By Marilyn Cherry
Jean Arthur Samson Smith was born in Lugar on 27 April 1917. She lived at Skerrington Mill from about 1935 with her parents William Samson Smith and Elizabeth Samson and four brothers. She attended Cumnock Academy before subsequently enrolling to train as a nurse at the Royal Alexandra Infirmary in Paisley. There she met a young doctor, John Cherry. War was declared on 3 September 1939 and with John about to sign up for the RAF, Jean Smith & John Cherry eloped to Gretna Green where they were married at the anvil on 8 September 1939.
During the war years, sometimes they were together, and sometimes they were not, given that John was posted to various Bomber Command stations in England & also spent time in India.
In 1940, their first daughter, Marilyn, was born in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire. In 1943, a second daughter, Lorna, was born in Cambridge and Patricia, their third daughter arrived in 1947 in Ipswich.
After the war, John joined the Colonial Medical Service on posting to Uganda in British East Africa. He sailed on 17 December 1946. Jean, with their three daughters, including the newly-born Patricia, followed by sea four months later in April 1947 on the BI steamship Mantola destined for the port of Mombasa in Kenya. Jean had her thirtieth birthday on board ship.
John took the long train journey from Kampala, Uganda, to Mombasa to meet Jean and his 3 daughters. He took with him an ‘ayah’ (nanny) who he had engaged in Uganda to help Jean with the new baby as Jean settled into colonial life.
After spending three days at Nyali Beach Hotel on the Kenya coast catching up, Jean, John and their family, together with the ayah, Katarina, set off back home to Uganda by train.
Home was to be Masindi for the next year. The family settled into a large house and, as was the custom, engaged African servants to help in the house and in the garden. All water was provided by rain tanks and lighting by kerosene lamps.
Life in Uganda for expatriates, aided by the readily available servant help, largely revolved around social engagements such as dinner parties, Sunday lunches, and the ubiquitous Sports Club hosting events such as cricket, tennis and golf competitions. Fully furnished housing was always supplied but there was almost non-existent reception for radio or telephone.
Adding to Jean’s readjustment, there was no alternative for schooling other than to send her children away to boarding school in Kenya. Hence, within weeks of her arrival in Uganda, Jean’s eldest daughter, at the age of 6, left home to board at school in Kenya.
In 1948, the family was transferred to Kampala for 9 months, where life continued in true Colonial fashion with the added joy that in November, a fourth daughter, Eleanor, was born.
1949 saw the family transferred once again, this time to Mbarara before, in 1950, at the end of the three-year contract (or ‘tour’ as it was known), the family was entitled to ‘Home Leave’ of three months. This was the first occasion on which Jean had seen her family in Cumnock since leaving England in 1947.
On return to Mbarara, and with great celebration in November 1952, a son, Ian was born. Jean’s family was complete. But - in due course, all five of Jean’s children would leave home for boarding school in Kenya.
Further three-year tours were completed with the family subsequently living in Jinja (on the Nile) from 1954-1957 and in Masaka from 1958-1961.
After Harold Macmillan’s ‘Winds of Change’ speech in 1960, Uganda moved towards Independence. After 15 years in the country and despite the offer of staying on under the aegis of an independent Uganda Government, Jean and John decided to seek greener pastures elsewhere.
In October 1961, Jean and John left Africa for the last time and sailed from Durban to Fremantle for Perth in Western Australia. Their children would complete their respective terms at school in Kenya before flying out to join them in December. A lovely 2-acre property on the Swan River at Bassendean was purchased and, too, a medical practice & surgery for John. Jean was delighted, firstly, to be in her very own home after all the years in government accommodation and, secondly, to have her children able to attend local schools. Her new life in Australia had begun.
Only 18 months after arriving in Perth, in May 1963 at the age of 46, Jean suffered a subdural haematoma. She never fully recovered and spent the last 42 years of her life in care. She had frequent visits from her family over the years and would often be included for special family occasions. She was widowed in 1988 and died on 12 April 2008, just before her 91st birthday. She lies buried with John in Guildford Cemetery, not far from where she began her life in Australia at Bassendean.
Gretna Green 1939
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