| Notes |
- Documents: Birth certificate
Marriage certificate
Cecilie has a mixture of very happy and very unhappy memories of her childhood. She had a special affection for her father, and they often went for long outings and walks together, perhaps in Kew Gardens or, on holiday, in Devon and Cornwall. She particularly remembers a holiday at Boscastle after she had had rheumatic fever (which caused her to have a year off school)and was still very weak. But her father had a drink problem, which led to all sorts of problems at home, including terrible rows. Cecilie got a place at Girton College, Cambridge to read Classics (very few women went to University in those days, let alone to Cambridge), but withdrew because she was so afraid of leaving her mother alone at home with the rows. However, her father insisted she should go.
After 2 years at Cambridge reading Classics, she changed to Theology. Whilst there, she met Clement through Christian groups and meetings. After her degree, she did a year at Homerton College, Cambridge to train as a teacher and then taught at Queenswood School (a girls' Methodist public school). Whilst there, she and Clement carried on their 'courtship' through letters as he went out to Uganda as a missionary teacher with CMS. He eventually asked her to marry him in June 1941. Having already offered herself to CMS and left Queenswood at Easter 1941, she eventually managed to get a passage in March 1942 on the ship Thermistocles from Liverpool which sailed under Navy protection in a convoy during the War. She took with her Clement's grandmother's engagement ring and her wedding dress. They hadn't seen each other for 6 years! The voyage took 10 weeks as they had to go via Cape Town (South Africa) as the Suez Canal was closed. She then had to travel from Mombasa to Kampala. She was first sent to teach at Mwiri School near Jinja. She and Clement married at the end of 1942 but she had to teach another term at Buloba Teacher Training College before she was allowed to join Clement at Mbarara (Ankole) where he was Headmaster. Cecilie had a miscarriage, but later conceived Margaret whilst on holiday in Tanganyika (as it then was). She continued to teach at Mbarara High School, whilst employing a young Ugandan woman to help look after Margaret. They went back to England on leave in 1945, leaving Mbarara High School in May. With Margaret, they flew on a "flying boat" from Port Bell on Lake Victoria to Cairo (via the Nile at Khartoum), landing again on the Nile. From there, they went by boat from Port Said to Liverpool. They stayed for a year at Blakeney on the north Norfolk coast which is where Dennis was born in the midst of the terrible winter of 1945/46. They returned to Mbarara in August 1946 (having sailed from Hull to Mombasa on the "Modasa") where they were for another 8 years during which time they had one further leave in England in 1950 which they spent in Speldhurst, Kent, to be near Clement's family.
Cecilie taught again in England (RE and English), first at Tonbridge Secondary Modern School and later, after Margaret had left, at Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School, where she also taught Latin. Soon after they moved to Durham in 1963 for Clement's job, Cecilie got a job at St Hild's Teacher Training College which involved travelling all over County Durham to see students on teaching practice. She and Clement then returned to Uganda for 3 years in 1970 after which they moved to "Porters", Nutfield, Surrey, and worked incredibly hard on the garden, turning the acre into a productive fruit and vegetable garden. Cecilie took up pottery, for which she showed a real gift, and produced many fine pieces, including a number of lamps. Being so close to London and Gatwick airport, they provided hospitality for so many people, including many Ugandans, as well as a pick-up service to and from Gatwick. In the end, this was all too much for them and they moved in 1983 to Broadway, in the Cotswolds (first Peel House and then, in 1993, to 1 Morris Road) for a more restful retirement. Unable to continue pottery, because of no facilities in the area, she took up watercolour painting.
In later years, Cecilie developed osteoarthritis (and had a hip and knee replaced), chest problems (eventually diagnosed as asthma), high blood pressure and diverticulitis, but still managed to remain very active in the the community and church.
Documents: Birth certificate
Marriage certificate
Cecilie has a mixture of very happy and very unhappy memories of her childhood. She had a special affection for her father, and they often went for long outings and walks together, perhaps in Kew Gardens or, on holiday, in Devon and Cornwall. She particularly remembers a holiday at Boscastle after she had had rheumatic fever (which caused her to have a year off school)and was still very weak. But her father had a drink problem, which led to all sorts of problems at home, including terrible rows. The only 'memoirs' which Cecilie ever wrote were the following short notes on 2.5.2002:
"These are random memories because, as everyone knows, I am quite hopeless about dates, so these memories come to me at odd times, completely unrelated and definitely not in chronological order.
"One, which I think must be the first, is of having to get under our strong, typical, wodden table during an air raid. I can (can I really?) remember a zeppelin in the sky. Perhaps that's right, I was thinking that zeppelins were German, but they were British too. Having started, I had better finish with the war [1914-1918 First World War]. The last memory is of the Armistice, being taken out of my cot (cot? surely not at just 5!) to see the whole sky illuminated by searchlights.
