FELL, HELEN WILSON (1849-1935), diarist and philanthropist, was born on 27 July 1849 at Hawick, Roxburghshire, Scotland, one of four children of Rev. Adam Thomson, Presbyterian clergyman, and his first wife Helen Ritchie, née Wilson. When young Helen's mother died her father remarried and there were two more children. In 1861 the family came to Australia.

In 1868 Helen started her diary, mostly recording her social life. On 9 June 1870 in Sydney, with her father as celebrant, she married James Walter Fell, a Glasgow-born engineer and businessman. The couple and their three children were en route to Britain in 1882 when James died, leaving her well provided for. That year she resumed her diary, the entries written as letters for her family to read. She continued the practice until 1927, providing an evocative record of her growth in personal autonomy, her love for her extended family and church ...

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Source:

Australian Dictionary of Biography