Jacqueline Nearne
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| Jacqueline Nearne | |
|---|---|
| May 27, 1916 – August 15, 1982 | |
| Nickname | Jacqueline/Josette |
| Place of birth | Brighton |
| Place of death | London |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom, France |
| Service/branch | Special Operations Executive, French Resistance |
| Years of service | 1942-1944 |
| Rank | Field agent and guerrilla commander |
| Commands held | Stationer |
| Awards | MBE |
| Relations | Eileen Nearne, Francis Nearne |
| Other work | United Nations |
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Jacqueline Nearne (b. Jacqueline Françoise Mary Josephine Nearne, 27 May 1916, Brighton, England - d. 15 August 1982, London, England) was a secret agent for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Nazi-occupied France during World War II.
The eldest daughter of an English father and a Spanish mother, Nearne went to live with her family (including her younger sister Eileen Nearne and brother Francis Nearne) in France in 1923. Aged 18 she moved to Nice to work as a commercial travelling representative for a office equipment comany. When France fell, she made her way to England via Portugal and Gibraltar.
On her arrival in England, she applied to the WRAC but was turned down as she had no experience of driving in the dark and on the left hand side of the road. In 1942, she was recruited into the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (the FANYs) alongside her younger sister Eileen (aka "Didi"), who also became an agent. Her fluency in French quickly brought her to the attention of F Section ("F" for French), one of the many different branches of the SOE. An early recruit (in the second batch of women to train), she trained as a courier in mid-1942. She was also taught Morse code transmissions using a suitcase radio, which would help her in her work with the French Resistance. She was the first girl, along with Odette Sansom, to train at Training School 51 Ringway Parachute School.
She was presented with a necklace and a gold watch by Colonel Maurice Buckmaster before setting out on her mission. On the evening of 25 January 1943 she was secretly parachuted into France under the code-name 'Jacqueline' to work for the vast 'Stationer' circuit in central France. Her life as a secret agent was one filled with constant danger, and the threat of being exposed as an agent or betrayed by a comrade. Despite this she would travel by train, often on long and arduous journeys. She had maintained contact with agents, wireless operators and with the neighboring 'Headmaster' circuit, as well as forming a vital link between several other SOE networks operating in-and-around the Paris region. She also carried spare parts for radios, which she transported in a cosmetics bag, and organized reception committees for newly arrived agents. After fifteen strenuous months in the field, she finally returned to Britain in April 1944 by means of Westland Lysander.
Throughout her time in Occupied France she was known as Josette Norville, which served as her documentary name in order to protect her true identity and operation.
She was awarded the MBE in 1945.
After the War she looked after her sister Eileen in London, before moving to New York to work in the Protocol Department of the United Nations. She kept a long-distance friendship with Lisé de Baissac in France. In the 1950s, Brian Stonehouse painted a portrait of her which now hangs in the Special Forces Club in London.
