Nora Caveney: The First ATS Woman Killed in Action

In the early hours of 17 April 1942, eighteen-year-old Private Nora Caveney was killed by a flying piece of shrapnel whilst working on the predictor at an anti-aircraft gun site close to Weston Shore, Southampton. She was the first woman of the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) to be killed during the Second World War.

Nora was born on 10 May 1923 in Todmorden, West Yorkshire. She worked as a cotton bobbin winder before volunteering for military service. Like many young women of her generation, she was eager to contribute to the war effort. It’s very possible that she lied about her age to be accepted into the 148th (Mixed) Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery – one of the first British units to include women in operational anti-aircraft roles.

The ATS was the women’s branch of the British Army during WW2, formed in 1938 to support the war effort in non-combat roles, with over 250,000 women serving in it. However, by the early 1940s, its role expanded. Women were trained in the use of complex gunnery equipment and worked alongside male soldiers in mixed regiments, especially in anti-aircraft defences. Nora was trained in the use of radio-location devices, predictor height finders, and range-finding equipment – key components in tracking and engaging enemy aircraft.

Nora caveney ATS — Nora Caveney, aged 18 in ATS uniform.

After completing her training, she was posted to the front-line gun site at Westwood Z Battery. The battery was situated close to the Weston Shore, in north-westerly direction from Netley on Southampton water – it was an important strategic location vulnerable to Luftwaffe attacks given the close proximity of the Spitfire factory at Woolston, which was bombed in the latter months of 1940. The natural cover of the woodland edge was perfect for concealing the Z battery. The concrete bases still remain today, hidden amongst the undergrowth.

On the night into the early hours of 16-17 April 1942, the air raid sirens sounded. Nora and her fellow ATS personnel leapt from their bunks, donned tin helmets and gas masks, and rushed into position. In what could have been her first live engagement, Nora took her place operating the rangefinder, helping direct the anti-aircraft guns as they opened fire.

As the guns fired their second salvo, a bomb exploded some distance from the site. Flying shrapnel struck the sandbags surrounding the concrete predictor pit where Nora and other ATS women were working. She was hit and fatally wounded. Despite her injury, Nora reportedly held her position and maintained her target until she collapsed.

Nora Caveney grave — Nora Caveney’s grave in Netley Military Cemetery in Hampshire (Credit: Holman on 01 Sep 2012).

Another female ATS operator immediately took her place, and the guns continued firing without pause. The raid lasted nearly an hour. The courage and professionalism displayed by Nora and her comrades ensured that the battery remained operational throughout.

The press reported Nora’s death, including this in The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer:

Girl Killed at Gun Site

The first ATS in the AA command to be killed by enemy action at a gun site is Private Nora Caveney, aged 18, of Walsden, Todmorden, the War Office announces. Walsden is in the West Riding of Yorkshire. She was killed on April 17 by a bomb splinter as she stood at a predictor on a South Coast gun site during a raid.

She was following an enemy ‘plane and was “on target” when she collapsed. Another A.A. girl, Private Gladys Keel, on duty as a spotter, took Nora’s place at the predictor and continued to follow the raider, and the guns were able to continue firing without a moment’s delay. Other ATS girls on the predictor kept on with their jobs through the rest of the raid, which lasted nearly an hour. It was their first engagement with the enemy.

Nora left her job in a silk factory last December to join the ATS and volunteered for AA duties. She joined one of the first mixed batteries to take over front line gun sites on the South Coast. “Every man and girl in the battery is out for revenge,” said the battery’s second-in-command. “The girls’ discipline under fire is most praiseworthy. Seasoned soldiers could not have behaved better.”

The Daily Herald wrote:

AA Girl Killed in Action

Private Nora, the War Office revealed last night, was killed last Friday as she stood at a predictor on a South Coast AA site during a raid. She was following an enemy plane and was “on target” when a bomb splinter struck her.

Nora, tall and dark, lived with her parents and two older sisters at Co-Operative Street, Walsden, near Rochdale, Lancs, until last December when she left her job in a silk factory to volunteer for AA. duties in the ATS. She was posted to one of the first batteries to take over front line gun sites on the South Coast. In the early hours of last Friday, the alarm sounded, and Nora and other ATS jumped out of bed, grabbed their tin hats and gas masks and ran to action stations.

A few minutes later they were in the thick of their first engagement with the enemy. As the guns, guided by the predictor girls, fired the second salvo, a bomb landed some distance away and flying splinters struck the sandbags topping the concrete wall of the predictor pit in which the girls were working. Private Nora Caveney was picked up by her commanding officer. The guns were still firing as a stretcher party took her back to camp.

The Lincolnshire Echo later carried this poignant report:

From the wall of hut on the gun-site where she died now hangs a picture of Private Nora Caveney (18), first member of the ATS in AA Command to be killed in action. The picture, draped with Union Jacks, shows Caveney in uniform, and the hut which it adorns has been specially furnished in her memory.

Private Nora Caveney was buried with full military honours at Netley Military Cemetery. She lies in Grave 2210 – a lasting reminder of the role women played on the front line of Britain’s air defences.

On 12 October 2016, an information board was unveiled to commemorate Nora and the men and women who served at the Westwood Royal Artillery Camp. It stands near the Weston Shore, not far from where she gave her life.