Ruby Lilian Evelyn (Martin) Fraser-Allen (1911 - 2016)

Born 22 May 1911 in The Haven, Joy Lane, Whitstable, Kent, England

Ancestors

Wife of Acheson Frazer (Allen) Fraser-Allen — married 23 Sep 1941 in St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta, India

Died 23 Jan 2016 at age 104 in Pembury Hospital, Pembury, Kent, England

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Michael Fraser-Allen [send private message]

Biography

Ruby was born at Whitstable, the daughter of George Allbert Martin, a solicitor, and his wife Frederica Violet Scott. After some time in London, her family moved to Eynsford, Kent. She was educated at Ashford School (subsequently also attended by her daughters, Minnie and Jane), after which she attended Battersea Polytechnic. After a time working at the Chailey Heritage School in Sussex, she trained as a children’s nurse at the Birmingham Children’s Hospital, and then went on to qualify as a SRN at University College Hospital, London. Whilst in Birmingham she met her future husband, Acheson, and they became engaged before he left in 1936 for a career with Glaxo Laboratories in India, on the then usual three year assignment. Their plan was to marry during his first home leave, scheduled for 1939. However World War Two intervened. By 1941 Ruby had begun to wonder whether they would ever be married. So she took a passage on a boat to South Africa. The Royal Navy escorted convoy voyage ended for her at Durban, where she managed to disembark with some difficulty, as the ship was being diverted to Australia. After some delay whilst she sorted out her finances, she took a passage on a boat to the Seychelles. From there she took a boat to Bombay. In Bombay she stayed for a few days with some relations before taking a train across India to Calcutta. Three days after her arrival they were married in Calcutta Cathedral. An intrepid girl if ever there was one! They had three children, two daughters and a son, all of whom were born in Calcutta. Ruby settled in Tonbridge in 1964, with her husband and their three children, after they returned from their life in India. As Tonbridge residents, the Fraser-Allens were active members of the community, and their son, Martin (now in New Zealand) attended Tonbridge School. Mrs Fraser-Allen worked at the Thomas Delarue School in Dene Park, as relieving matron. Mrs Fraser-Allen was a woman of strong Christian faith and, in her later years, attended St Andrew’s Church on Hadlow Road, Tonbridge, where she was a respected member of the congregation. Mrs Fraser-Allen was an active member of the Tonbridge chapter of the Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Clubs, and was President in 1980-81. Ruby died at Pembury Hospital on Sunday, 23 January 2016 after a fall at her home. Asked how she would describe her mother, Minnie Fraser-Allen said that her mother will always be remembered as “a gentle, kind and gracious lady whom people feel privileged to have known”.

Sources

1. The Martin Family tree; 2.Free BMD Birth Index Sep 1911 Blean Volume 2a Page 1925; 3. Marriage Certificate St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta; 4. Anecdotal family history (partly compiled by her son Martin Fraser-Allen),