Elizabeth’s Time-line
1936-53
Born 1936
Father was from a naval family, the son of a RN sick berth attendant. He was
born in Plymouth and in 1936 was a young mechanical engineer in the RAF
repairing aircraft engines.
Mother was from a poor family in the small market town of Devizes, Wiltshire,
the daughter of a bricklayer.
E was born in Farnborough but the family was constantly on the move as father
was posted to different RAF camps. Throughout World War 2, E and her
mother always returned to her mother’s home in Devizes for short periods
between postings and Devizes became E’s “spiritual home”. It was unsettling
that she changed schools 12 times between the ages 5 and 10 as she and her
mother followed her dad around the country. However when the war ended they
settled in Devizes for the duration of E’s secondary school days. E attended the
local Grammar school, excelling in Maths and left in 1953 with three ‘A’ levels
to work in the Mathematics Division of the National Physical Laboratory in
Teddington, Middlesex.
1953-58
In 1953 NPL was developing ACE, the UK’s first computer. After a year, and
having gained a fourth ‘A’ level, E realised she needed a degree in Maths if she
was to advance her career. She embarked on a degree course at Southampton
University graduating in 1957 to work as a Mathematician with the De
Havilland Aircraft Company in Christchurch, Hampshire. While at University E
had met John, a post-graduate Chemistry student and in 1957 they had become
engaged. In 1958, as soon as John completed his Ph.D., they married in
Southampton and went to live in Welwyn Garden City, where John started work
as a research chemist with Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI).
1958-63
E found work as a Scientific Assistant in the Research Department of the British
Whiting Federation at nearby Welwyn village. (The whiting being chalk used in
paint manufacture, not fish) but in 1961 when their first son, Adrian came along
she left to become a full-time mum. Their 2nd son, Robert was born in 1963 and
from then until 1973 E stayed at home, dabbling in occasional work at home
and creating a small agency for exchanging homes with French families to
enable participants to benefit from cheap holidays in England. J and E also
benefitted since the family spent many happy holidays in France during that
period.
1963-85
When both boys reached Grammar School age, John had become a lecturer at
Imperial College and they had moved to live in Totteridge, North London. The
boys joined the Scout movement and J and E became heavily involved with
fund raising for the Scouts. E trained part-time to teach Maths at Secondary
School level, began teaching part-time and finally settled at Barnet College of
Further Education to teach full-time for 5 years until 1983. By then E had also
begun to research her family tree, an interest which continued to fascinate her
for the next 40 years until the present day. She and John also became very
interested in winegrowing, E as a grower, J as a winemaker, and in 1985 when
both boys both left home, John took early retirement and they moved to
Bearsted to plant a commercial vineyard.
1985-2018
It was hard work but they loved it! Their wines, particularly their Bacchus
White and their Bearsted Brut Sparkling wine, won prestigious prizes, even if
the 4–acre vineyard was too small to be very lucrative. Sadly, during that
period, their son Adrian died at the age of 33 after a long period of illness.
Together, J and E ran the vineyard for 20 years during which E continued to
study and obtained an ‘O’ level in Italian in 2002. They finally retired from
winegrowing in 2005 when the vines were grubbed and woodland trees planted
in their place. Both J and E then joined the U3A where E, became the convenor
of both French and Music Appreciation groups until she fell ill in 2018.