Helen Ruth Mildred Joly de Lotbinière (1912-1953)
Born in 1912, the daughter of H.T. Ferrar (the New Zealand geologist on Scott’s first expedition to the Antarctic). Married Captain (later Lt-Col) Sir Edmond Joly de Lotbinière in 1937. Edmond Joly de Lotbinière was an ex-Indian Army officer turned City businessman when he was called up in 1939 to serve in Aden. Helen joined him in Aden and was employed part time in classified registry work for the Royal Air Force. Edmond was involved in special operations directed against the Italians in Somalia where he was later posted. Helen was friends with Freya Stark and Stewart Perowne with whom Helen and Edmond travelled to Dhala (on the border with northern Yemen) in Dec 1939. Helen and Edmond were also close friends with Antonin Besse. Helen died of TB in 1953.
From the guide to the Helen Lotbinière Collection, 1939-1941, (Middle East Centre Archive, St Antony's College, Oxford)
