Daphne Carr 1921 - 1976

Daphne Williams was born in Lydda, Palestine on 25th April 1921, she was actually christened 'Daphne Lydda'.

This early family photograph (right) shows the young Daphne with her rather weary looking parents.
This is hardly surprising since, only a few hours before this snapshot was taken Daphne had waist length hair! For some reason she contrived to cut most of it off before her mother found her and put a stop to her do-it-yourself hairdressing!

Returning to England Daphne went to live in Birmingham with her maternal grandparents. They were strict Baptists which meant that Sundays consisted of two long walks to church (it was considered ungodly to take the tram!) there to suffer hour long sermons delivered by 'hell fire' lay preachers. Quite what she made of all that we shall never know! The only permitted reading on Sunday was Bunyan's Pilgrims Progress, a book she grew to love and continued to read frequently throughout her life.

The latter part of her childhood was spent in a less austere environment with her paternal grandparents in Plymouth, Devon.

On leaving school,in common with many young women of her generation, she studied at Pitman's Secretarial College.

During the Second World War Daphne served in the ATS(Auxiliary Territorial Service) and was based in London throughout the blitz!

In the immediate post war years she lived and worked in the United States residing for sometime in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Here she became a student of American history, particularly the Civil War period. Following a short and unsuccessful marriage to an American serviceman named Brinkman she met and married a Royal Air Force Sergeant named Doug Carr in 1950, but not before returning to The United States to get her divorce!
This was second time around for both of them as Doug's first wife had died in 1948.

By now her parents had relocated to Eastcote in Middlesex.

Pictured on the left is the former family home in Boldmere Avenue.

Doug was posted to Norfolk whilst Daphne remained at her parents home with her two young stepchildren Christine (Chris) and Derek, a son Hillary, was born in the mid 1950's.

This family photograph (right) taken in 1952 shows Daphne and Doug with Derek and Chris.

Some time in the late 1940's Daphne took up a position with Marks & Co as secretary to Ben Marks. It was here that she became friends with another young secretary, Doreen Wellsbury (Megan Wells) who often visited the family in Eastcote and was known to Chris and her brother as Auntie Doreen.
During her time in Eastcote Daphne was a regular player at the Eastcote Tennis Club and she also had a life long interest in the theatre. Her talents as a pianist, singer and dancer took her into amateur operatic activities where she developed a great love for the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.
In 1952 an overseas posting for Doug brought an end to Daphne's employment at 84 Charing Cross Road which as it turned out, was her last job.

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