A Guernsey woman who arranged for more than 25,000 packages to be sent to British prisoners of war during World War One could have a UK housing development named after her.
However, before this can happen, the local council wants to track down any of her living relatives to get their blessing.
Lily Harris was born in St Peter Port in 1875 and worked as a schoolteacher, before moving to Burton upon Trent after she married, becoming Lily Thomas.
Elaine Pritchard, who has written a play about Lily, said she was a “remarkable and brave” woman.
“It would be wonderful to celebrate her incredible achievements,” Mrs Pritchard added.
Dog biscuits
Lily originally sent food packages to five local men after hearing they were so hungry they had asked their families to send them dog biscuits to eat.
“Lily heard about this and said ‘No, we’re doing better than that’, so she made up five big food parcels,” Mrs Pritchard said.
Despite criticism from people who thought the Germans would take the parcels, Lily eventually sent more than 25,000 packages to over 500 men during the course of the war.
As she couldn’t afford to send the packages herself, Lily wrote a regular column in the local newspaper to drum up support and ran a small packing factory nearby.
Mrs Pritchard said the council in Burton were now interested in honouring Lily by naming a new housing development after her, however they wanted “every attempt made to track down living relatives”.
Jewish heritage
Heny Lily Fridel Harris was the middle of three daughters born to Lazarus Harris, a Polish-Russian Jew, and his first wife Margueritte (or Margaret) Guilbert.
Mr Harris was a watch and jewellery dealer, while his wife was “a grocery shopkeeper”.
Mrs Pritchard said Mr Harris’ name was probably adopted after he fled to the British Isles, possibly as an anglicised version of his original name.
After Margueritte died, Mr Harris married Emma Jane Guille and the couple had seven further children.
After Mr Harris’ death, Emma lived at Emma Place in Pedvin Street, St Peter Port.
Died childless
Lily married Edward Thomas, of Rochester, Kent, in 1906. The couple had a son later that year who died shortly after birth, and in 1910 they had a daughter, Marguerite Alicia.
Mrs Pritchard said that Marguerite Alicia “died childless” in 2007, so the “best hope to find a living relative is to look at her Guernsey siblings and half-siblings”.
Mrs Pritchard said the response from people in Guernsey to her appeal for information had already been “generous and helpful”, helping her fill in several biographical details.
Anyone with information about Lily Thomas (nee Harris) or her living relatives can contact Mrs Pritchard.
