Frances Emily FRIZELLE (1874-1951)

Francis Emily Frizelle, née Waterfield, MBE (1874-1951), was the hostess at Oakover, Simla, where Cyril Sladden went to convalesce In June 1916 after being wounded in Mesopotamia.

Frances Waterfield was born on 22nd September 1874 in Jubbulpore, India, the daughter of Henry Gordon Waterfield, a Captain in the Bengal Staff Corps, and his wife, Emily.

Frances married Julian Frizelle, an officer in the Indian Army, on 27th December 1899 at Christ Church, Rawalpindi.  They had four children:  twin girls and two younger sons born in the first decade of the 20th century.

During the First World War, Frances Frizelle was living in Simla and was instrumental in providing support for soldiers who had been sent to the hill-town to convalesce.  In a letter of 1st June 1916 written whilst still in hospital in Poona, Cyril explained that “a Committee of ladies in Simla” had arranged for a bungalow to be provided for nine officers on sick leave.  Mrs Frizelle was the hostess at the bungalow, Oakover.

Letters written in 1917 confirm that Mrs Frizelle continued to keep in contact with the soldiers who had been under her care.  At Christmas 1916, she sent a parcel to Cyril, who was back in Mesopotamia, and in April 1917, after learning that Cyril had been injured again, she wrote a long letter to him.

In 1919, Frances Frizelle was made an MBE as a result of her war-time service, which included Red Cross and Comforts for Troops Funds, Rawalpindi and Punjab.

Frances and her husband retired to England.  She died at Willersley House, Park Road, Camberley, Surrey, on 8th September 1951; her home at the time was 35 Beaufort Mansions, Beaufort Street, Chelsea.