" I think I was four when I had my first really nasty nose-bleed. It was very frightening. I lay on the sofa and the doctor came. There were many more to come, not indivudally memorable, though I do remember the one when I had rheumatic fever. It started when I was asleep and, when I woke up in the middle of it, I thought I was dead! At the time, I was in a very small room in the flat in Streatham - a converted house. It was a funny shaped room, square with one corner sort of cut off, with a fireplace. I think I was about nine. The whole room was absolutely full of flowers. They took a very serious view of rheumatic fever in those days - and not long after, I had bronchial pneumonia. There were so many things i wasn't allowed to do after that. Dad used to carry me up the hills in Boscastle where we went on holiday, and I couldn't swim. When I went St Paul's Girls School, when I was fourteen, I had to wear a red swimming costume until I could swim a length - very humiliating! I must say that sometimes, after playing hockey (I played in the wing) I could hardly walk home from Turnham Green Station, and used to lean up against the wall at the bottom of the station staris. No-one took any notice and i never told ayone. I was supposed to have a heart murmur. I didn't want to be told I mustn't play games like hockey and lacrosse."
Cecilie got a place at Girton College, Cambridge to read Classics (very few women went to University in those days, let alone to Cambridge), but withdrew because she was so afraid of leaving her mother alone at home with the rows. However, her father insisted she should go.
After 2 years at Cambridge reading Classics, she changed to Theology. Whilst there, she met Clement through Christian groups and meetings. After her degree, she did a year at Homerton College, Cambridge to train as a teacher and then taught at Queenswood School (a girls' Methodist public school). Whilst there, she and Clement carried on their 'courtship' through letters as he went out to Uganda as a missionary teacher with CMS. He eventually asked her to marry him in June 1941. Having already offered herself to CMS and left Queenswood at Easter 1941, she eventually managed to get a passage in March 1942 on the ship Thermistocles from Liverpool which sailed under Navy protection in a convoy during the War. She took with her Clement's grandmother's engagement ring and her wedding dress. They hadn't seen each other for 6 years! The voyage took 10 weeks as they had to go via Cape Town (South Africa) as the Suez Canal was closed. She then had to travel from Mombasa to Kampala. She was first sent to teach at Mwiri School near Jinja. She and Clement married at the end of 1942 but she had to teach another term at Buloba Teacher Training College before she was allowed to join Clement at Mbarara (Ankole) where he was Headmaster. Cecilie had a miscarriage, but later conceived Margaret whilst on holiday in Tanganyika (as it then was). She continued to teach at Mbarara High School, whilst employing a young Ugandan woman to help look after Margaret. They went back to England on leave in 1945, leaving Mbarara High School in May. With Margaret, they flew on a "flying boat" from Port Bell on Lake Victoria to Cairo (via the Nile at Khartoum), landing again on the Nile. From there, they went by boat from Port Said to Liverpool. They stayed for a year at Blakeney on the north Norfolk coast which is where Dennis was born in the midst of the terrible winter of 1945/46. They returned to Mbarara in August 1946 (having sailed from Hull to Mombasa on the "Modasa") where they were for another 8 years during which time they had one further leave in England in 1950 which they spent in Speldhurst, Kent, to be near Clement's family.
Cecilie taught again in England (RE and English), first at Tonbridge Secondary Modern School and later, after Margaret had left, at Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School, where she also taught Latin. Soon after they moved to Durham in 1963 for Clement's job, Cecilie got a job at St Hild's Teacher Training College which involved travelling all over County Durham to see students on teaching practice. She and Clement then returned to Uganda for 3 years in 1970 after which they moved to "Porters", Nutfield, Surrey, and worked incredibly hard on the garden, turning the acre into a productive fruit and vegetable garden. Cecilie took up pottery, for which she showed a real gift, and produced many fine pieces, including a number of lamps. Being so close to London and Gatwick airport, they provided hospitality for so many people, including many Ugandans, as well as a pick-up service to and from Gatwick. In the end, this was all too much for them and they moved in 1983 to Broadway, in the Cotswolds (first Peel House and then, in 1993, to 1 Morris Road) for a more restful retirement. Unable to continue pottery, because of no facilities in the area, she took up watercolour painting.
In later years, Cecilie developed osteoarthritis (and had a hip and knee replaced), chest problems (eventually diagnosed as asthma), high blood pressure and diverticulitis, but still managed to remain very active in the the community and church. For the last few years, she became increasingly home-bound and unable to do anything in the house as she developed Alzheimer's.
|
English
1913 - 2006 (92 years) 
Has 2 ancestors and 16 descendants in this family tree.
Set As Default Person 
Est 1885 - Yes, date unknown
Submit Headstone Photo 
Pain, Arthur Clement
