Early Life & Wartime

Neilma was born on July 26th, 1934 in a nursing home in Enfield in the county of Middlesex a few miles from Palmers Green (a suburb of North London, which was her main home for most of the first 25 years of her life) to mother Barbara Staunton, father Dr. Armand Staunton, and sister Jennifer, who was two years old at the time.

Barbara was an artist and author of two children's books which she illustrated herself, and Dr. Armand Staunton was a young family doctor in an established local practice (Staunton Medical Practice) with other family members.

At the time of her birth, the world was watching with growing concern the very beginning of political upheaval in Germany. During these early years, Jennifer and Neilma were looked after in the daytime by two German au pairs while Barbara continued to write articles for magazines, draw and paint. Neilma later told husband Colin that these were very enjoyable years because the au pairs played with her and tried to teach her and Jennifer to speak German and other languages as well (although the au pairs were busily learning English themselves). Unfortunately, this blissful time was not to last for long. In 1938, when Neilma was 2 years old, the au pairs were called back to Germany to join their families and their Führer, whom they adored, though Neilma and her family pleaded and did their best to persuade them to remain in England. They refused the offers and returned to Germany. Sadly, they were never heard from again.

It was also at this time that the "political unrest" in western Europe had culminated in the grim certainty that Britain would be required to prepare for another war. As her countrymen readied for war, it was decided by the Staunton Medical Practice that Neilma's father, who was a relatively young member, should be one of those who should go into the Royal Army Medical Corps while his older relatives sought to continue caring for their patients with greatly reduced facilities.

By the time she was 4 years old, war had arrived. While their father prepared to serve on a train that had been fitted out as a mobile hospital, the two girls along with Barbara and her parents remained in Palmers Green as the first shots of World War 2 were loosed. After almost a year of experiencing first-hand the bombing and destruction in London, they received a mysterious and urgent notice to go to one of the main railway stations in London where they were to board a train destined for an unknown location. Interestingly, they were not to bring anyone else with them - only Barbara, Jennifer and Neilma. (They had been instructed not to bring any animals with them but Neilma wrapped her pet mouse in a warm, woolen hat and brought him anyway.)

When they arrived at the station, they were escorted onto a train filled with soldiers. They squeezed in and set off for who-knew-where. They soon learned they were to board a ship that would be traveling through the mine-laden sea to Northern Ireland where their father, Captain Staunton, would meet them. This "little trip" turned out to be quite an adventure and lasted for at least a year! The little family reunited in Carrickfergus, on the edge of Belfast Lough, Northern Ireland and were settled there for a year or more - long enough for Neilma and Jennifer to go to school and make memories of explorations in the countryside and town around them. In those days, Neilma's father was assigned a batman (an army servant) who also helped with the family and took Neilma and Jennifer to and from school every day.

During one adventure in Ireland during wartime, Neilma was taken by her parents across the Irish border to Eire (a neutral country), where they met some friendly German U-boat sailors in a restaurant. During the war, Eire's neutrality meant that German U-boats were frequently found stopped their while they were loaded up with fresh food and other supplies and so soldiers could enjoy some respite from the war. On this occasion, Neilma had no difficulty amusing the sailors, who called her 'liebchen' which she understood to be an affectionate word meaning 'little love', 'darling', or 'sweetheart'. She responded to that and remembered that meeting for her entire life - no one told her they were the enemy until much later.

On another occasion, Neilma was playing with a group of children on the beach near the place where she and her parents were living close to Belfast Lough. This area was often visited during the night by German aircraft that dropped mines in the Lough to disrupt shipping to and from the navy yards and commercial docks. This time, the children saw a mine on the beach and started throwing rocks at it. Fortunately, it didn't explode but later someone shot at it and caused an explosion that broke a number of windows in nearby houses. On other visits to the beach, the children watched as minesweepers moved along the Lough in the morning to explode the mines that had been dropped the previous night. It is truly astounding that the children managed to avoid injury!