South Yorkshire Times, September 11th 1943
Wombwell Main Romance
Miss Nora M. Hempson Engaged to Army Officer
Friends at Wombwell will be interested to hear of the engagement (formally announced in this issue) of Miss Norah Maurice Hempson, younger daughter of Mr. Randell George Hempson, managing director of Wombwell Main Collieries Ltd., and Mrs. Hempson of Raw Green, Cawthorne, Barnsley, to Captain Lancelot Lester Nash, of South Lane, Ewell, Surrey, who is serving abroad.
Both Miss Hempson and Captain Nash were born in Spain, and incidentally in the same house at Malaga.
Soon after the last war in which he served with commissioned rank in the R.N.V.R. Mr. Hempson went to Spain as an official of the ship-owning firm of MacAndrews and Co., which was one of the affiliates of the Royal Mail. In the meantime, he had served a short time as British Vice-Consul in Bogota, in the Republic of Colombia. Captain Nash’s father was already in Spain as the firm’s manager and the families thus became associated. Mr. and Mrs. Hempson occupying the house in which the Nash’s had previously lived and all their children were born there.
Miss Judith Hempson was married in 1939 to Mr. Peter Roberts a director of Wombwell Main, only son of Sir Samuel Roberts, (chairman of Wombwell Main), and Lady Roberts. They have now two daughters. Mr. Peter Roberts is now serving as a Lieutenant in the Coldstream Guards. Mr. and Mrs. Hempson’s only son Edward (18½), is at present taking pre-O.C.T.U. training for the Royal Artillery. Miss Nora Hempson first went to a little French school in Spain, and later attended the English School in Barcelona. Before the family had returned to England at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, she went to Ipswich High School, and later transferred to Sheffield Girls’ High School. Leaving there, she continued her education in Paris, gaining a diploma in French at the Alliance Francaise. On returning to England, she took a course in secretarial work at Queen’s College, London, and having a particular flair for languages gained the London Chamber of Commerce Higher Spanish award and a bronze medal for the best paper of the year in the Spanish language. For a short time, she was on the commercial staff at Wombwell Main Colliery, and is now employed by the Ministry of Supply. She has unusual qualifications of a linguist, and like her sister is an expert shorthand typist in three Languages: English, French and Spanish. At Sheffield Girls’ High School she took the school certificate with high credit.
Captain Nash was studying to become a chartered accountant and, when war broke out, joined up once. He went abroad with the Indian Officer Cadet Training Unit, from which he obtained his Commission in time to take part in the Burma campaign. He won the Military Cross in Burma, where he saw severe campaigning and was out of touch for many months. He is a sportsman and keen on cricket and football. Before going to Cawthorne Mr. and Mrs. Hempson lived at Endcliffe Cottage, Sheffield, and they have many friends in the city. Miss Hempson is a great niece of the late Mr. Thomas Higham, K.C.I.E., on her mother’s side and of the late Admiral Sir Frederick Bedford, one time Governor of Western Australia, on her father’s side. She is a niece of Mr. James Bartholomew, one of the present directors of Wombwell Main, and a descendent of a family associated with the Roberts family in the foundation of Wombwell Main Colliery nearly 100 years ago.