By Patrick Hamilton-Eddy
May Geraldine Hamilton-Eddy was born on 15 May 1919 in Streatham, the daughter of the Revd. Charles Chaloner Lindsey OBE and May Lindsey. Her father had served as an army chaplain throughout World War I and subsequently was appointed vicar of Little Leigh, Cheshire.
May was educated at St. Elphin’s School, Darley Dale, and subsequently trained as a children’s nanny. She lived in London throughout the Second World War and endured the Blitz and the later V-weapon attacks. Her brother, Patrick Chaloner Lindsey, with whom she was very close, was killed in action in the Battle of Britain flying Hurricanes for 601 (County of London) Squadron. In July 1941 at Caxton Hall, Westminster, she married Arthur Godfrey Hamilton-Eddy, a chartered accountant, with whom she had four children.
After the war, May and Arthur moved to Beaconsfield where May devoted herself to raising their family, no mean task as the household included Arthur’s two children by a previous marriage as well as her own three boys, David, Patrick and Simon, and a girl, Elizabeth. She is remembered by her children for her never-failing love and especially for her diplomacy in resolving the inevitable squabbles that arise in a large family.
In 1970, when all their children had left home, May and Arthur moved back to London, living in Weymouth Street. After Arthur died in 1983, May moved to a flat in 22 Cleveland Street, a house where Charles Dickens had lived twice in his lifetime as recently described by Dr Ruth Richardson in her book, “Dickens and the Workhouse”. She lived there for the rest of her life and hugely enjoyed the atmosphere and charm of Fitzrovia. She worked for several years at the League of Friends of the Middlesex Hospital and made many friends in the area. Her flat served as a base and meeting place for friends and relatives visiting London, especially her much-loved sister, Sidney, who had emigrated to San Francisco shortly after the war, and other members of the American Family. Special occasions were often celebrated at the Mondello Restaurant in Goodge Street. Even when her sight was failing in her later years, she would venture out each day for a cup of coffee at a nearby cafe.
She died peacefully at UCL Hospital on 6 April, just over a month short of her 95th birthday.
May Geraldine Hamilton-Eddy; born 15 May 1919 Streatham; died 6 April 2014 Camden.