history
Island Life - June/July 2010
Photos: Left Holloway Gaol.
Above: Bembridge Fort
Article by Jan Toms
Dorothy O’Grady – An
Ordinary Housewife?
In August 1950, the Island woke up to
landing. Passes were needed to come
Act and of defying Defence Regulations,
the news that Dorothy Pamela O’Grady
to and from the Island while a blackout
amazingly she was not held in gaol but
had returned to her Sandown home.
was enforced, rigorously inspected
summoned to appear before the county
It was ten years since she left and
by the ARP. In seemingly blissful
bench at Ryde. Not so amazingly, on
most people could not believe that
ignorance, Dorothy and Bob proceeded
the appointed day Dorothy did not
she would ever return to the modest
to the beach and walked along the
appear and was eventually arrested at
boarding house she ran before the
forbidden sands. Several times she
Yarmouth. Her excuse was that she had
war in the Broadway. Immediately the
was intercepted and her excuse was
run away because she was scared.
debate started, was she or wasn’t she
that being a hot summer, Bob needed
guilty? Had she or hadn’t she carried
his swim. Her walks frequently took
Assizes and because of the seriousness
out the crimes for which she had been
her towards Culver Cliff above which
of the case, the trial was held in
sentenced? Dorothy was now fifty-two
stood Bembridge Fort, at that time
camera. Nine charges were brought
years old and her last address had been
a command post for anti-aircraft
against her and she was found guilty
Aylesbury Gaol where she finished a
regiments and also the HQ for the
of seven. The judge, Mr Justice
nine- year stretch for spying.
Home Guard. On one occasion she
Macnaghton, with due solemnity
Dorothy was tried at the Hampshire
Before the war Dorothy had come to
was caught flashing a torch, defying
announced that in the circumstances
the Island with her husband who was
blackout regulations. The authorities
there was only one punishment that
newly retired from the fire service. He
were thrown by the fact that she
was permitted. He doffed a black cap
was much older than his wife being
pinned a paper swastika to her coat
and ordered that Dorothy should be
in his late sixties. When the blitz
and said how much she admired Hitler.
hanged.
threatened London he responded to
The conclusion was that she was dotty.
the call and went back to help leaving
She went too far however when she
fortunately for Dorothy, two of the
Dorothy alone except for her black
was discovered in the act of cutting
most serious charges were dropped.
retriever dog Bob.
telephone wires and she was arrested.
Her sentence was then commuted
In her bag were various Island maps
to fourteen years in gaol. She was
with areas marked on them.
transferred to Holloway to serve her
Slowly things began to happen. In a
state of high alert, the Island beaches
were barricaded to prevent enemy
66
Her lawyers launched an appeal and
Accused of crimes under the Treachery
time.
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