Beryl White was born in Crouch End, London in 1891 and was a long-standing friend of Molly Evans. It is not entirely clear how the two met but it would seem to be likely it was around the activities of Miss Rawlins, principal of the school at Beach Court, Walmer.
The 1911 census shows Beryl, aged 20, living with her parents in Chingford, where she is described as a teacher in a private school. Also living in Chingford in the same census was a young man called John Alfred Hardman, born in 1886 in Rio De Janeiro, whose family continued to have business interests in Brazil.
John Alfred Hardman appears to have returned to the family business in Brazil in 1914. In July 1918 banns were read in Beryl’s local church in Bishop’s Stortford and she left to marry Alfred in Rio on 31 Dec 1918. Their son Bill Hardman was born in 1920.
Whilst on a visit to England in the Summer of 1929, probably to install her son in an English prep school, Molly’s diaries show that Beryl visited Molly at their home in Woodbourne Road Edgbaston.
Beryl’s mother and sister continued to live in England. The 1921 census shows that her sister, Helen Woodward Lack (nee White) was also still connected to the Beach Court School in Walmer, where Molly and Beryl had formed their original acquaintance.
The photos that Molly kept also show Beryl in later life with her grandchild, the daughter of Bill Hardman. Her husband died on 24 Jul 1945 and she on 7 May 1964, both in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro.
Sources and Notes
- East Kent Times and District Advertiser, 24 Aug 1904 lists distinguished exam results for the ‘Oxford Locals’ . B.M.B.White, Beach Court School Walmer is noted for achieving a First Class Pass in her preliminaries.
- UK Inward and Outward Passenger lists (ancestry.com)
- 13 Jul 1929. Beryl, aged 38 and her 9 year old son William John arrive at Southampton from ‘Buenos Aires and calls’ on the Alcantara
- 11 Oct 1929 Beryl departs alone on a boat of the same shipping line again from Southampton, the Arlanza’
- Molly Evans diaries Fri 6 Sep 1929 to Fri 13 Sep 1929 recounts Beryl’s visit to Edgbaston.