air raid warden. Inspired by her work as an air raid warden, her husband Clive included Noreen's likeness in his painting Bombed Women and Searchlights (1940) which is currently held by the Tate art museum in London. Noreen's home city of Battersea soon became a key target for German V1 and V2 rockets due to the presence of its close network of railway tracks and power station. While Clive was away on military duty, his and Noreen's home was bombed by the Germans, after which Noreen moved to Hampstead. In 1944, Noreen's husband Clive Branson was killed in Burma by the Japanese when he was hit by an anti-tank shell near Point 315 at the end of the Battle of the Admin Box. After Clive's death, Noreen published his letters, sketches and poems as a book titled A British Soldier in India. Later life After the death of James Klugmann, Noreen Branson took over the authorship of the official History of the Communist Party of Great Britain, adding volumes for the years 1927–41 and 1945–51. Death and legacy Branson died on 25 October 2003. She was survived by her daughter Rosa Branson who was born in 1933 and is a painter. Works The British State (1958) as Katherine Hood, with Roger Simon as James Harvey Room At The Bottom: National Insurance in the Welfare State (1960) as Katherine Hood Britain In The Nineteen Thirties (1971) with Margot Heinemann Britain in the Nineteen Twenties (1977) Poplarism, 1919–1925: George Lansbury and the Councillors' Revolt (1979) History of the Communist Party of Great Britain 1927–1941 (1985) History of the Communist Party in Britain 1941–1951 (1997) References External links Communist Party of Great Britain members 1910 births 2003 deaths 20th-century British historians British debutantes British women historians Co-operative Women's Guild