Pamela (Pam) Barton Open Golf Champion 1917-1943.

Pamela (Pam) Barton
Open Golf Champion 1917-1943.

Pam Barton who was descended from the Waterfoot branch of the Barton family of Pettigo was a famous golfer in the interwar years as also was her sister Mervyn. She was the daughter of Henry Johnston Barton, the second son of Charles Robert of the Waterfoot, Pettigo.

In 1936 Pam Barton won the British and American Open Golf titles in the same year at the age of 19. She was French Ladies Open Champion in 1934 and was runner up for the British title in this year and the following one. She was the author of a golfing book, “A Stroke a Hole” published in 1927. Miss Enid Wilson, a
golfing writer, described her in the following words, “She was a splendid sportswoman, modest, unassuming and thoughtful of others”, and Bernard Darwin wrote, “Everybody liked to see her play and everybody liked her simple, modest and friendly character”.

She was killed as a W.A.A.F. officer on November 13th 1943 when a plane in which she was a passenger crashed on takeoff. She was 26. She joined the W.A.A.F in 1941 and earlier had been an ambulance driver in London during the worst of the German air raids.