Helen Edith (Turrell) O'Carroll (1912 - 1985)

Born 10 Dec 1912 in Bournebat, Ottoman Empire

Ancestors

Wife of John Vivian O'Carroll — married 18 Jan 1931 in Bornova, İzmir, Türkiye

Descendants

Died 23 Apr 1985 at age 72 in Fish Hoek, Simonstown, Cape Province, South Africa

Problems/Questions Profile managers: Susan O'Carroll [send private message] and Joe O'Carroll [send private message]

Whittall Family Project

Biography

Birth

Helen was born on 10th December 1912, ^{[1] [2]}in a village called Bournabat, which was near Smyrna in the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Bournebat is now called Bornova and is a suburb of Izmir, in the Republic of Türkiye. ^[3]. Helen was the daughter of Jessy Maud Whittall and Reginald Edmund Turrell and she had 2 older sisters, Nancy and Ray.

Childhood

Helen and her sisters were raised in the same house that her father and his siblings had grown up in, and where her grandfather Frederick Wallace Turrell had established a private school for boys. She lived with her parents, sisters, her paternal grandmother Frances Honorine née Perkins, two unmarried paternal aunts and several Greek servants.

Helen and her family spoke English, French, Greek, Italian and some Turkish. Her mother was from the large, well known Whittall family which was interconnected by marriage with most of the other Levantine families of European descent. Helen was surrounded by extended family in the leafy village of Bournebat, including her maternal grandparents and numerous aunts, uncles and cousins. Her maternal grandfather, Edward Whittall, was known for his splendid garden, in which Helen and her sister spent many hours playing, as children. ^{[4] [5]} He planted fruit trees in the village, supplied Kew Gardens in London [1] with botanical specimens and had a previously unnamed tulip named after him, the 'Tulipa Whittallii'. [2]

Helen's father was a banker in Smyrna until she was 14 years old, when he established the first car dealership in Smyrna, with a friend. Her father was the third person to own a car in Bournebat (Bornova), and would take his family for picnics in the countryside, on one of the few roads that existed, built by Helen's uncle Edmund Haydn Giraud. ^[6][7].

1920's

In September 1922, when Helen was 9 years old, her family fled the massacres of civilians and burning of Smyrna by Turkish irregular soldiers ^[8]towards the end of the Turkish war of independence (1919-1922). Her family travelled to safety aboard the British hospital ship the Thalia with numerous relatives including her grandmother Mary Whittall née Mary Eliza Maltass, her great uncle Albert Perkins and some of the La-Fontaine family. They lived in Mitylene on the Greek island Lesvos for a year. ^{[9] [10]} and Helen and the other children played on the beach all day while the adults worried about and discussed the situation back in Smyrna (Izmir).

Helen's father fell ill while in Mytilene, but recovered. When they returned to Izmir, they found their house looted and the bodies of their Greek servants had been thrown in the garden well. Precious possessions were missing or damaged and they had lost most of their family photographs. Like most of their relatives, Helen's father's business was destroyed when the city was burned to the ground. However, he managed to re-establish it with credit extended by General Motors in the United States. ^[11] Helen's mother was said to have never again been the same happy person after 1922, that she was prior to the destruction of Smyrna and the impact on the family. In 1928, just 5 years after their return to Izmir, Helen's mother died of a stroke aged 44. Helen was 15 years old.

1930's

In January 1931, weeks after she turned 18, Helen married John Vivian O'Carroll known as 'Jack'. ^[12] Jack was a chartered accountant and auditor from London who had worked in Izmir for several years. ^[13] Helen's first child Terence Gordon O'Carroll known as 'Terry', was born in Izmir in 1932 and her father's older brother Wallace passed away the same year. In 1933, Helen's sister Nancy was married and their father Reginald died suddenly of a stroke, aged 54. Helen's husband Jack arranged the sale of Reginald's business, (the Chevrolet and Buick dealership) and the settling of his estate upon his 3 daughters. In 1934, Helen's second child Colin Reginald O'Carroll was born in Izmir.

