Kathleen Mary Grannum

Mrs Kathleen Mary Grannum was the widow of Squadron Leader Clifton Grannum, who was killed serving with the RAF in October 1940. Left with three young children and with Clifton’s parents living in the German occupied Channel Islands, she moved to Kingston Russell. The house happened to have superb views of the main road between Bridport and Dorchester (now the A35), one of a handful of routes out of the southwest. Her contact was a local poacher who it was planned would call to drop messages. In practice this didn’t happen as it was felt that a man calling on a single woman in a remote house was not the done thing at the time. It was intended that any messages would be relayed by Mrs Grannum on her bicycle to a contact in Maiden Newton. The route involves small narrow country roads, even today, so would have been quiet. Mrs Grannum’s cousin, Timothy Chick, farmed at Wynford Eagle Farm near Maiden Newton, which provided an excuse for her to be travelling this way.