Hello to all, it's been a long time
Here's the challenge :-
I'm trying to find out the family history of a lady who used to live in the village of Heptonstall, West Yorkshire. To most people she was known purely as Phyllis who had looked after a lady called Marjorie for many years and had a dog called Bruce . She lived in a small cottage but she had what can only be described as an "upper class" accent. Local hearsay is that Phyllis was employed as a nurse for Marjorie for many years (I have no idea if that's true or local whispers).
So here is what we do know about her...
Phyllis lived at Swan Fold, Heptonstall since the 1960's
She died in 2000 and the death register shows the area as Halifax , her date of birth as 1/6/1923 but she has two names on the register. 1. Phyllis Eden Dean & 2. Felicity Eden Dean.
Friends and locals have also said that her surname was Despencer/ Dispencer.
A lady who bought Phyllis's cottage has checked her house deeds and she is listed as having the birth name of Felicity Eden Dixon- Despencer known as Phyllis Dean.
We believe that her father was rather "posh" and her mother was a maid in the family home, we don't believe that they married but as some form of recompense her blood father paid for her to attend Roedean . She did speak to me of her war work but my memory is cloudy on that one. However, someone who knew her well has said that she worked in Churchill's war rooms in WW2. Phyllis was a force of nature if ever there was one.. very intelligent, quick witted,funny, didn't suffer fools gladly, adored her dog and a cider (or three!) and didn't half take some stick when she was on the local secondary school bus (not that it stopped her getting on it!). There are many people who are still in the village who would like to put the pieces of the puzzle together as she is remembered with great affection and we'd like to remember her for EVERYTHING that she was. Fingers crossed that someone can help
P.S. I have done a little bit of research myself this morning but not really got very far.. xxx