Nearne, Jacqueline Françoise Mary Josephine, 1916-1982
Jacqueline Nearne MBE (born 27 May 1916, Brighton, England, died 15 August 1982 in London, England), code named Jacqueline and Josette, was an agent for the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Nearne was a courier with the Stationer network operating mostly in the Clermont-Ferrand area. She worked in France for the unusually long time of 14 months and returned safely to England. Born 27 May 1916 in Brighton, England, Nearne was the elder daughter of an English father and a Spanish mother. She moved with her family to France in 1923. At the age of 18, she began work in southern France as a commercial travelling representative for an office equipment company. France was defeated and occupied by Nazi Germany in 1940. In 1942, along with her sister Eileen, Nearne fled France, making her way to England via Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar. On her arrival in England, Nearne applied to the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) but was turned down as she had no experience of driving in the dark and on the left hand side of the road.[1][2] Nearne's fluency in French quickly brought her to the attention of SOE's F or French Section headquartered in London. She was given a commission with the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry (FANYs) and trained to be an SOE agent in the same class as Lise de Baissac, Mary Herbert, and Odette Sansom. De Baissac described Nearne as "movie-star gorgeous but uncertain of herself in the otherwise all-male, buttoned up atmosphere." On the night of 25/26 January 1943, Nearne parachuted into France along with Maurice Southgate, landing near Brioude. Nearne remained in France for more than 14 months without a break, an unusually long time for an SOE agent to remain uncaptured in France. Both Southgate and Nearne were security conscious. Nearne returned to France in September 1944 after the liberation of France by allied armies. Along with Buckmaster and SOE agents de Baissac and Yvonne Cormeau, she was a member of what was called the Judex Mission. The purpose of Judex was to visit the resistance networks and meet the French people who had worked with and assisted SOE agents and to assess the effectiveness of SOE operations.[13] acqueline Nearne's sister Eileen survived imprisonment in a German prison camp, but she had severe psychological and physical problems when she returned to England. Jacqueline nursed her but Eileen never regained her mental health.[14] In 1946, Nearne played "Cat", a character based on herself, in the RAF's Film Unit production of Now It Can Be Told which was released to theatres in 1948 as School for Danger, a drama-documentary about the wartime training and deployment of SOE operatives.[15] Appearing with Nearne was another SOE agent, Harry Rée. After being in the movie, Nearne worked in New York City in the Protocol office of the United Nations. Her portrait, painted by SOE agent Brian Stonehouse, is displayed on the wall of the Special Forces Club in London. Nearne never married. She died in London on 15 August 1982.[16][17]
