Sheila Harrington was the daughter of a Pontypool GP, Colonel Frank Harrington, a former Indian Army Medical Officer. She attended a Catholic School in Newcastle upon Tyne. She worked for the BBC in Bristol as a secretary before being recruited to Auxiliary Units.
She was billeted at Doxford Hall.
| Unit or location | Role | Posted from | until |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alnwick Instation | Operator | 28 Sep 1943 | 20 Jul 1944 |
La Sagesse School, Jesmond, Newcastle Upon Tyne
Secretary
Interviewed by Beatrice Temple on 21 Jul 1943 at Harrods.
Reported to Coleshill on 27 Sep 1943
Served initially at Alnwick. During an air raid she was blown off her bicycle by a bomb blast and broke her arm.
She left the ATS on 15 Dec 1944, having applied to resign her commission on 25 Oct 1944, shortly after the Special Duties Branch was stood down.
On 25 Aug 1945 she married Gerald Kennedy "Ken" Trevaskis, a noted diplomat and the brother of Eve Trevaskis and Janet Purves-Smith (nee Trevaskis), to become Mrs Trevaskis. In December 1963, while accompanying her husband, as High Commissioner in Aden, they were attacked with a grenade. Others died, though the Trevakis' survived, a bar to the George Medal being awarded to his assistant, George Henderson, who had thrown himself across the Commissioner to protect him, though he died subsequently from his injuries.
Ken was later knighted and became Sir Kennedy.
In the 1980's he bought back the old family home of The Rectory, Rusper.
She is believed to have been the last of the ATS Special Duties Operators to die in 2019.
Jeremy Trevaskis
Frances M Rappoport
Coventry Evening Telegraph 10 Dec 1963