Phyllys Esme FRYER [9673]

  General Notes:

Phyllys was from South Africa with Irish /Danish/German ancestors, in c1922, with her older sister Doreen she came to board at Ashford High School Kent England, it was a happy school, but she missed her family greatly.
In 1927 she completed her schooling and returned to her family in Lindi Tanganyika, in 1928 the eligable Jack Hill arrived in Lindi to work for Phyllys's father and a close friendship developed.
She married 28 Jun 1930 having just turned nineteen. It was described as a "fashionable wedding, the bride presenting as a picture of dainty prettiness in a gown of oyster satin made in the medieval style with a beautiful train lined with pink georgette and a flowing lace veil". Her mother was dressed in beige crepe de chine with a blue Bangkok hat. The Band of the Kings African Rifles played during the festivities, starting with The Last Stand, composed by Myddleton, and finishing with the Regimental March. Phyllys and Jack left on their honeymoon embarking on the mv Khalifi for Zanzibar where they joined the ss Madura en route for England, Phyllys was wearing a yellow flowered georgette outfit with shades of blue, a blue satin coatee with a yellow picture hat to match.

Her life from then was closely bound to the support of her husband Jack in his successful career as a Civil Servant in Tanganyika East Africa, she had a knowledge of the challenges before her as her father was also a Civil Servant in East Africa.

Phyllys & Jack returned from their honeymoon to his posting in Kilwa-Kisiwani, noted as a difficult job, but there was a tennis court, a golf course and a freshwater swimming pool for their use. This would be little compensation for no radio, mail once every two weeks. Refrigerators did not exist, the only fresh food was locally caught fish, tough chickens and the occasional arrival by sea of green vegetables; butter was made from buffalo milk in India. there was a pit latrine. It was extremely hot in Kilwa with a very high humidity, but the thick walled houses were relatively cool, sleeping was under mosquito nets, lizards were encouraged in the house to eat the mosquitoes the cause of prevalent malaria. Life was tough for Phyllys but she was generally placid, happy and content.
In Dec 1931 Phyllys returned to Dar es Salaam for the birth of her first child John. Pregnant with her second child Phyllys joined her family in Aug 1933 in England where John had been receiving medical treatment, her second child Jennifer was born in the Sept.
The family returned to Tanganyika in 1934 and removed to Ngara for two years, an isolated community close to the boarder with then Belgium administered Burundi, conditions were primitive but the climate refreshing. The next move was to Tabora in 1936, moving was a simple process as the family had few possessions, each house was furnished by the Government and there were no services to cancel.
Tabora was an old town pleasantly laid out with gardens and trees, an ancient depot on the caravan routes of the interior, it had a considerable Arab population. The early european explorers, Burton, Speke and Livingstone had spent time there.
Late in 1936 the familt returned to England for 6mths leave, they returned to another lonely posting at Kahama, the "middle of nowhere", they and some Catholic missionaries being the only europeans. They had an ayah but Phyllys's weeks were filled with tutoring her children, sewing, knitting, painting, gardening and cooking special dishes to enliven the meals. The children had pets and toys and entertained themselves.
Phyllys had a wonderful life but in 1990 suffered a stroke from which she never fully recovered.
Ref: Wind Sun & Earth Remain - J. A. O'Toole 2016

  Research Notes:

Images Courtesy J O'Toole

  Other Records

1. Phyllys Esme Fryer: Images across her life.
As a yonger woman, with her children in Brighton 1936, and with her mother Ella in Nairobi 1939.

2. Phyllys Esme Fryer: Her marriage and homes in Africa, 1930.
Lutheran Church and wedding scene in Dar es Salaam, homes Kilwa, Ngara, Kahama - children on steps, Tukuyu.

Phyllys married John Frederick Rowland "Jack" HILL C.M.G. [8327] [MRIN: 2939], son of William Henry "Will" HILL [1221] and Mary Agnes QUILTER [1220], on 28 Jun 1930 in Dar es Salaam Tanganyika. (John Frederick Rowland "Jack" HILL C.M.G. [8327] was born in 1905 in Cairo Egypt, died in 1991 in Perth WA and was buried in Guildford Cemetery WA.)