About this Account

This "rather impromptu record of my life" was dictated in 1996 by my aunt Sheila while she lay dying of cancer in a hospice in Truro, Cornwall, near the hospital where she had worked for most of her life as a paediatrician. Because the first minute of tape did not record properly I am unsure as to exactly why she spent two hours talking into the hand-held dictaphone which she normally used for professional documents. But I am eternally grateful that she did so, for she has left to subsequent generations of the family a wonderful story that would not otherwise have been told. Even now as I read it over, I can hear in the turns of phrase the sound of her voice and am filled with gratitude that I knew her.

Sheila

Sheila never married or had children of her own. I do not know if this was something she regretted, but I do know that in her work as a paediatrician she brought all the love and dedication that is encapsulated in that currently unfashionable word "vocation" to the lives of the children and parents that she worked with. She was greatly loved by all, and kept in contact with many former patients in her years at Treliske General Hospital.

When my first child was born I remember Sheila visiting the maternity ward and commenting on the slight yellow tinge to her skin and the wrinkles on her hands that were signs that she was 2-3 weeks overdue. The effect this had on the staff when they realised they were in the presence of a rather senior paediatric consultant who had snuck in unannounced was electrifying. Mother and daughter were discharged shortly afterwards!

Sheila was always a ready source of sound practical advice to a pair of new parents, which she had the knack of delivering in a completely unthreatening and unpatronising manner. Whenever we shared some worry about the children's behaviour with her, her response was invariably "Don't worry about that, dear. It's a sign of high intelligence. Their father was just the same". After her untimely death there were many occasions when Jenny and I would say "Oh I wish we could talk to Sheila about this". 

This Transcription

I have transcribed Sheila's account verbatim, editing it only where strictly necessary. Apart from these introductory pages, my additions are shown in italics throughout. Other details come from remembered conversations with my father Robin and one short transcribed account of his early years. Most of the photographs were taken by my Aunt Barbara, including those from a scrapbook that she had compiled of the war-time years which I discovered among her belongings after her death.

Letters from Christine Shaw

Also included are transcripts from letters written by Christine Shaw (nee Beck) from Montreal to her husband Maurice in London between 1940 - 42 that refer to the Eades family. The transcriptions were kindly supplied by Christine's son Jonathan. Christine Shaw was the niece of Hannah Beck and the cousin of Arthur Hickson (see the Stanstead Connection).

Sources

Sources for dates of ship movements etc can be found in this summary of the journey.

Dedication

Guli died in 1955, Jack in 1971, Sheila in 1996, and both Barbara and Robin in 2004. This site is dedicated both to their memory, and to the many strangers whose kindness and generosity helped them through six years of war and travel.

Nick Eades 2024