 1932, Rundle was employed as personal secretary to Sir Anderson Montague-Barlow,[18]: vi a former Minister of Labour, and best known for chairing the Barlow Royal Commission on the urban concentration of population and industry.[19] In 1935, he was appointed chairman of the Royal Commission on the Coal Industry in Alberta, Canada,[20] From late summer to autumn of 1935, Rundle accompanied Barlow, his wife Doris Louise, née Reed, a former administrator in the Women's Royal Air Force,[19] and William Armour, a mining expert, on a journey across Canada[14]: 153–154 Her mother had recently died on 17July 1935,[5] however, her father insisted that she "should honour [her] undertaking and go to Canada."[14]: 154 She kept a running diary of the entire trip that she later donated to the Provincial Archives of Alberta.[14]: 153 [a]
At the end of the war, Rundle joined the staff of the WRNS directorate and put in place plans to establish the WRNS as a permanent peacetime service.[25][26] She was promoted to superintendent, equivalent to a commander in the Royal Navy,[23] and second only in seniority to the then director, Jocelyn Woollcombe.[25] In 1948, she was awarded a CBE in the King's Birthday Honours.[27] In April 1949, Rundle left the WRNS after being appointed deputy director of Encyclopædia Britannica Films, at 211Piccadilly, London,[28]: 186 a position that reported to John Mackay Mure, then director of the division in the United Kingdom.[25][b]
The Encyclopædia Britannica Films division in the United States had a library of around four hundred educational films that they had planned to offer to the Ministry of Education in London.[25] The films were distributed on 16 mm film and covered,[28]: 187 amongst other subjects, geography, science, and social studies.[30]: 221 In April 1951, the work of the UK division was transferred to Lexicon Films Limited, an Encyclopædia Britannica affiliate located at 10 StSwithin's Lane, in the City of London.[31] Lexicon Films was wound-up on 1November 1954.[32] After 1951, Rundle joined Metal Box Company Limited, a large can and packaging manufacturer, as secretary to the managing director.[c] In the early 1960s, she retired and moved to a cottage in Outgate, a hamlet near Hawkshead, in the Lake District, Cumbria.[26]
Personal life and death
Rundle never married but her father married twice after the death of her mother.[14]: 174 He married Margaret Wilson, of Ifield, West Sussex, on 8January 1938 at All Souls', Langham Place, London.[34] She died on 21June 1942,[35] and he married thirdly, Mildred Ellen Robinson, on 21August 1944 at the parish church of Maresfield in the Wealden district of East Sussex.[36] Mildred was the widow of Reginald Braham Robinson, a former civil engineer with the Ministry of Works and Public Buildings.[37] Rundle's father died on 8October 1958, aged 86, at his home in Maresfield.[38]
Rundle was a founding trustee of the WRNS Benevolent Trust, and was elected vice-chair of the trust from 1947 to 1950, and chair from 1950 to 1958.[24] In retirement, she indexed the naval histories written by her cousin Geoffrey Bennett,[39]: 8 that Eric Grove, late professor of naval history at the University of Salford,[40]: 263 has previously described as an "excellent index".[41] She also indexed the records of the Outgate Women's Institute after they were deposited with the Cumbria Archive Service in 1990.[42] In 2007, a party was held at her home to mark her hundredth birthday.[14]: 174 She died from the effects of a stroke on 29September 2010, aged 103, at a hospital in Lancashire.[43] A memorial service was held at Hawkshead parish church on 12October 2010.[44]
^ abc
"Month by Month. Encyclopædia Britannica Appointment". The School Government Chronicle and Education Review. 141 (3286). London: The School Government Publishing Co.: 406 May 1949. OCLC16219251.
^ ab
Cheal, Tony (2005). "Harrogate College 1923". www.harrogatepeopleandplaces.info. Harrogate: Harrogate Historical Society. Archived from the original on 22 December 2022. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
^
Educational Panel (July 1950). Burke, John Alexander Vincent (ed.). "Films for the Teaching of Science". Focus. Vol. 3, no. 7. London: Catholic Film Institute. pp. 220–221. OCLC6289548. Retrieved 30 December 2022. Focus magazine is also available at Lantern, the Media History Digital Library's search platform.
^
Association of Educational Committees (September 1951). "Lexicon Films Ltd". Education. 98 (2539). London: Councils and Education Press: 360. ISSN0013-1164. OCLC909344735.
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