Obituary MRS B. N. POPLE

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29722, 16 January 1962, Page 2

Obituary MRS B. N. POPLE

(London Correspondent ot "The Press") LONDON, January 10. Mrs Edyth Lowrie Pople (nee Palethorpe), wife of Commander B. N. Pople, R.N„ died at her home, Warrenhurst. Bridgewater road. Weybridge, Surrey, recently aged 54. Formerly very well known in amateur theatrical circles _

in New Zealand, Mrs Pople, an Aucklander, left New Zealand for England in 1935 to be married. She and her husband revisited the Dominion in 1958 in tire course of an extended holiday tour.

As Bunty Palethorpe, Mrs Pople was very closely associated with the Grafton theatrical group in Auckland and she won a considerable reputation as a composer of light music and lyrics for amateur productions. She was regarded as an authority on Shakespeare. A close friend and stage associate was Helen Robb, today Lady Robb, of Auckland. Mrs Pople is survived by her husband. A brother, Mr Nigel Palethorpe, formerly a well-known Wellington journalist, is living in Sydney. Mrs Russell Bond, of Wellington, and MrsEdwin Steel, of Whangarei, are cousins. Only a few weeks ago Mrs Pople was one of several old girls of St. Cuthbert's College, Auckland, who attended a small reunion in Surrey, at which a former headmistress (Miss (Houston) was present. Among the old pupils present were Mesdames Mary Peacock, Nancy Cherry, and Freda Maxwell. For her services as welfare officer at Harwich naval base from 1940 to 1943, Mrs Pople was presented with an inscribed clock by the Admiralty.