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Boughton, Dunkirk & Hernhill
War Memorials



BETTY ROOK

W.R.N.S.

Who died on 9 May 1947     Age 31

We are grateful to Murray Rook and Darryl Rook for providing the following information and photographs of Betty Rook, who is the only woman named on our local war memorials.


Betty was the elder daughter of Mr and Mrs Harry Rook, of The Limes, Boughton. She is remembered with honour at the War Memorial at St. Barnabas Church, Boughton.


Betty served with the Wrens during the War.  She enlisted in 1940,at the age of 23, and was stationed in underground headquarters in the Medway area.  

It was because of the trying conditions under which she was compelled to work, that she contracted tuberculosis and was invalided out of the service, after only two years.  


Betty married a Canadian soldier, Lloyd Jacobson, of Scotland, Ontario, at Boughton Parish Church on 6th September  1942, and went on to have a son, Roger.   Lloyd Jacobson had to return to Canada at the end of the war.   


Betty’s illness, and the anguish caused by not being able to join her husband contributed to a decline in her health.  She died on 9th May 1947.  Her son went out to join his father in Canada.


Betty was the elder daughter of Mr and Mrs Harry Rook, of The Limes, Boughton.   She had been a bonny baby.  In 1920, she had won first prize at Faversham, as the healthiest child of her age.  


She was educated at Boughton Methodist School, and was a keen tennis player.  She took a great interest in local social events and was a keen tennis player.


Sources:

Commonwealth War Graves Commission website: CWGC.org

Faversham and North Kent News

Murray Rook and Darryl Rook

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