Letter from son J. Landells - 'Her father was the deputy general manager of the then Great Western Railway and as such she enjoyed, as a child, all the privileges that a man of her father's position was entitled to. As Barbara came of good Quaker stock she went to the Mount School in York and counted as her friends children of the chocolate people ie. Cadburys, Rowntrees, Frys etc.

After school she went to Bedford and completed her training in physical education. As chance would have it she did her training at the same time as Ella Coulson who later married Claude Coulson a one time manager of the Telewinler [sic] Estates in Lumbwa. Barbara then went out for a holiday in Kenya, about 1930, to stay with her brother Hugh Burtt, who at that time had a farm at Ol Joro Orok. While she was on the boat out Barbara met my father who was returning to Kenya from Home Leave. A romance developed and they subsequently got married at the German Lutheran Church in Dar es Salaam. They spent their honeymoon in Zanzibar.

As Jock's wife, Barbara stayed with him during his time in Tanzania and Kericho, however towards the end of the second world war, when all the white male population had gone off to fight, she was asked by Janette Stott, that paragon [headmistress] from the Kenya High School if she would go to the 'Boma' and teach. She did this several times, taking me with her.

During our time in Sotik during the 50s Barbara was also the Executive officer of the Sotik Production (farming) committee. It was a job she did very well. During my young adulthood when I worked for the Wattle Company in Sotik I came across correspondence signed by Barbara that dealt with the 'fence' a forty mile long barbed wire erection that was put there to stop the Kipsigis rustling cattle from both Europeans and Kisii. Some of the men who had put in for the Executive job were very 'miffed' when they discovered it had been given to a woman.

During her latter years Barbara did several more stints at the Kenya High School this time when it was in Kileleshwa, and when she moved down to Malindi with my father she opened up a small kindergarten for young children. Barbara was a well known Kenya female who was known by former High School students as 'Old Ma Landells, the kali dragon'.

She came over to Australia with my father and survived him by about 11 years. Barbara made a great success of her life in Australia and was active in the church and the Perth cathedral. She loved her grandchildren and had very fond memories of her own childhood in York. She died in one of the local hospitals when she was 92 years old.