Aunt Betty was a nurse/matron in a field hospital in the Crimean war. She was awarded the MBE for her services to military personnel. Elizabeth had been encouraged to go there by her friend Mrs Daughty Wiler, who was in Ethiopia and knew my Dad Daniel Arthur. I wished I had known Aunt Betty better than I did. She was an amazing lady, but I only really got to know her when she came to Ethiopia quite late on. Stephen and I were accompanying her back to England, after she had been staying with us and I found her rather boring because we were so young. But of course, she was not boring at all and had led an extremely exciting and rewarding life. I do remember her crossing the flooded Boli River near Mulu on Georgina the Mule. I also remember Aunt Betty in England where she was acting as her brother Temple’s House at Marlborough school and I think she is best summed up in the history of the Sandford family written by Humphrey Sandford (page 18) As a small child she is remembered jumping in to the river fully clothed to the rescue of her great nephew. Her brother John used to refer to her as the “Battler” not only because she had the odd brush with sisters in law but also because she worked and fought ridiculously hard for what she believed in.
