WOMAN “MAGNIFICENT” was one newspaper headline reporting the news that Miss Maude Steele, supervising telephonist at Sherborne Post Office Telephone Exchange, had been named as one of sixteen recipients of the George Medal listed in the London Gazette on 3 January 1941. Instituted by King George VI on 24 September 1940, the George Medal (GM) was a civilian medal awarded for conspicuous gallantry.
Maude (or Maud) Steele was born at Sherborne on 17 September 1901, the second child of George Henry Steele (c.1870-1934) and Blanche Steele (née Moore) (1876-1961) who were then living at 12, George Street, Sherborne. Maude’s elder brother Reginald was born in 1899 and went on to become a hairdresser and served during the First World War with the Dorsetshire Regiment.
By 1918, Maude’s parents were running the Traveller’s Rest pub in Horsecastles, Sherborne.
In 1916, aged 15, Maude entered the Telephone Service. She was evidently good at her job and by June 1934 had risen to the rank of Telephone Supervisor at Sherborne Post Office Telephone Exchange, a busy exchange where over 1,200 telephone calls were connected during an average day.
Following the death of her father, Maude and her mother lived at Beechside in Castleton, Sherborne, where on 17th September 1940 Maude celebrated her 39th birthday.
On the afternoon of Monday, 30 September 1940, Sherborne was heavily raided by a force of some 150 German bombers which dropped several hundred bombs (about 60 tons) in a straight line across the town from Lenthay to Crackmore, destroying about 86 buildings and killing seventeen civilians. Despite Sherborne Post Office Telephone Exchange receiving a direct hit during the air raid Maude Steele and her assistant Miss Marion Northam refused to leave their posts, determined that the emergency services must be kept informed of the local situation.
The following account of Maude and Marion’s bravery on 30 September 1940 was published in the Western Gazette on 10 January 1941, when news of Maude’s award of the George Medal was announced:
‘In the words of the official announcement of the award, Miss Steele, who was in charge of the telephone exchange when Sherborne was subjected to a terrific air bombardment, showed distinct courage and devotion to duty at the risk of personal danger by refusing to leave the exchange, although bombs were falling all round the building. By her action and that of the temporary telephonist who remained with her, and whom she inspired by her courageous attitude, ambulance, police, fire and A.R.P. services were kept in constant touch with their respective headquarters, and other vital services were maintained until the majority of the local lines were put out of action and the exchange became untenable. Even when a heavy bomb exploded within the Post Office precincts, Miss Steele proceeded from the refuge room to the exchange hoping she might still be of service. The raid occurred during a meal relief time, when only Miss Steele and Miss Marion Northam were on duty in the exchange. Several bombs fell within a short distance of the building, windows were shattered, ceilings in the building collapsed, and the building was “rocking” before the Head Postmaster (Mr W.H. Arlett) – who was also in the exchange – could persuade them to go to the refuge room. “Then,” Mr Arlett told a representative of this paper, “when my back was turned Miss Steele returned to duty.” Mr Arlett also expressed high praise for the work of Miss Northam. As the result of their action, all the urgent calls that could be put through were dealt with. Immediately after the raid, Miss B.M. Arlett, the Head Postmaster’s daughter who is an ex-telephone supervisor, and who was working in another part of the building, went to the exchange and rendered assistance. Tribute has also been paid to the work of Mr Harding, the engineer attached to the Post Office.’
For Sherborne Museum’s ‘Make Do and Mend – Women in Wartime’ project run by museum curator Judy Nash, a friend of Maude’s recalled that Maude had been terrified during the air raid but said that ‘no Hitler was going to stop her doing her job.’
Marion Lily Northam (b.1924) who was on duty at the telephone exchange with Maude Steele during the air raid was the only daughter of Arthur Northam (1900-1996), a surgical shoemaker and repairer who was manager for Kitzerow & Son in Cheap Street, Sherborne, and Frances Mildred Northam (née Pearce) (1899-1987), of 16, Barton Gardens, Sherborne. On 5 April 1947 Marion was married at Sherborne to Geoffrey Wyndham Archer (1916-1979). Among their wedding gifts was a set of cutlery from Marion’s colleagues at Sherborne Post Office.
In May 1941, Maude Steele went to Buckingham Palace to receive her George Medal. She was accompanied by the Head Postmaster of Sherborne William Henry Arlett (1885-1965) and Mrs G. Cornwell, a former telephonist at Sherborne. At the investiture, King George VI shook Maude’s hand and congratulated her on the part she had played during the Sherborne air raid. To commemorate Maude’s award the Sherborne Post Office staff contributed £10 to the town’s Spitfire Fund.
In 1947, after 31 years’ service, the strain of running the Telephone Exchange during the war years with the endless difficulty in getting adequate staff resulted in Maude retiring early on health grounds. At a ceremony held in December 1947, the Head Postmaster, Mr T.A. Carter, presented Imperial Service Medals to three former members of Sherborne Post Office staff, Mr W.J.E. Brown, Mr W.R. Lillington, and Miss Maude Steele. The prestigious Imperial Service Medal is presented on retirement to selected civil servants who have completed at least 25 years’ meritorious service and bears the inscription “For Faithful Service”.
Retirement gave Maude the opportunity to prioritise her own happiness and on 3 August 1949 she was married at St Mary Magdalene’s church, Castleton, Sherborne, to Arthur Edgar Davies (1886-1968), a 63-year-old widower and a retired Post Office clerk who in 1939 was supervising Post Office Clerk and ARP Warden for the GPO at Minehead in Somerset. After their marriage Maude and Arthur remained in Sherborne, living at 6, Hunts Mead where Arthur died in August 1968, aged 82, and was buried in Sherborne Cemetery on 21 August 1968.
Maude later moved to Exmouth, where she died on 8 October 1997 at Resthaven, Gussiford Lane, aged 96.
Rachel Hassall
20 September 2025
See also:
- Annie Warren (1909-2004): lost 3 children in the Sherborne Blitz
- Elizabeth Marden (1865-1940): town nurse and civilian casualty of the bombing of Sherborne
- Alberta Gartell (1867-1940): civilian casualty of the bombing of Sherborne
- Civilian casualties of the bombing of Sherborne on 30 September 1940
- Margaret Hayter (1923-1943): only Commonwealth War Grave to a woman who died on service in World War Two
- Monica Hutchings (1917-1977): author and campaigner
- Margaret Billinger (1883-1942): Headmistress of Lord Digby’s School 1917-1942