Small Collections Box 10
Memoir ‘Lucky Child’ covering Miss Fyson’s childhood in India.
Marjory Fyson was the second daughter of Hugh and Margaret Fyson. She was born in 1910 in Lowick Vicarage, Ulverston, Lancashire but her mother returned with the new baby to Jullundur in Punjab where Hugh Fyson was an I.C.S. officer. After a period of home leave in 1912 they returned, via Karachi, to Kulu where her father had been posted. There are descriptions of the journey to Kulu (there was no road); travelling in doolies; rest-houses; the scenery. Life at Osborne House meant snowy winters and touring with her father in the warmer weather as he was responsible for a vast area in this remote region. Her parents not only taught their children the usual lessons but passed on their own enthusiasm for the natural history of the area. Back at Kulu they were visited by Sir Michael ODwyer, Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab.
They visited Dalhousie in 1917 and then moved on to Lahore where Marjory was ill and had her tonsils and adenoids taken out. They moved yet again – this time to Kasur where they stayed at the house once occupied by Flora Annie Steel. In 1918 the family returned to England travelling home ‘the wrong way’, via Singapore, Japan, Canada and New York. Back home Marjory went to boarding school in the Wirral and with the Armistice her mother returned to India. She remained at school until 1927 when she rejoined her parents who by now were at Ambala. She describes a busy social life with officers of the Royal Artillery and the Royal Welch Fusiliers. The hot weather was spent a Kasauli from where a walking tour back to Kulu was arranged.
In 1929 Marjory’s father retired from the I.C.S. and she returned with her family to England.
In the 1950s she went back to Karachi first, for three years, and then to Lahore where she spent twelve years working for the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. 30pp. and 7 photographs.
