



The Little Spitfire equally at home with aristocrats and actors


Annie Penrose, 1911 - 2011

Privileged upbringing ... Annie Penrose mixed with potentates.

Privileged upbringing ... Annie Penrose mixed with potentates.

Annie Penrose gave her childhood nickname, ''Little Spitfire'', to the world's most celebrated fighter aircraft.

Her father, Sir Robert McLean, played a crucial role in the development of the Spitfire as chairman of Vickers Aviation in the '30s, working closely with the gifted design engineer, R.J. Mitchell. When it came to giving the new single-seater fighter a name, McLean suggested Spitfire, the affectionate term he used for his spirited elder daughter.

Initially the Air Ministry had reservations about the name, as did Mitchell, who argued for calling the new aircraft the Shrew; but McLean prevailed.

According to Eric B.Morgan and Edward Shacklady's definitive book Spitfire - The History: ''The Air Ministry agreed to adopt the name chosen by Sir Robert McLean. Sir Robert had demanded that the name of the company's new fighter should suggest something venomous, and because of the sibilant it had to begin with the letter 'S'. His choice was Spitfire.''

She was born Ann Isobel Noel McLean on July 3, 1911, at Knutsford, Cheshire, to Robert McLean and his wife, Noel, and was brought up in imperial India, where her father was in charge of the railway system.

Annie and her younger sister, Evelyn, grew up surrounded by the trappings of the Raj and became familiar with some of the important potentates as the family travelled throughout India. The family had the use of the train built for the Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) when he had visited India in 1875.

In 1916, the family was sailing from India to England in the liner Caledonia when she was badly damaged by two mines off Marseille. Annie, who was then five, later recalled that when the order was given to abandon ship she was escorted to a lifeboat by a dashing colonial French soldier.

Robert McLean was knighted in 1926 and in 1929 returned to Britain, where he was appointed to the board of Vickers-Armstrong, which had taken control of the Supermarine Aviation works at Southampton in 1928.

On Christmas Eve 1936, the year in which the K5054 Spitfire prototype flew for the first time at Eastleigh, Hampshire, Annie married the actor Robert Newton, later known for his roles in the films Blackbeard, Treasure Island and Oliver Twist. They had met when Annie was doing voice-overs for the BBC.

In the early years of their marriage, Newton was involved in theatre, graduating from the Birmingham Repertory Company to Drury Lane, taking on several leading roles.

As time went on, however, he developed a voracious appetite for both alcohol and his leading ladies. The marriage finally broke down irretrievably towards the end of World War II, during which Annie worked with the Mobile American Red Cross.

At this time Annie enjoyed a stellar cast of friends, among them Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. In the '30s, Newton's sister Joy was married to Beakus Penrose. Penrose and Joy divorced after the war, and he then married Annie.

Penrose died in 1988. Annie is survived by two sons of her second marriage.

As part of the celebrations for her 100th birthday in the Cornish town of Falmouth, a fly-past was arranged from which trailed a banner with the message ''Happy 100th Birthday Spitfire Annie''.

Telegraph, London

Featured advertisers