Prayer book with Jesus and Mary on the cover, by Burn Oates and Wasbourne Ltd, paper, Belgium, June 1935

Prayer book with an ornate cover featuring the Virgin Mary and Baby Jesus. They seem to be in a wooded area surrounded by vegetation and birds. At the bottom left some of the illustration has been fading. The pages and cover have turned slightly yellow due to the exposure of light and age of the book.

Given by Christobel Mary Spencer

Donor's note: "Prayer book inside cover Nanette de Flondor 28th June 1935 (gift from her mother Kathleen)
Timeline of the Mayer, De Flondor, and Samuels Family
The Mayer Family
The Jewish people were being persecuted with many special laws being laid down making life for them extremely difficult. Their migration started with single people, gradually increasing in the 1890s to entire families. Colin Ormond Mater with his wife Ella Evangelina, both Christian and Jewish, moved from Germany to Calcutta, India. Colin was a reporter, while his wife Ella was a busy mother. Together they had seven children, the youngest being Kathleen Theresa Mayer.
The De Flondor Family
Kathleen Theresa Mayer was born on July 22nd 1896 and died January of 1988. She became engaged to Paul de Flondor, a French Romanian lawyer and barrister who had also immigrated to Calcutta. Kathleen and Paul married on July 9th, 1924 at Church St. Thomas, Middleton Row, Calcutta. The lived at 2 Rod Street, Calcutta shortly before moving to Srinigar, Kashmir.

From 1925 to 1929 Kathleen and Paul de Flondor had three girls, Babette (born August, 5th, 1925), Nanette Theresa Rita (born June 6th, 1927), and Paulette (also known as Daphne) Raymonde Rita (born September 4th, 1929)
Around this time the Maharaja had banned the British from owning property in Kashmir. The solution was resolved by buying houseboats, traditionally crafted with walnut interiors and handmade embroidered curtains. Small row boats were used to reach the houseboats and ferry occupants. This house boat owned by the De Flondor’s was on Dal Lake on the far side bordered by the Shalimar Gardens. The figure in the left of the picture is the guardian and servant of the boat.

As the three de Flondor girls get older, they are sent to boarding school in a convent up in a place called Muree Hills. One year, when they are returning home for the holidays, the find that their father (Paul de Flondor) is no longer at home.
It was later found that Paul de Flondor had become an agent for a company shipping a drug grown in Kashmir. Later, it was exposed that he had made arrangements for the shipment of this drug with a Bengal Official in addition to embezzlement. Found out, Paul de Flondor fled Kashmir traveling to Europe and the United States, but was eventually caught and extradited from Italy.
After being extradited, Paul was taken to court in a case called “The Emperor v. Paul de Flondor,” which took place on March 24th, 1931. He defended himself by stating he could not be tried in Calcutta for an offence committed in Kashmir, so they subsequently let him go. Meanwhile, Kathleen de Flondor approach the Government of Bengal’s Political Department for a set of visas so that she could follow her husband to Romania via Ceylon, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and Singapore.

As the de Flondor girls grow older, there is a great deal of unrest in Burma and between the Indian Empire and Pakistan. The “partitioning” caused rioting, which in turn led to aid from American soldiers in an attempt to resolve the situation. Kathleen and Nanette helped the war effort by joining the British Military Directorate and the Women’s Army Corps. While she was underage Babette met an American serviceman named Robert ‘Bob’ Burton and subsequently got pregnant. Due to her age and pressure from Kathleen, Bob married Babette and they moved back to the United States where they had four children.
Nanette also met an American serviceman in the U.S. Navy named Marvyn ‘John’ Crim. She too became pregnant, only to find out that John was married and had left for the U.S. Upon hearing this news Kathleen, who remarried to a man named Donald Wilkinson, offered to send Nanette away and claim the baby as her own. Nanette refused and moved in with her mother (Kathleen) and Donald while she is pregnant. She gave birth to Christobel Mary on November 21st, 1947.
In 1947 the problems with the partition and independence grow worse. The government promised they would ensure all British citizens are given safe passage. Paulette (Daphne) had met and married Dickie Skull who was in banking, and shortly after they moved from Calcutta to London. Kathleen, Donald, Nanette and Christobel leave Calcutta and arrive safely in a refugee camp known as “Lintwhite Hostel” in Bridge of Wier, Refrewshite, Scotland.
Nanette meets Henry Gustav Samuels who had been sent to Lintwhite with his mother and his two brothers from Namur, Belgium as part of displaced persons organizations repatriating Europeans. Their father had died of tuberculosis in a German Prisoner of War Camp. Henry and Nanette marry September 19th, 2949 at St. Fillan’s Church Houston.
Shortly after their marriage Henry and Nanette leave Lintwhite and move to London into a cramped accommodation at Shepherds Bush Road before finally moving into a long-term rented accommodation at 49 Langthorne Street, Fulham Palace Road. Paulette and Bob also shared the house with Nanette and Henry. Cherie (Christobel’s pet name for Kathleen) enrolled Christobel into dancing schools over the years, often appearing in shows for charity.

After this the de Flondor girls spent much of their time together, holidaying in Oostende in Belgium. Christobel married Michael Howard Spencer, and after several lively careers moved to Algarve, Portugal.

These collections of photographs and items come from generations of the de Flondor women. They tell the story of an English family in early 20th century India and their eventual migration back to Britain. Through these objects, a historical and personal account of this time period emerges.

B.53-2014