In 1935, Helen and Jack left Türkiye and moved to England where Jack's parents and half siblings lived in Surrey. They lived first at Hindhead in Surrey, and then moved to Llandudno in northern Wales where Jack took a position as the bursar at a girl's school. ^[14]

A third son, David Alan O'Carroll, was born in Wimbledon, Surrey in 1937 and a few months later the family sailed for Africa aboard the ship Umtali. They lived on the farm of a friend of Jack's near Salisbury (Harare), in Southern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) for 6 months, where Jack tried his hand at farming. It turned out not to be for him and they bought a house on acreage in Mount Pleasant, Salisbury. Mount Pleasant in that era was a desirable location with 'stately homes'.[3]

1940's - 1950's

Jack was employed by Rhodesia and Nyasaland Airways (RANA) as senior accountant and paymaster but he went into uniform after the start of WW2 in 1939, when RANA was amalgamated with the Southern Rhodesia Staff Corps Unit, to become the Southern Rhodesian Air Force (SRAF). In 1945, at the end of WW2, Jack was de-mobilised on a last in first out protocol and found himself out of a job. He and Helen sold the house in Salisbury and moved to South Africa where they bought a house in the affluent suburb of Fresnaye in Cape Town. ^[15]Two years later in 1947, a fourth son Joseph Robert O'Carroll was born, completing the family.

Helen, Jack and their 2 elder sons joined the Fresnaye Tennis club. Helen became the singles champion of the Fresnaye Tennis Club in 1946, 1949, 1950, 1952 and 1953. ^[16]Her aunt Ruth Giraud (née Whittall) who was her mother's identical twin, had been the tennis champion in Bournebat (Bornova). ^[17]

1960's

Helen and Jack sold the house in Fresnaye when their 3 eldest sons had grown up and had begun leaving home. They bought a smaller house on High Level Rd in nearby Three Anchor Bay. They joined St James the Great, an Anglican church in the adjoining suburb, Sea Point, and Jack became a sub deacon in the church.

Their son Colin moved to Johannesburg where he became an insurance agent and their 3 eldest sons all married in the early 1960's and started families.

Jack left accounting and bought a shop in Gordon's Bay, a holiday village about 60 km from Cape Town, where he became a general dealer. Helen stayed in their home in Cape Town during the week so their youngest son could attend school, and they joined Jack in Gordon's Bay on the weekends. Jack eventually returned to accounting, taking a job with a firm that through a couple of mergers after Jack's time, became Ernst & Young, (now EY).

In 1969, Helen and Jack sold the house in Three Anchor Bay when Jack retired, ^[18] and moved to a smaller house just under 40km away, in Fish Hoek. Fish Hoek is at the opposite side to Three Anchor Bay across the isthmus of the Cape Peninsula.

Helen and Jack sailed to England and France on the Queen Mary in 1969, to visit Helen's sister Ray and Jack's half brother Claude in England, as well as Jack's cousins in France.^[19]

1970's

Once settled in Fish Hoek, Helen and Jack joined St Margaret's Anglican church there and Helen's church sewing circle made toys which were sold to raise funds towards a church hall. She was also well known for her string puppets, which she made herself, and for her puppet shows from which she and her team of puppeteers also raised funds for the church. ^[20]

Helen had 13 grandchildren, some of whom she taught to make toys and help with puppet shows. ^[21] Helen remained close to her sisters, Nancy Turrell-116 who had also moved to South Africa from Türkiye and Ray Turrell-111 in England, as well as her cousin Edna Giraud-158 who had grown up with her in Smyrna and had lived nearby in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia for some years before migrating to Canada. Helen's sister Ray who was an artist visited South Africa from England and painted some of Helen's puppets while there. ^[22] Helen and Jack hosted Sunday lunches for the family and other family gatherings. Helen was excellent at understanding the interests and needs of children and her grandchildren fondly remember spending school holidays with her.

