HRH Princess Elizabeth in the ATS

[Adrian Stevenson]

Hi Sally, welcome!

All I can tell you is the photo was taken in 1945.

Cheers, Ade.

[big ned]

Fascinated with one of these photos - the second row, photo on the right of Princess Elizabeth sitting surrounded by other ladies from the ATS, the two sitting beside her with dogs on their laps. I have another version of this photo, more formal - the one on this site must have been taken after the official ones. I am trying to find out where the photo was taken. Does anyone recognise the building in the background? Any is anyone able to date this photo a little more than just 1939-1945? Thanks for your help - I am actually trying to track down my aunt's history, and I'm pretty sure she is in this picture, and knowing when and where it was taken will help a lot.

Hi Sally,

The photo has been captioned in the past as being one of a series taken at the No.1 Mechanical Transport Training Centre (MTTC) in Camberley, Surrey in March 1945. Other than that I can't help any more I'm afraid, but it might give you a start on your quest.

Another possible location on Portsmouth Road, Camberley is described here:

"At this point Camberley became the official ATS Motor Companies’ Training Centre. Two large houses were also requisitioned on the Portsmouth road, 'Beaufront' (a former girls' school) was used as headquarters, and 'Mulroy' became a barracks. The centre opened on 12 February 1940. During the following two years it was expanded with more and more houses (11 in total) being acquired along the Portsmouth Road. Additional quarters and lecture rooms, including 43 Nissen huts were erected, and part of Blackdown Camp was taken over for the construction of a training centre hospital and a large NAAFI".



Regards, Ned.

[Sally G]

Thanks Ned, that is really helpful, and has given me some good leads. Much appreciated.