Born 6/2/1910 at 21, Portsmouth Bldgs, T ower Bridge Road to William John & Jessie (nee Sullivan) Lyons. Eldest child of 7. Baptised 27/02/1910 at the Church of the English Martys,Walworth..Godparents Compton &  Elizabeth Amos: great uncle & aunt [Timothy’s sister] : this is odd since Elizabeth had married in a protestant church in 1898 .

Attended Paragon School Primary, Paragon Mews. Bermondsey and Mina Road Central School for Girls, Bermondsey (navy uniform).

Father was "strict", installed a work ethic into all his children, & ‘did well for them all’. Mother, Jessie was ‘ very loving’.

Family still living in Portsmouth Buildings in 1911C. Parents had moved into first floor of 10, Darwin Street by 1912. This was where Jessie's sister, Maud, lived with her husband, George White, and 3 children from 1909-c.1930.

Moved to 21 Darwin Street about 1916.Later her father, William John, bought[ outright with cash] 9, Kenton Gardens, Harrow in the summer of 1932.

On leaving school in 1926? , she joined "Crowther & Goodman", part of the Argus Press Group, working in the Co Secretaries

Married William C. H.[Bill] Neil in 'Hendon Mar 1938 .3a 836', Jessie H.J.Lyons

Addresses given for H. Neil in the address book of Arthur White, Hilda's cousin, were 6 Bellamy Court, Stanmore, and, later, The Firs, Park Estate, Prestbury . tel: Che 7367

Probably rented 8, Kynance Gardens, Stanmore, Mddx. until the war, but then moved to Cheltenham, where Bill worked for Smiths Instruments. ( this was an essential war equipment firm)

2 children: Philippa A. , born Cheltenham, Dec 1941.
John W., born Cheltenham , Jun 1944

On the death of Bill , aged 41, in Cheltenham Sep 1948 , from a heart attack, she moved back to Stanmore and succeeded in buying 8, Kynance Gardens. Her youngest brother Dennis Lyons lived partly with her and partly with their brother Bill in Harrow? until he married in 1950.

Hilda remarried in Harrow Sep 1950 Harold Ferrier, who had been a boyfriend prior to her 1938 marriage. Harold James Ferrier died in Harrow Sep1989, aged 82. [He had been born 1/09/1907]. She told me in 2008 that Bill had been the love of her life.

Seated Harold & Hilda, with brother Frank behind, ~1985?

Hilda stayed living at 8 Kynance Gardens well into her 90s. Eventually she had to go into a home, Manor House, Manor Road, Kenton, where she was well looked after by caring staff. I last visited her there in August 2009 and we shared a few laughs on her past life.. Finally, just 7 weeks before her century, she was admitted to Central Middx Hospital and died within a few hours., 16/12/2009. She was cremated at the Chilterns Crematorium in Amersham 19/1/2010.

Is there a gravestone anywhere?

For her family tree see

William John Lyons, biography of her father