Leyton & Leytonstone

Historical Society

Peggy Knight, The Leyton Typist with Nerves of Steel (continued)

Someone who had lived through such a frightening episode would nowadays be expected to suffer from ‘post traumatic stress syndrome’, to be unable to settle back into their previous way of life, to be isolated from their family and friends. Not Peggy Knight.  In December 1944 she married Sub-Lieutenant Eric Smith of the Royal Navy.  A son Peter was born in September 1945 and a son David a year later when the family were living in a house they had bought at Waltham Cross, 61 Eastfield Road (see below).

An article about Peggy, Marguerite Diana Frances Smith, appeared in the Sunday Express of 19th January 1947.  Her husband Eric Smith was working for the River Lea police as an inspector.  Peggy complained of shortages such as soap to wash a toddler's clothes.  She was an ordinary housewife and mother and shared the same frustration at shortages of food and basic household items which continued long after the War had ended.

The main source for this article was ‘The Women Who Lived For Danger, The Women Agents of SOE in the Second World War’ by Marcus Binney (2002), which was drawn to my attention by Leyton & Leytonstone Historical Society member Alex Wilkinson.  Since first written, The Heroines of SOE F Section, Britain’s Secret Women in France by Beryl E Escott has been published (2010).

David Boote