Spooks for real - A tribute to Barbara NelsonBy Philip Harrison
Did you know we had someone in our village whose life was dedicated to our freedom of speech, our values and our ability to go about our daily business in peace?
No, I don’t mean someone who thought about it, but rather someone who did something that made a difference. Someone of whom you may reassess your view once you know what she did. That person is the remarkable Barbara Nelson.
Barbara was born on 19th November 1912 – the year the Titanic sank (2:27 am on 15th April), the summer Olympics took place in Stockholm, Woodrow Wilson was elected US President, Robert Scott reached the South Pole only to have been beaten to it by Roald Amundsen, England won the Ashes in Australia, George V was on the throne and Herbert Asquith was Prime Minister.
Barbara’s father was a solicitor who created the major City law firm of Penningtons long before they became one of the institutions of today. She lived in Tring and Oxford and was educated at Wycombe Abbey. Her sister was one of the first women doctors in the country and served in the Army Medical Corps during WW2 in India, where she died.
Barbara’s family educated their girls and taught them to be independent and strong at a time when the suffragettes were fighting for women’s rights. Today’s readers may wonder what is so special about educating a daughter, yet when Barbara was young education of women was a rarity.
Barbara’s early years were full of post WW1 London social life. She was an enthusiastic skier and golfer. She spoke German and French fluently and travelled throughout Europe. This was to shape her life. As Europe approached a second world war she travelled into Austria and Switzerland skiing and walking.
It was whilst she was there that she met a number of Jewish families who were under increasing persecution from the National Socialists (Nazis) of Germany. Barbara, never one to stand idly by, began to help these families get their valuables out of the country and then helped the families themselves to escape – a ‘Schindler’ of that time.
Barbara ended up marrying one of the sons of the families she helped with him adopting her name on marriage!
They went to India after the steel works in the UK, where her husband applied to work, went on strike at the thought of a Jew working in the business! A very different world from today. They went to India only to find that a job for her husband did not exist so on returning to England they set off for New York.
By this time the nation was at war and Barbara decided that her country needed her and duty called so she left the USA. She returned to do her ‘bit’ which consisted of being part of the Special Operations Executive (SOE).
The SOE was a spin-off from MI6 set up by Churchill “to set Europe ablaze” (his words) by sabotage and action behind the enemy lines. Barbara was involved in running agents operating behind enemy lines in Germany.
After the war, she continued to work in the clandestine world of spies and spooks, working under the guise of a tour company taking groups of tourists into Europe and at the same time running agents behind the Iron Curtain.
In 1965, Barbara left this underworld to retire to the relative peace and quiet of Lee Common. Approaching her mid 50s she decided to become a farmer. She bought Clump Farm and started breeding beef cattle. She converted the cherry orchard into her home and garden and operated the farm for over 25 years.
When the husband of her close friends, the Jenkins who lived in Martins, Oxford Street, committed suicide in their house, it was Barbara who converted part of her own home into a flat for Mops Jenkins, yet again reaching out to help someone in need.
She became a central family matriarch for the offspring of her two cousins who lived in India and South America. The result was a generation held together by her and the family she never had was in fact bound together by her. She had great generosity for her extended family helping every subsequent generation whenever she could.
In the community she has been a treasurer of the Flower Show and Parish Hall, a parish councillor and one of the founding investors in The Shop @ The Lee. An avid supporter of BBONT and other such organisations as well as protector of wildlife and the environment, she gifted the pond at Lee Clump to the village.
In reality she was a truly remarkable, strong person who made a difference to the lives of those she has touched as well as the lives of many through her service to the country. Loved yes, respected yes and a little feared too, but above all a great example of how to give, how to overcome, how to face challenges and above all how to make a difference. She left the world a better and safer place for having been here – if only we could all do that.
Barbara died on Boxing Day 2009 peacefully in her sleep at the age of 97.