CHAPTER ONE: 1942 - 1961
Early Years
Despite growing up in post-war England and living through the food rationing and other deprivations of the 1950’s, by all reports Elizabeth had a happy childhood, getting on well with her two brothers, and spending weeks in the summers on her grandparents’ 6 acre smallholding farm - which she loved. Her friends report she was a witty, friendly and bright student, who seemed well adjusted and self-assured. At an early age she developed her lifelong love for literature and was an avid reader.
Early Childhood
Elizabeth (Jean) Russell was born in Coulsdon, just south of London in May 1942 during the Second World War. She was the second of three children with an older brother John, and a younger brother Laurie. Having two rowdy brothers, she learned how to stick up for herself. However, by all accounts, the three of them got on quite well together.
Her earliest wartime memory was her annoyance that, when the war ended, the neighbors’ children were allowed to stay up to watch the demolition of their Anderson bomb shelter, while she had to go to bed at her normal time. She still remembers this injustice. She gradually became aware through ration books and food scarcity of the strain under which her parents were living, and the challenges of finding food to feed 3 growing children in post-war England.
When she was young, the family spent long summers with her grandparents in Dunmow, in rural Essex. She has very fond memories of Rose Cottage, the 6 acre small-holding where she and her brothers used to play. Rose Cottage was an ideal place for young children to roam free, and where the pig, cow and chickens were treated like family members. The sow reliably produced a batch of piglets every year which helped pay the taxes.
School Years
During the war, sharing a single-family home, including a bathroom and toilet, with another family was stressful. Soon after, the family moved to nearby Sanderstead, sharing a lovely old house divided into 3 spacious apartments and a large rambling garden with two other families; somewhat inconvenient for adults but providing an idyllic place to play outside for children. Finally, when Elizabeth was 12, the family was able to rent their own house in Coulsdon.
She changed schools several times as the family moved from one house to another. When she was 11 she entered Purley County Grammar School for Girls, where she met Rosemarie Park and later Susan Budd who have remained life-long friends. The Purley High School had separate girls’ and boys’ schools, and the girls’ school teachers struggled to keep the two sexes apart. The girls were let out of school 20 minutes before the boys so they could safely get on the bus before the boys were let loose.
Elizabeth has fond memories of her high school teachers, who were of a very high caliber. Many had never married because so many men of their generation had died in the First World War. The teachers instilled a love for literature and languages, which stayed with her throughout her life. Her mother, also an avid reader, helped inspire this love of books, and when each child reached their fifth birthday, they were taken to the public library to ceremonially receive their own library card.
Horse Riding and Early Travels
Like many young girls, she wanted to learn to ride a horse, and she was able to cover the costs of the riding school through delivering newspapers and working at a blood donation center sterilizing syringes. For several years she was also an active member of the Junior Red Cross.
She already had the roots of her wanderlust and whenever possible she, Rosemary, and Susan would go on a youth hostel holiday, visiting different parts of England. In those days you were not allowed to travel to a youth hostel by car or bus, and they would sometimes have a 20 mile walk each day from one hostel to the next.