1980's

Helen suffered a stroke in the early 1980's from which she recovered with therapy. She was widowed in 1984 and she passed away from an ischemic stroke in Fishoek, near Cape Town, South Africa on 23rd April 1985^[23][24]. ^[25]

Sources

• Private family tree and notes authored by Colin O'Carroll 1997, Johannesburg, South Africa, held in family collection by Joseph O'Carroll and Susan O'Carroll
• The Genealogy of the Whittall Family of Turkey by Betty McKernan 1996
• Image of honours board at Fresnaye Tennis Club, Fresnaye Cape Town, held by Joseph O'Carroll and Susan O'Carroll.

1. ↑ Birth Certificate certified copy, dated 9th March 1973, issued at Somerset House, London to Colin R O'Carroll and held in family documents by Joseph O'Carroll.
2. ↑ Birth Certificate copy dated 15th Dec 2010 held by Brigitte Theuma
3. ↑ GRO Consular Births 1911-1915 Volume 13 Page 2347
4. ↑ Scrapbook 1809 - 1922 by Ray Bell, A Village near Smyrna, published by Richard Bell, Surrey UK 1987.
5. ↑ http://www.edwardwhittallgarden.com/about.aspx
6. ↑ Scrapbook 1809 - 1922 by Ray Bell, A Village near Smyrna, published by Richard Bell, Surrey UK 1987
7. ↑ Information from Helen's nephew, John 'Sebastian' Bell
8. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning_of_Smyrna
9. ↑ Paradise Lost, Smyrna 1922 by Giles Milton, 2008, published by Sceptre.
10. ↑ Scrapbook 1809 - 1922 by Ray Bell, A Village near Smyrna, published by Richard Bell, Surrey UK 1987
11. ↑ Information from nephew, John 'Sebastian' Bell.
12. ↑ Copies of marriage certificate held by Joseph O'Carroll and by Susan O'Carroll.
13. ↑ Bornova Register of Marriages 1926-85, Bornova Turkey. John Vivian O'Carroll age 31, Accountant, Izmir and Helen Edith Turrell, age 18 Bornova
14. ↑ Private family tree and notes authored by Colin O'Carroll 1997
15. ↑ Private family tree and notes authored by Colin O'Carroll 1997
16. ↑ Information from Joe O'Carroll
17. ↑ Information from her nephew John 'Sebastian' Bell
18. ↑ Information from Joe O'Carroll.
19. ↑ Information from Val O'Carroll & David O'Carroll
20. ↑ Information from Joe O'Carroll
21. ↑ first hand memory of granddaughter Susan O'Carroll
22. ↑ Information from nephew, Stephen Bell
23. ↑ South Africa, Western Cape, Deceased Estate Files, 1951-1958", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:66CD-SX62 : Fri Mar 08 05:00:39 UTC 2024), Entry for Helen Edith O'Carroll and John Vivian O'Carroll, 23 Apr 1985.
24. ↑ Helen Edith in the South Africa, Estates Death Index, 1999-2014 Name: Helen Edith Death Date: 23 Apr 1985. High Court: Western Cape High Court High Court Provincial Division: Cape Town, The Western Cape, South Africa Estate Number: 2934/85 Will: YES Customary Law: NO Spouse: O'Carroll
25. ↑ South Africa, Western Cape, Deceased Estate Files, 1951-1958", , FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:66CD-SX62 : Wed Nov 01 06:17:08 UTC 2023), Entry for Helen Edith O'Carroll and John Vivian O'Carroll, 23 Apr 1985.

Acknowledgements

Sebastian Bell for providing substantial biographical narrative and photographs. Ray Bell for biographical information in her book 'Scrapbook 1809 - 1922, a Village near Smyrna'. Colin O'Carroll for his Family Tree created 1997. Brigitte Theuma for creating this profile in Wikitree.